Moonraker, Britain's new ICBM-based national defense system, is ready for testing, but something's not quite right. At M's request, Bond begins his investigation with Sir Hugo Drax, the leading card shark at M's club, who is also the head of the Moonraker project. But once Bond delves deeper into the goings-on at the Moonraker base, he discovers that both the project and its leader are something other than they appear to be.

"Is James Bond a Communist tool? Missing and reported ddad for over a year, a man claims he is agent 007 and attempts to break through the cover of the Secret Service and contact M. Not through the normal channels but by the method most often used by crackpots and lunatics." --- Book Jacket.

James Bond--British special agent 007--is summoned to headquarters to receive an unusual assignment. Zanzarim, a troubled West African nation, is being ravaged by a bitter civil war, and M directs Bond to quash the rebels threatening the established regime.