::READERS REVIEWS::

A Page Turner - This top notch thriller is the second of what has become the "Blofeld Trilogy", preceded by "Thunderball" and concluded with "You Only Live Twice" ("The Spy Who Loved Me" was written in between but is not included in the trilogy).

The plot finds Bond and M in a disagreement about SPECTRE and Blofeld, Bond thinks SPECTRE no longer exist, M thinks they do. In frustration Bond resigns from MI6 (or rather hands in a resignation letter) only to meet Teresa di Vincenzo, a suicidal young woman who he saves from drowning. Teresa's (Tracy) father, Draco, is the head of Europe's biggest crime syndicate organization, who in order to save his daughter offers her hand to Bond.
Bond refuses to the marriage, but agrees to continue romancing Tracy.
Draco informs Bond that Blofeld is hiding n Switzerland under an assumed title and name - Bond infiltrates SPECTRE and death and destruction ensues in the best of the Bond tradition.

This short novel is Fleming at his best, balancing the debonair, masterful spy with the problems each of us "mortals" is faced when succumbing to the arrows life swings at us.
Which one of us was not bitter at his boss or a work related disagreement?

Even though this is a "middle" book, as mentioned in the opening paragraph, it's a complete story with a beginning, middle and an end - not just a filler. Of course the book can be read on its own, but I recommend reading Thunderball first.

007's First Reboot - When the people behind the James Bond films reimagined 007 as a harder, sleeker, less charming fellow in 2006's "Casino Royale", it was billed as "Bond 2.0", never mind the formula behind Bond's success had been shaken not stirred a few times before then. This, Ian Fleming's tenth Bond novel published in 1963, was probably the most successful upgrade.

Bond starts out re-evaluting his future. Frustrated by his failure to ascertain the whereabouts of supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, he's contemplating turning in his license to kill while trying to figure out how to save someone's life for a change. This is a woman he's become atypically obsessed by, beautiful, yes, but suicidal, too. When the pair are taken against their will on a boat ride to meet a dangerous hood, Bond fingers his knife and realizes the game is up. But it's hardly begun, and when it's over, he will never be the same.

Fleming seems re-energized by something; whether it was the launch of the Bond movies while this was being written, a revisiting of the "love-is-pain" theme laid aside since "Casino Royale", or a sense that time was getting short and it was no good futzing around. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" does almost nothing you expect it to, and much of the pleasure I get from it is not in the reading but thinking about it afterwards.

Tracy, the woman Bond's chasing, is one of Fleming's most enigmatic characters, not a full-blooded person per se (women never were in Fleming's fiction), but a brilliant complement to the darker side of Bond's nature. When Bond asks for her secret after she beats him in a hairy car race, she tells him: "You want to stay alive."

The main story takes its time developing. In it, Blofeld is holed up in a Swiss mountain chalet, his great sick mind obsessing over two plots. The one Bond knows of is Blofeld's desire to be accepted as nobility. Bond plays to this delusion by posing as a genealogist charting Blofeld's bloodline. Since they didn't meet in Blofeld's earlier Bond novel, "Thunderball", this is not a problem.

What might be a problem for Bond's cover are the ten gorgeous girls staying with Blofeld for some unspecified reason. What might seem a set-up for a Dean Martin-Matt Helm film is instead played credibly and with much polish by Fleming, who really allows us to soak in the Alpine ambiance while deriving maximum suspense from such small things as a strip of plastic and a trip to the bathroom.

Though this is often described as "dark", the story moves along for the most part at a brisk and enjoyable manner. For once, Fleming doesn't seem at a loss for plot, even though his focus throughout the novel is on Bond. It's almost more of a character study than a spy novel, especially near the end, where the usual race to save the world is quickly sidetracked for more of Bond and Tracy. To some extent, this results in the only real quibble I have with the story, a big final battle scene that gets shunted aside and is never picked up again. But like I said, this is a different kind of Bond adventure.

