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But the Night Manager novel really is a story about a stylish British tough-guy who seduces various beautiful women in different countries as he works his way towards the bad guys.

The only reason you can read it without it seeming Bondish is that Le Carre manages to make all that strangely bland, if not outright dull.

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Bond is formulaic and predictable, but glitzy and absurd. That is what I felt the TV adaptation brought, along with ropy directing and scripting. The book was far less of all of those, retaining some subtlety - but probably one of his weakest books I can think of for characterisation.

The TV adaptation could have made it feel more le Carre, by adding more depth to the supporting characters, and more of the tradecraft and blurred grey areas.

I also think Bond was probably more influenced by the wartime SOE (which had all the gadgets & action) rather than the more cerebral world of the SIS.

Ian Flemming's older brother Peter worked with with people like Colin Gubbins who was head of the SOE for most of the war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fleming_(writer)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Gubbins

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