Back in the USSR
No other Bond novel quite captures the spirit of the age in which it was written and takes place quite like this one. Bond was a hero for the Cold War even though he as a British spy he was an outsider in the actual “war” between American and the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the book is stepped in us-versus-commies stereotyping:
“A great deal of killing has to be done in the U.S.S.R., not because the average Russian is a cruel man, although some of their races are among the cruellest peoples in the world, but as an instrument of policy.”
“Going Private”
All the Cold War touches make some kind of appearance in the novel, including the ever-present threat of intelligence agents switching teams or changing horses in mid-stream or:
“going private', as defection is called in M.G.B.”
SMERSH...shhh!
The big Russian bad of the Bond novels is, of course, the secret counterintelligence organization known as SMERSH. For some, SMERSH is that which shall not be named:
“It was an obscene word, a word from the tomb, the very whisper of death, a word never mentioned even in secret office gossip among friends.”
Boys will be Bond
Millions of males of all ages haven’t fantasized about being James Bond because they dream of saving the world from communism or even monomaniacal island-dwelling psychopaths. It’s because of the girls. And being…well…Bond. Always Bond:
“Bond's mind was cool. So the girl had been bait.”
Mother of Mercy: Is this the End of Bond?
Some readers might be shocked when they reach the end of this entry in the series. James Bond, superspy extraordinaire, is struggling for breath, his knees are going weak, his jaws clench involuntarily and he appears to be a drunk about to pass out head-first onto the floor. Except he’s not drunk; he’s dying from the poison racing through his blood because just seconds before:
“The tongue of dirty steel had withdrawn into the leather. Now it was only a harmless bundle of old woman that was being lifted into the basket.”
