From Russia With Love

A James Bond Novel

By: Ian Fleming

Narrated by: Mark Gatiss

JAMES BOND GOES HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH SMERSH IN A BID TO SECURE A KEY PIECE OF SOVIET INTELLIGENCE

SMERSH, the Russian intelligence unit whose acronym stands for “Death to Spies,” is hell-bent on destroying Special Agent James Bond.

His death would deal a catastrophic hammer blow to the heart of the British Secret Service.

The lure? A beautiful woman who needs 007’s help. Tatiana Romanova is a Russian spy who promises to hand over the prized Spektor decoding machine if Bond aids her defection. Bond suspects a trap but can’t resist the opportunity to give the British the upper hand in a chilling new front of the Cold War.

So begins a deadly game of bluff and double bluff, with Bond a marked man as he enters the murky world of Balkan espionage.

Not Fleming's best Bond, but not terrible

Not Fleming's best Bond, but not terrible

It has been years since I saw the movie but this book is not Bond at his best. Dangerous men and beautiful women are at the core of all Bond novels but this one feels like Bond is oblivious to the obvious trap set up by the Soviets and SMERSH.

Despite the beautiful Bond Girl and the SMERSH baddies, the real starring characters of this story are Istanbul and the Orient Express. Fleming's descriptions of both immediately prompted those pang of regret for never having partaken of either. For that, From Russia With Love gets four stars.

Good set up, boring in the middle, fun ending!

A decent Bond novel, but not my favorite. It starts out strong, setting up the villains in an interesting way. It slogs a bit on the middle and Bond tours around with his weird friend, then it picks up and delivers a decent ending. It ends on a cliffhanger, which is, as always, both fun and annoying. Overall, worth a read.

The story development and the characters.

Much better than the movie — which was stellar! It would be great to see a Bond re-boot tackle the books in order!

Best one so far.

What a great story. Loved the suspense and character interaction. Reading the books in order. I thought Moonraker was the best...this blows away Moonraker.