From Russia With Love (James Bond Adventure Series)

Rating:
Summary: Fleming's best
Review: This is without a shadow of a doubt the best of all the James Bond books(trust me, I've read them all!), the descriptive writing(especially in the massage scene at the beginning) which keeps us hooked, as for keeping us hooked, what a brilliant opening line:"The naked man who lay splayed out on his face beside the swimming pool might have been dead." Our minds just have to keep reading to find out why. Anyway, the plot is as follows: SMERSH, the so-called "Soviet organ of vengeance" wants just that from James Bond:VENGEANCE. The MGB(predecessors of the KGB) desperately need a victory against the West. Britain's top agent, James Bond, is seen as a suitable target. The Russian Heads of Security then appoint 3 evil geniuses: Kronsteen(the brains behind it all), the sadistic Rosa Klebb, and the sick Red Grant. Together, they conceive a brilliant, almost fool-proof plan to lure James Bond to his deth. Enter Tatiana Romanova, a beautiful, Great Garbo look-alike, Russian Corporal who has an inferiority complex. She is employed to seduce James Bond: She should move to Istanbul as a cypher clerk who claims to want to defect with the precious, sought-after Spektor decoding machine, but only if the legendary James Bond(who she claims to be in love with, just by having seen a photo, his good-looks did the rest!) comes to collect her! James Bond, of course, accepts and goes to Istanbul where he meets the Head of Station of Turkey, Darko Kerim(or Kerim Bey), who is one of the best, most likeable characters in any James Bond book. They hatch a plan for her defection, which succeeds, and then Bond and Tatiana Romanova are on the Orient Express, going back to the West. In the Orient Express, they meet a chap sent by London(by M, Bond's boss) to see them through. It turns out that this Nash, is Red Grant, the sick sadist and over here is going to kill Bond and the girl and make it look like Bond killed her because she blackmailed him saying that if he didn't marry her, she would give away a reel of film with them making love in the hotel suite(which the girl had no knowledge of!) and Bond and his Service will be disgraced! Bond seems trapped but somehow, he escapes and goes for Rosa Klebb herself! The acuuracy of this book is so great that the descriptions of SMERSH HQ and the meeting room of General Grubozaboyschikov is pretty accurate and the recruitment of agents for the MGB is also supposed to be true! This is Fleming's ultimate masterpice! Buy Dr. No as soon as you finish this, you'll be compelled to read it! 5 STARS!

Rating:
Summary: A spy-thiller classic
Review: This novel made Ian Fleming a renowned author outside Great Bretain. The plot is exhilaratingly original, both as a serious treatment of espionage as well as a tongue-in-cheek adventure. The major force of the story is the very concept of 007's mission and the hidden trap behind it. It also gives the best inner view of Bond's enemies, the only ones present in the first-third of the book,without 007 even missed. And this thriller took the Orient Express out of Agatha Christie's domain. It also gave us a wonderful film in 1963.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: Without doubt one of fleming's best bond books. well crafted and written and taut with excitement.