From Russia, With Love by Ian Fleming

Summary:
Because of his involvement in foiling the plots of Le Chiffre(Casino Royale), Mr. Big (Live and Let Die), and Hugo Drax (Moonraker), James Bond has been declared an enemy of the Soviet Union. They've issued a death warrant for him and started a plot to both kill and discredit him.

Tatiana Romanova is called up by her superiors to help trap Bond.  She claims to want to defect because she fell in love with Bond's photo in his file.  Unbeknownst to her, there is a much larger plot and it involves Bond's death.

Tempted with the thought of a young girl falling in love with him via a picture and with the promise of a Russian Cypher, James heads out to Istanbul, Turkey to recover them both.  Along the way they have to dodge death threats and a serial killer who only kills at the full moon.


Response:
The first 11 chapters are missing Bond entirely.  We spend time in mother Russia and learning about SMERSH and how their organization works.  It feels to me a lot like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles in which there is very little of Sherlock Holmes because the author didn't want to write about that character any more.  I wonder if Ian Fleming was also growing tired of James Bond at this point.

I find it very interesting to see Bond mourning the loss of his relationship with Tiffany Case, from the previous novel in the series.  We learn that she left him for an American ambassador and has returned to her home country.  He is nursing this broken heart when he's told of the Russian Girl's obsession with him.  Which leads him to ponder whether or not he can follow through with his mission.  Can he pretend to return affection when he, himself is so injured.

Also we see again, as in Live and Let Die, that Bond has a certain amount of fear when flying. Certainly he was on plane in Diamonds Are Forever, but it seems that he fears small planes and flying through storms.  You see him reason through his fear, "how old is the plane?"  "has the pilot had enough flight training?" etc.  It's nice to know that he's not this indestructible archetype that is presented in the movies.

I was disappointed with the negative treatment of females by Darko Kerim and I don't feel that the female lead character is nearly as strong as in the previous novels.  She needs to be protected and is merely a pawn in everyone else's larger game.

Diamond's Are Forever by Ian Fleming

Summary:
James Bond, 007 is sent to infiltrate a diamond smuggling ring.  The ring started in the mines in Sierra Leone and ends in the United States. Bond's mission is to travel down the pipeline to uncover those responsible. Tiffany Case, is his first contact in the pipeline operated by "the Spangled Mob."  Together they follow the pipeline from London to New York and then to Las Vegas. 

Seraffimo Spang suspects that Bond may not be who he claims to be and has him captured and tortured. Tiffany's help him escape from Spectreville aboard a and assisted by Leiter, Bond and Case escape.  They kill Spang in the process and shut down half of the pipeline.  Bond and Tiffany board the Queen Elizabeth to travel to London. But Wint and Kidd kidnap Case while en route.  They plan to kill her and throw her overboard but Bond rescues her.  


Response:

Felix Leiter isn't dead!  I'm so glad he recovered from that shark attack in Live and Let die.  Because of his missing arm and leg, he's had to resign from the FBI, but he has a new job with the Pinkertons and is able to help Bond with his Mafia case.

Unlike the movie, there is no Blofeld or Howard Hughes type character.  There is no oil rig and no space attack on nuclear weapons.  There is still a scene with a mud bath, but in a totally different context.

I'm actually very pleased with the character of Tiffany Case and I'm continually surprised with the level of independence Fleming gives to his female characters.  I'm very sorry that this didn't translate over to the films.  We actually see Bond fall in love with another woman (after Vesper) and treat her well.

Moonraker by Ian Fleming

Summary:
Called in by M, on a personal favor, to expose a cheat at Blades, James Bond finds himself going to head to head with Hugo Drax.  Sir Drax is the current war hero who seems to have England's national security at heart.  Bond easily defeats Drax in the card game and all seems to be resolved until a mysterious double murder takes place at Drax's facility.

In the interest of national security, and because of M's intuition, James Bond is sent to ensure that the Moonraker project is completed without any further complications.  While investigating the double murder with MI5 undercover agent, Gala Brand, they discover that Drax is former Nazi masquerading as an Englishman so he can release a nuclear bomb on London.

In their attempt to thwart Drax's plan, Gala and James are captured and tied up under the rocket so that they will be killed when it launches.  They're able to escape and come up with a plan to re-route the rocket.  Their plan is not only successful, they kill the enemy scientists in the process.

Response:
Another strong female character from Ian Fleming.  If it weren't for Gala Brand, Bond would have never figured out Drax's plan nor would he have been able to reprogram the gyros to save London.  She's the first woman where Bond finds himself worried that he's taking a relationship seriously.  Unfortunately, she's already engaged to be married and they only have a brief flirtation while saving England.

