Bond On The Beach
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has an intriguing opening. James Bond is watching a woman on the beach, concerned about her welfare. When it looks like she will swim out to sea and keep swimming until she drowns, he takes action…but so do other watchers.
And then we flash back a few days, and discover that Bond has had enough. Disillusioned with the grind of pursuing futile leads in the hunt for Blofeld after Thunderball, he has drafted a resignation letter for M’s eyes only. The only problem is, it’s a bit pompous, and needs a redraft – which is possibly a sign that 007 never really intends to hand in his notice.
The Bond Girls
While driving, Bond’s attention is caught by a good looking girl driving a fast car with skill and a competitive instinct that gets his juices flowing. This is Tracy Di Vicenzo, one of the more convincing Bond girls because her back story is realistic and quite tragic. For once, she doesn’t feel like a simple add-on. She has a well-rounded back story and up until the point where she goes a little 1950s housewife, she’s a solid, three-dimensional character. And Bond really falls for her.
In the Bond films, at least up until the Daniel Craig era, Bond traditionally had two or more Bond girls, but in the books there is usually only one – until On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Although Bond starts planning for a potential future with Tracy – and goes further than plans – he is not above another dalliance with Judy, a girl at Blofeld’s clinic who has a terrible aversion to chickens. (don’t ask).
The Bond Villain
However, is Tracy – or rather Tracy’s concerned gangster father – who gives Bond his first good trace on Blofeld, and the story then proceeds in classic Bond fashion, with a very public hideout, a clinic in the Alps, and a dastardly plan that will destroy Britain’s agricultural output.
Blofeld is an unpleasant villain, but one who despite his convoluted plot is more realistic and grounded than, say Dr No. His menace is somehow more claustrophobic than other villains too, perhaps because Bond seems genuinely horrified by what happens to a henchman early on during his stay in the clinic. The chase scene towards the end of the novel is genuinely exciting and its affect on Bond is harrowing.
Bond, James Bond
The only real niggle I have is Fleming’s habit of often referring to Bond as ‘James Bond’ when his surname would suffice. After all, this is the tenth book in the series. We know his full name by now!
With its pages about the purity of gold, Goldfinger showed that Ian Fleming was never one to wear his research lightly, but the sections that lecture about heraldry as Bond prepares to go to the clinic are actually quite interesting and don’t go on too long.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service marked a much needed improvement in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series after the disappointment of The Spy Who Loved Me. Ian Fleming himself was pleased with it. So was I. It’s a fast-paced thriller and a good character study of James Bond as he yearns for a change of lifestyle.
Rating: 80%
No Way To Live
No Way To Live, the first in my Angel Of The South series, will be available for preorder of Amazon very soon, telling the story of Billie Brindley, a beleaguered gangland boss and Tom Adams, the only man she ever really trusted. Until he betrayed her. If Die Hard is the Christmas film for you, then No Way To Live is the Christmas book you’ve been waiting for!
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