Rating: 
Summary: Love "From Russia With Love"!
Review: The best Fleming ever. 007 is assigned to retrieve a decoding machine, the Spektor, from a girl who will defect only if 007 fetches her. It is actually all a SMERSH plot. Kronstein, General G, Rosa Klebb, and Red Grant are all the best Bond villains ever, in the films or the novels. Darko Kerim is a fantastic character as Head of Station T(for Turkey). The locales, from Istanbul to the Orient Express, are all vividly described. Tatiana Romanova is convincing as the naive MGB clerk. The climax is chilling and worthy of Hitchcock's fine treatment. This novel is excellent.
Rating:
Summary: From beginning to end, simply the best book I've ever read!
Review: The book starts off describing the villians in lavish detail. One almost feels as if he/she is involved in the story. The plot of the story is very believeable and the villians are convincing. When Bond does enter the story, Fleming seems to get you involved in the life of James Bond. Darko Kerim truly seems as though he knows the business of spying. I have read the book twice and I am half way through it again. A must read for any Bond fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Probably the Best Bond Book
Review: The fifth Bond book is far and away the best I've read of the series. Much of its strength comes from an excellent beginningóalmost a quarter of the book passes before Bond appears. The story starts in Moscow, where the Soviet intelligence community has decided it needs to pull off a major coup in order to maintain its prestige. The SMERSH division (for those who are new to the series, or for whom it's motto of "Death To Spies" isn't clear enough, SMERSH is in charge of eliminating internal and external spies) is tasked with killing that perpetual thorn in the side of international communism, James Bond. All the major villains are introduced in this early section, from the psychotic ace hit man (alas, his full-moon madness is an unnecessary and silly element), to the deviant older woman who runs the operation, to the chess mastermind who plans it, and finally, the beautiful and more or less innocent honey pot who will be set in front of Bond as bait. Two of these scenes are mini-masterpieces, the very first, where the naked hit man lies by his pool and gets his massage, and then later, when the planner is met in the middle of the Moscow city championship match. Only after all the pieces are in place, does Fleming finally pull away the curtain to reveal the object of all this attention, 007. This is a brilliant technique for heightening interest in a character and building suspense (Hitchcock was the master of it), and it sets the stage beautifully. We find Bond more or less indolent, having recently broken up with Tiffany Case (his girl from Diamonds Are Forever), and growing surly with inaction. The Soviet plot lures him to Istanbul, where he is met by another vivid character, Darko Karim, who is head of British intelligence in Turkey. After minor adventures thereónotable is a lurid gypsy catfightóthey make contact with the female lure, and the trio steal away on the Orient Express. The rest of the story takes place on the train, as it makes the four day trip through Europe, across Greece, and through places like Llubljana, Belgrade, Trieste, Venice, and on to Paris. It's an extended cat and mouse game, as the reader waits for the Russians to spring their trap. The one complaint I would have with this otherwise gripping book is that, as in many of the Bond series, the super spy is a bumbling idiot who manages to escape death only through the most unlikely actions of his foes. As in earlier and later books, he manages to miss rather obvious clues and lets others do the heavy lifting for him, only to walk into a rather simple trap. In this instance, Fleming makes an attempt to account for this by continually noting that Bond's senses are dulled from inactivity and that he's not sharp, and so forth. This grumble aside, its a very entertaining work,and definitely the best Bond I've read. Oh yes, Fleming does commit one gaffe with Bond's history that seems a little strange. At one point, it is mentioned that Bond has never killed in cold blood; which makes no sense, because it is explicitly stated in the very first book (Casino Royale) that he did! His shooting of a Japanese spy in New York, and knifing of a Dutch double-agent are what earned him his 00 ("Licensed to Kill") designation, so it's strange that here Fleming would suggest otherwise. In any event, if you only read one Bond book, make it this one.
