Brooks on Books: From Russia With Love

I'm slowly working my way through Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and finding them a lot of fun, both for expected reasons (espionage, violence, and adventure) and not-so-expected ones (such as the constant detail about Bond's meals and what he thinks about them).

Last week, I finished "From Russia with Love," in which the evil Soviet organization SMERSH plots to humiliate Bond, and thereby England, with the use of a beautiful Russkie woman as bait. It' s another fast, entertaining read, but this novel stands out for its remarkable structure: Bond himself does not appear until page 123 of my nifty little paperback edition, and he is not even mentioned till page 59!

In the meantime, we're introduced to the turncoat who has become an elite killing machine for the USSR. Even more intriguing, Fleming takes us not just behind the Iron Curtain, but deep behind it, all the way into the upper echelon of Soviet decisionmaking as the hated organization SMERSH discusses how to score a victory over the West. It's an entertaining journey into this circle, and it's amusing how political everyone is as they worry constantly about their own advancement and status--and, let's face it, their own survival. Fleming makes an interesting choice to go with this approach, and it sustains the novel while Bond is "off page."

When we meet old 007 again on page 123, we then get a build of a different kind, though there are some adventures and exciting set pieces in Turkey, and most of the Soviets disappear for a while. This all leads up to the climactic confrontation.

[MILD SPOILERS AHEAD]

The question is, is all the build worth it? I'm not so sure it does pay off. The confrontation between Bond and his assassin is marred by a stretch of, as "The Incredibles" called it, "monologuing" which weakens the impact of this villain Fleming so meticulously develops earlier. It's also a little too short and not as satisfying as I would expect given the big intro given the Soviets. Fleming somewhat redeems this, though, with a powerful sequence afterwards involving arguably the true villain of the story.

[OK, DONE NOW WITH MILD SPOILERS]

Still, "From Russia with Love" is an entertaining effort, and though I keep mentioning the "buildup," the writing does not meander. In fact, it may be the tightest of the books so far, with less diversions for their own sake. This is the one famously listed by JFK as one of his favorite novels, and many call this the best of the 007s.

I don't think I'd say it's the best of the 5 I've read, but the supporting characters are memorable, the writing is solid, and for someone reading the series from the beginning, it's a nice change of pace and overall another fine entry.