It plays on several 1950s fears, including attack by rockets (following the V-2 strikes of the Second World War), nuclear annihilation, Soviet communism, the re-emergence of Nazism and the 'threat from within' posed by both ideologies. Moonraker, like Fleming's previous novels, was well received by critics. Uniquely for a Bond novel, Moonraker is set entirely in Britain, which raised comments from some readers, complaining about the lack of exotic locations. Unknown to Bond, Drax is German, an ex-Nazi now working for the Soviets his plan is to build the rocket, arm it with a nuclear warhead, and fire it at London. In the latter half of the novel, Bond is seconded to Drax's staff as the businessman builds the Moonraker, a prototype missile designed to defend England. The plot is derived from a Fleming screenplay that was too short for a full novel, so he added the passage of the bridge game between Bond and the industrialist Hugo Drax.

It was published by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1955 and featured a cover design conceived by Fleming. Moonraker is the third novel by the British author Ian Fleming to feature his fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond.

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