Rating:
Summary: Probably the Best Bond Book
Review: The fifth Bond book is far and away the best I've read of the series. Much of its strength comes from an excellent beginningóalmost a quarter of the book passes before Bond appears. The story starts in Moscow, where the Soviet intelligence community has decided it needs to pull off a major coup in order to maintain its prestige. The SMERSH division (for those who are new to the series, or for whom it's motto of "Death To Spies" isn't clear enough, SMERSH is in charge of eliminating internal and external spies) is tasked with killing that perpetual thorn in the side of international communism, James Bond. All the major villains are introduced in this early section, from the psychotic ace hit man (alas, his full-moon madness is an unnecessary and silly element), to the deviant older woman who runs the operation, to the chess mastermind who plans it, and finally, the beautiful and more or less innocent honey pot who will be set in front of Bond as bait. Two of these scenes are mini-masterpieces, the very first, where the naked hit man lies by his pool and gets his massage, and then later, when the planner is met in the middle of the Moscow city championship match. Only after all the pieces are in place, does Fleming finally pull away the curtain to reveal the object of all this attention, 007. This is a brilliant technique for heightening interest in a character and building suspense (Hitchcock was the master of it), and it sets the stage beautifully. We find Bond more or less indolent, having recently broken up with Tiffany Case (his girl from Diamonds Are Forever), and growing surly with inaction. The Soviet plot lures him to Istanbul, where he is met by another vivid character, Darko Karim, who is head of British intelligence in Turkey. After minor adventures thereónotable is a lurid gypsy catfightóthey make contact with the female lure, and the trio steal away on the Orient Express. The rest of the story takes place on the train, as it makes the four day trip through Europe, across Greece, and through places like Llubljana, Belgrade, Trieste, Venice, and on to Paris. It's an extended cat and mouse game, as the reader waits for the Russians to spring their trap. The one complaint I would have with this otherwise gripping book is that, as in many of the Bond series, the super spy is a bumbling idiot who manages to escape death only through the most unlikely actions of his foes. As in earlier and later books, he manages to miss rather obvious clues and lets others do the heavy lifting for him, only to walk into a rather simple trap. In this instance, Fleming makes an attempt to account for this by continually noting that Bond's senses are dulled from inactivity and that he's not sharp, and so forth. This grumble aside, its a very entertaining work,and definitely the best Bond I've read. Oh yes, Fleming does commit one gaffe with Bond's history that seems a little strange. At one point, it is mentioned that Bond has never killed in cold blood; which makes no sense, because it is explicitly stated in the very first book (Casino Royale) that he did! His shooting of a Japanese spy in New York, and knifing of a Dutch double-agent are what earned him his 00 ("Licensed to Kill") designation, so it's strange that here Fleming would suggest otherwise. In any event, if you only read one Bond book, make it this one.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Bond -- The book behind the best of the Bond movies
Review: The most realistic of Fleming's Bond tales by far, based on facts to which he was privy in his capacity as a WWII officer in British Naval Intelligence. The method of recruitment and training of MGB (later KGB) killers is reputedly quite accurate, as well as the description of MGB HQ in the very first chapter. Red Grant is probably the greatest villian in Bond literature, a formidable adversary. This is classic Bond, a tale full of realism and steeped in the Cold War atmosphere into which James Bond was born. A great plot!
Rating:
Summary: One of Fleming's all-time best
Review: The reader isn't introduced to James Bond until about half-way through the book; instead, one gets intimately familiar with the cunning villains and their ingenious plan. No one but James Bond himself could escape this trap! Plenty of action, a beautiful heroine, and locales from Russia to England to Turkey--everything you expect from Fleming. This and the other titles in the James Bond Classic Library series are inexpensive but very nice-looking hardcover volumes
Rating:
Summary: Fleming at his Best
Review: The very first Ian Fleming novel that I read is also, in my opinion, the best of Fleming's novels. Red Grant is by far one of the best villians in the series. The book also features one of the series' best 'sacrificial lambs', the character of Darco Kerim Bey. I absolutely loved the ending. It is not one to miss.
Rating:
Summary: The Bond book to end all...
Review: This book is not only classic Bond, but gives insight into the fear and hysteria of the cold war. A favorite of JFK, Ian Fleming originally wrote this novel with the intention of finally killing off agent 007. However, popular demand eventually brought Bond back to life, luckily for us.
Rating:
Summary: Best Bond so far besides Live and Let Die
Review: This is a great great book. Didn't want to put it down at all! The gypsy fight is good and the Orient Express scenes are great. I love the plot with SMERSH, and the relationship with Bond and Tania was fun to read and it was interesting to get into Bond's mind and see what he was thinking and the way he felt for her! This is Fleming's Greatest!
Rating:
Summary: With Love From Russia
Review: This is a great novel in which Mr. Fleming substantiates for his goofing up in Diamonds Are Forever. An asexual bitch, a typewriter-like box of gold, a traitor to Her Majesty, a portly Ali Kerim, and a blonde bimbo make for a great story.
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