Shame Fleming only had time for one complete novel after this, the really, really dark "You Only Live Twice". Bond was never the same after this, and his legacy is the richer for it.

Not the Bond you know from films - If your image of James Bond is informed by the films starring Sean Connery (the best movie Bond in my opinion), then this short novel will be a bit of a surprise. Ian Fleming's Bond is of course debonair and an expert pistol shot etc. but also rather easily becomes besotted by the neurotic Tracy and ends up in situations that the cinematic Bond (who's rather more a user of women) would never find himself in. There are long stretches of this novel which are empty of action. Try From Russia With Love for a better Fleming effort.

Review of On Her Majesty's Secret Service - On Her Majesty's Secret Service, by Ian Fleming, is one of his best.

his book encompasses a lot for changes for Bond. Picking up Bond's life after Thunderball, Bond is about ready to quit his job as a 00 after becoming discouraged tracking down Ernst Blofeld, the leader of SPECTRE, and is just ready to hand in his resignation letter. But a series of events involving money and a woman at a casino soon leads Bond into the depths of the French mafia. From there, he receives a tip on the whereabouts of Blofeld, and Bond goes undercover to investigate Blofeld's operation. But before he leaves, he finds that he has fallen in love with the woman from the casino, Tracy---true love, perhaps for the first time in his life.

While on the mountain, Bond uncovers a dire plot involving biowarfare and the action really picks up from there. However, the most emotional moments occur when Bond gets back together with Tracy, and his life is changed forever.

This story is good not only because of the Bond action we have come to expect, but also because we get to see a personal and emotional side of him not often shown.

I have not seen the movie version of the book yet - my understanding is that it stars George Lazenby as Bond, instead of Sean Connery, Daniel Craig, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, or Pierce Brosnan.

(review by Kendall Giles)

Bond in Love - Among the titles of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, I'd have to say that On Her Majesty's Secret Service is my least favorite, with neither the brevity of a Dr. No or Goldfinger nor the plot descriptive nature of The Man with the Golden Gun or From Russia with Love. Even if I dislike the title, however, this is one of Fleming's best Bond books.

The story opens around a year after the events of Thunderball (the intervening book, The Spy Who Loved Me, is not even mentioned). The villain in that book, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the mastermind behind SPECTRE, has been in hiding and James Bond is trying to seek him out. It is a more-or-less futile assignment and Bond is disillusioned enough to consider quitting. Before submitting his resignation letter, however, he takes a break at a casino. During this mini-vacation, he performs a chivalrous act to save a beautiful countess from embarrassment; she in turns, rewards him in her own special way.

This countess, familiarly named Tracy, is also the daughter of a genial but ruthless mob boss who Bond winds up (pardon the pun) bonding with. The boss, Marc-Ange, realizes that his daughter is troubled (in fact, suicidal), but that Bond may be able to help her by marrying her. Bond is not willing to do that, but is willing to see her again after she gets treatment. In the meanwhile, Marc-Ange gives Bond a lead on Blofeld.

Blofeld has holed himself up in the Swiss Alps, where extradition is nearly impossible. Bond goes undercover, hoping to lure Blofeld into Germany where he can be arrested. While there, he stumbles upon a strange plot that seems to involve young women seeking treatment for allergies. What Blofeld's scheme is goes beyond Bond's expertise, but the superspy will have more immediate problems as his cover is threatened.

Eventually, Tracy gets back into the mix, which adds another level to the story. Bond versus Blofeld is good, but at long last, Bond meets a woman who he can truly love. Since the first Bond book, Casino Royale, when Bond found himself betrayed by a lover, he has never been willing to truly risk emotional attachment. This time he does, and this adds an extra depth to this particular novel.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the middle part of what I think of as the Blofeld Trilogy, which started with Thunderball and concludes with You Only Live Twice, so it may not be the best Bond book to start with. For Bond fans, however, this book is a treat and one of the very best that Fleming wrote.