I was surprised that this novel did not involve an Ark in Space as was shown in the movie.  In fact, the novel never left English soil.  Jaws is nowhere to be found in the villain's henchmen either.  Elements of this novel are more in keeping with some of the plots in Die Another Day.

Three novels into this series and I find that, even though more than 60 years has passed since it was written, we're still concerned with the same things.  Countries are concerned about their national security and finding counter methods to defend their borders.  Readers are also concerned about the traitor in our midst:  Casino Royal - Vesper Lynd, English woman blackmailed into betraying her county. Live and Let Die - Mr. Big, an American who is recruited by the Russians to undermine American interests.  Moonraker - Hugo Drax, English Mother/German Father who sides with Germany in WWII and then returns to England to exact revenge.

It's really quite fascinating to read these novels in the historical context.  Though I find the language both sexist and incredibly racist at times, it gives a snapshot of the concerns and fears of the people at that point in time.  The novels were successful because they incorporated both fantastic and realistic elements into a single narrative.

Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming

Summary:

James Bond is sent by M to New York City to investigate gold coins that have been turning up in Harlem and Florida. While in New York, Bond is reunited with Felix Leiter. The villain, "Mr Big"is an agent of SMERSH and is smuggling the gold by placing it in the bottom of fish tanks holding poisonous tropical fish. He is also holding a woman, named Solitaire, against her will because she has the ability to read the future and tell when people are lying. Solitaire saves Bond by lying to her captor and then later joins bond on a train to St. Petersburg, Florida.

In Florida,  Solitaire is taken captive again and Felix is partially eaten by a shark while investigating. This sends Bond to investigate the enemy's warehouse himself.  He is attacked in the warehouse by the "Robber" but is able to escape.  The discovery of the fish tanks leads bond to Jamaica where he meets Quarrel.   

who gives Bond training in scuba diving which allows Bond to swim through shark- and barracuda-infested waters to Mr Big's island.   Bond is then able to foil the enemy's plan, rescue Solitaire, and escape to safety.

Response:

I was quite surprised at the differences between this book and the movie.  First of all, I felt that Solitaire was much more independent in the book and Bond was less of a rake.  In the film, Bond tricks a virginal Solitaire into sleeping with him which winds up taking away her power of foresight.  In the novel, not only does not sleep with her on page but there isn't this terrible connection between her virginity and her power of foresight.  I will refrain from commenting on this with a feminist view point but it did make me very glad to see the this did not originate with Ian Fleming.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how Bond is shown building up his strength for his mission.  He spends a week swimming and training before entering the villains lair.  You just don't see this part of Bond in the films at all - he's almost this superhero kind of spy who can literally do anything and everything with very little effort.  In the novels, he has to study and learn about each mission which makes it much more realistic even when the story elements stretch to fantasy.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming

Summary:
James Bond, 007, is fed-up with the Secret Service and is contemplating tendering his resignation when he runs into Countess Theresa "Tracy" di Vincenzo whipping through the streets of France in her car.  He saves her from committing suicide and her father attempts to force him to marry her.   Bond clearly states that he is not the marrying kind, nor is Tracy in the healthy mindset necessary for such an undertaking.

Back in England, Bond gets a lead on Blofeld's whereabouts and poses as Sir Hilary Bray in order to convince Blofeld to leave Switzerland.  While at the mountain resort Blofeld has been using for his headquarters, Bond encounters several young English women who are undergoing treatment for agricultural allergies.  Unbeknownst to the women, they're being brainwashed to use chemical warfare on Britain's agriculture.

Bond is able to stop Blofeld in time, but the villain escapes to fight another day.

Response:
Second in the so-called Blofeld Trilogy, I wish I had read these books in order. There are many references to previous adventures - including Casino Royale and Thunderball - that I understood because of the films, but still felt like I was missing some important information.

I was surprised by how closely the film followed the novel but was surprised by the emotional aspect of Bond.  After sleeping with Ruby, his internal monologue expresses regret at having to lie to her to get information. We see him seriously questioning why he does what he does and what he wants for his future.  In the film, it's very difficult to see this internal struggle.
Personally, I prefer the Character of Tracy Bond in the movie.  She's much more independent and I understand why Bond would marry her.  In the book, she's more of a secondary character who lets men make decisions for her. She's described in terms of how Bond reacts to her and not about her as an individual at all.

Written during the same time that the first Bond film, Dr. No, was being filmed, there's a sly reference to this film in the novel.  While dining at Piz Gloria, Irma Bunt tells Bond that they get all kinds of celebrities.  She then points out actress, Ursula Andress.