- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Paperbacks; Reprint edition
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0142002070
- ISBN-13: 978-0142002070
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 1.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #171,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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First Sentence
The naked man who lay splayed out on his face beside the swimming pool might have been dead. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The naked man who lay splayed out on his face beside the swimming pool might have been dead. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
From Russia With love,
By
This review is from: From Russia With Love (Paperback)
This book is a great read, it really keeps you on your toes. It is one of the longer Bond book and in my opion the best one, it gives good back ground on all the characters and the many different plots going on so you don't get confused. I don't want to give anything away so I'll just say it a good book even if your not a bond fan and if you are then it's a must. The only warning I have for the reader is if you plan to read all the Bond book read them in order or endings may be giving away for the eariler novels. But if you plan on just reading this book you will have no trouble picking up where Bond left off. Hope this helps and the order of the book and movies are different.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid and suspenseful Bond novel.,
By Augustus Caesar, Ph.D. (Eugene, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: From Russia With Love (Paperback)
Ian Fleming's fifth James Bond novel, "From Russia, With Love" (1957), remains one of the most popular and exciting in the series. Here we see all the attributes that made Fleming such a remarkable thriller writer--the brilliant descriptive passages, the superb characterization, the ability to inject tension and suspense into the narrative until the inevitable explosion of violence. "From Russia, With Love" has it all, and then some.The plot is among Fleming's most ingenious. SMERSH, the Soviets' dreaded counterintelligence agency, hatches to a plot to kill Bond and humiliate the British Secret Service. Using an unwitting girl and a valuable piece of Russian hardware, the Russians lure Bond to Istanbul, setting the plot in motion. Along the way, we meet the grotesque Rosa Klebb, head of torture and murder for SMERSH, and Red Grant, SMERSH's chief executioner. Grant, in particular, is a chilling character, a bloodthirsty psychopath with a lust for killing. When Bond crosses his path, Fleming produces some of the most gripping writing of his career. Fantastic stuff. All in all, "From Russia, With Love" is a superb thriller, though I found the narrative rather slack during Bond's time in Istanbul. That minor quibble aside, this is a must-read for Bond fans and one of Fleming's finer accomplishments.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Probably the Best Bond Book,
By
This review is from: From Russia With Love (Paperback)
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.
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