The Spy Who Loved Me
Ian Fleming
Genre(s) | 3.25
Goodreads Rating | 3.39
Published: 2012
Publisher: Penguin Vintage Classics
Vivienne Michel is running away – from pain, from rejection, from humiliation. When she stumbles into a criminal plot, her life seems over, until a chance encounter with James Bond turns her world upside down.
Ian Fleming’s tenth 007 novel is a unique view of Bond, through the eyes of a woman who loves him. I found this book very different from other Bond books I have read so far, not least because the titular character isn’t introduced until around the 120-page mark… And to be honest, the first 120 pages is the book’s weakest as very little happens except for a round up of Vivienne’s past lovers and life in London.
Once she goes across the Atlantic and into a job at a motel, things start to heat up.
The action in the last third is what makes the book worthwhile with the situation, Bond’s introduction and Fleming’s writing making it an enjoyable and fast paced finale. What helps to make these spy books interesting and fun to read is when the odds are stacked against the hero and you are scratching your head wondering how they’ll get out of it. Fleming, as usual, completes his mission in this regard really well and I enjoyed the last 50 or 60 pages.
The Spy Who Loved Me is an average, readable book that isn’t a page turner, but for myself and others reading Bond books, it is nice, alternative story to the ones that have come before. Not the best Bond book by a long stretch though.
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