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The Spy Who Loved Me: A James Bond Novel Paperback – January 1, 2003

by Ian Fleming (Author)

4.1 2,100 ratings

Book 10 of 14: James Bond (Original Series)

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He was about six feet tall, slim and fit. The eyes in the lean , slightly tanned face were a very clear grey-blue and as they observed the men they were cold and watchful. His good looks had a dangerous, almost cruel quality that had frightened me. But now I knew he could smile, I thought his face exciting, in a way no face had ever excited me before ¦’ Vivienne Michel is in trouble. Trying to escape her tangled past, she has run away to the American backwoods, winding up at the Dreamy Pines Motor Court. A far cry from the privileged world she was born to, the motel is also the destination of two hardened killersthe perverse Sol Horror and the deadly Sluggsy Morant. When a coolly charismatic Englishman turns up, Viv, in terrible danger, is not just hopeful, but fascinated. Because he is James Bond, 007; the man she hopes will save her, the spy she hopes will love her ¦

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About the Author

Ian Fleming (1908-1964), creator of the world's best-known secret agent, is the author of fourteen James Bond books. Born in London in 1908 and educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he became the Reuters Moscow correspondent in 1929. In the spring of 1939, Fleming went back to Moscow as a special correspondent for the London Times. In June of that same year, he joined Naval Intelligence and served throughout World War II, finally earning the rank of Commander, RNVSR (Sp.). Much of the James Bond material was drawn directly from Fleming's experiences as an intelligence officer. Later, Fleming became a consultant on foreign affairs for the London Sunday Times, by which time he had become far better known as the creator of James Bond.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Group USA; Reprint edition (January 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0142003263
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0142003268
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.75 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,310,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9,468 in Espionage Thrillers (Books)
- #27,905 in Thriller & Suspense Action Fiction

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4.1 2,100 ratings

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Ian Fleming

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Ian Fleming was a British author and journalist. His first novel, Casino Royale (1953), introduced spy hero, James Bond, agent 007, to the world. It was the first of fourteen James Bond books which have gone on to sell over 60 million copies worldwide and be translated into 20 languages. Beginning with the movie adaptation of Dr No in 1961, the series also sparked the longest-running film franchise in history. Both Fleming and his fictional counterpart have become synonymous with style, glamour and thrilling adventures, as well as universally recognised phrases such as “My name’s Bond, James Bond” and “shaken and not stirred”.

Fleming was born in London in 1908. In the 1930s he worked at Reuters news agency before joining Naval Intelligence as an officer during the Second World War. His talent for writing fast and engaging prose, along with his knowledge of espionage and his fertile imagination led to the creation of James Bond, arguably one of the most-famous fictional characters of all time. He also wrote children’s classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Fleming was married to Ann Rothermere with whom he had a son, Caspar. He died in 1964.

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J

Classics never die and neither does BOND!!

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2015

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These are the ultimate action books and are very great reads. I tend to read fast and can get through one of these in about 2-3 days time. Very action packed. If you like the movies do yourself a favor and read the books. The books get into more detail and are a little different story wise than the movies. The story line NEVER gets boring and will keep you right on the edge of your "seat" at times. I currently only have 4 out of the 13 left to read. I can see myself reading these over and over again. CLASSICS never DIE!! And neither does BOND.

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Christopher Cruz

An interesting shift in POV that plays off the "myth" of James Bond.

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2015

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The people giving this book a poor review (1-star? Really?) clearly aren't open to experimentation in writing. After the prior nine novels, where Bond is troubled, reckless, but ultimately an unstoppable force to the people around him, it's interesting to read a novel from someone else's perspective to see just how people view him. It's like reading a first hand account of someone who meets this whirlwind of a human, and it's fantastic. The first third of the novel functions as way to create an attachment to a regular young woman who will one day be on a collision course with 007. The second act raises the stakes and introduces the palpable threat of two psychotic thugs that pose a plausible threat to her (and Bond, for anyone who pays attention to the type of mortal danger these men represent). The third act introduces Bond in a very mythological sort of way, as he appears under cover of night to even the odds. Anyone who's read Bond novels before knows that even small time thugs are a threat to him because he isn't as cartoonishly calm and immortal as he is in the films. He's just more clever and better trained than others. Having low level crooks, rather than SPECTRE elite, be the foil makes sense because they would be to this woman, and Bond is uniquely suited to intervene. Her story is rather cliché, but nothing that wouldn't compose the plot of an indie or foreign romance story, and it's more impressive that it came from Fleming, who by this point had already devolved from a fairly progressive writer in the 50s to a downright misogynistic one in the 60s. Bond's still a white knight figure, and fairly two-dimensional here, but at least it makes sense being from someone else's perspective. In the handful of books prior, he went from being a complex character with very real and respectable views of women and the world around him, but by the 60s, he had become the woman smacking clown that appears in the films. The nature of the story redeems Fleming somewhat, in that he at least attempted to tell a woman's story where she wasn't just an object to be bedded, even if he falls back on his own trope of her ending up a (nigh) rape victim. Overall, it's a jarring, but welcome experience that is served tremendously by being read after all the prior novels build the myth that is literally displayed before this woman's eyes.

