When I read it I was fifteen, and I had seen three times all Sean Connery's Bond movies. It shocked me, and I read all the others book in the series, from my father's bookshelf. I have no idea if I would like it today, but I still can remember the dark, violent and pitiless atmosphere of the books when confronted with the Martini-and-aftershave spirit of the movies. ( )

It is lengthy to start (Bond himself doesn't appear until a third of the way through), and although the first part is an interesting read from a historical standpoint, it's a slow burner. Consequently, contrary to most other reviews, I found it less enjoyable than the others in the series. ( )

Fleming had planned to end the series with this story and he goes all in: over-the-top villains, hidden & disguised weapons, brutal fight scenes… SMERSH trains a young female agent to seduce Bond with the idea of ultimately involving him in a scandal that will blacken MI6’s reputation. To bait the trap, the lovely Tanya Romanova promises to defect and is bringing a cipher machine to Istanbul. This story is by far the closest to being “Hollywood” with its action lines, intrigue and local color (Turkey). Toby Stephens played the villain in a non-Fleming Bond movie, Die Another Day and delivered a pitch perfect performance. ( )

Much better than the previous three. Only better so far is Casino Royale. ( )

Oh, good lord.

As with a couple of these books, at about 1/4 of the way through I wondered why I don't read these books every year. They are funny, well-written, and just drip with ideas and knowledge of the spy-trade. It's all very fun.

And then there's an interlude in with a Turkish MI6 agent recounts his meet-cute with his first wife (it involved kidnapping her and chaining her below his kitchen table, and then after being unchained by the diplomat's mother, not wanting to leave), and it's like: "Oh, now I remember".

Anyway - even by Fleming standards, the misogyny is off the chain, here, with entirely too much female perspective being written about, and absolutely none of it ringing true in any way.

But, to reiterate, it's really well written, funny, with interesting characters and schemes interacting in novel ways, and extremely plausible observations of the psychology of the male characters all over the place (e.g., it is absolutely plausible the diplomat would believe the story went that way). And the audiobook (which I bounced between that and the kindle), read by Toby Stephens, is fantastic on a number of vectors. He's a very good narrator. ( )