11 people found this helpful

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Bill Slocum

A Bond In Shining Armor

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2009

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Vivienne Michel is a pretty young woman whose tough life is about to get much worse. Caretaking a rundown hotel in the Adirondacks, she is set upon by two threatening goons. Just as they are about to brutalize her, there's a knock at the door. Who could it be?

Well, given that this is identified on the cover as "A James Bond Novel" and it's already two-thirds over, it better not be the Maytag repairman.

Nineteen sixty-two was a landmark year for Bond. That was the year Sean Connery played 007 in the first film. Yet on the page, Ian Fleming seemed still trying to kick out the jams after "From Russia With Love" set a new standard for his secret-agent series five years before. His previous two books had been a collection of short stories and a novel taken from a co-written screenplay. Could his experiment here, putting us in the head of a female character and seeing Bond through her eyes, have been another sign of fatigue?

Yet "The Spy Who Loved Me" moves at a fast clip. The story itself is a strange one, half woman's romance novel, half Mickey Spillane-type yarn, but Fleming delivers a strong sense both of place and character. You latch on readily with Vivienne as she shakes off the ennui on a rainy autumn evening, enjoying her solitude with a tumbler of bourbon while the Ink Spots play on the radio. She thinks about a life of lost virtue and broken promises, and Fleming almost makes you forget any anticipation you have about things going boom. When the bad guys show up, it's a rude surprise, especially as they are low-rent for a Bond book. But they are a real threat, and thus a source of sincere suspense, even if they are more about stealing TVs than nuclear secrets.

"Okay, sweetheart," one of them says. "So you won't give, so I'll take for myself. I reckon you've earned yourself a rough night. Get me?"

That's the one called Horror. The other is called Sluggsy. For bad-guy names, they sound right out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. But you worry anyway, because Vivienne is very much alone and you have come to like her the way Fleming sets the story up. That's the good part. It's not what you expect from a Bond novel, but all the more credit for Fleming trying it and pulling it off.

Then Bond shows up. It's a funny thing to say a Bond novel starts to tail off when James Bond shows up, but that's what happens. He's not the same vivid, three-dimensional figure we come to expect. Instead, he's a stock knight in shining armor, and Vivienne loses much of her integrity as a solid character, playing instead the role of love-struck lady in distress.

"You're the most wonderful man I've met in my life!" she coos. Bond kisses her and tells her to stay out of sight while Daddy cleans up the mess.

Still there are good moments in the last third of the book. Bond has at Sluggsy and Horror in true pulp-fiction style. There's fire and a car crash, and some of the hottest sex Fleming ever put to page.

There's also oddball moments, like Vivienne's declaration: "All woman love semi-rape." Knowing Fleming, he probably had more trouble with the word "semi" than "love". "The Spy Who Loved Me" has a few gag-inducing items like that, but also some well-played moments that have nothing to do with the main battle, like Vivienne recalling a tryst in a cinema and Bond telling of his latest battle with SPECTRE (a running battle from the last novel which continues in the next).

All in all, a worthy experiment and, at times, a fine novel, although 007 fans may find it more revealing of Fleming than Bond. I wouldn't recommend it to a newbie, but Bond readers may find this change of pace to their liking. It is to mine.

3 people found this helpful

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Cornell L. Morgan

Completely different from the Movie of 1977

Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2016

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This was completely different from the 1977 movie with Roger Moore,Barbara Bach,Kurt Jurgen as the Super Villain
This story is set in a small town near the Canadian boarder. ..it tells of a heartbroken woman trying to get her life together taking a job @ a summer resort @ end of season slated for destruction by mob figures looking for insurance money. Unknown to her she is slated to be a victim of a explosion & fire
Then James Bond appears looking for help due to a flat tire & no spare...
It's a different kind of 007 adventure ...
Where Bond being Bond,is a good thing

9 people found this helpful

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Robb B.

SIMPLY GREAT READING!!!

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2016

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I am currently reading all the Ian Flemming James Bond novels in the order that he wrote them (really recommend reading them in order.) From the first one I read, "Casino Royale" to "The Spy Who loved Me" they keep the reader glued to the page. It's like meeting the real James Bond, his enemies and various other memorable characters for the first time. I would definitely recommend reading these books. GREAT READS. I am just sorry I didn't discover them sooner and I will be disappointed when I've read the last one with none left to read.

2 people found this helpful

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