On Her Majesty's Secret Service (James Bond Series #11) Book

Commander and Mrs. Bond.

The 11th Bond novel published by Ian Fleming was written at Fleming's Jamaican property in 1962 while Doctor No was being filmed nearby.

Without a doubt this is Fleming's most human and emotional portrayal of the British master spy. We see more depth to Bond's character and Fleming provides more character development than in any of the previous installments in the series. We are also introduced to Tracy (Teresa di Vicenzo) who will become Bond's wife.

Described as wild and reckless as Bond himself, Tracy is nonetheless shown in the peripheral, not so much about her as Bond's reaction to her. We also meet her father and see how Fleming describes this mafia strongman as a resistance fighter in the war. Fleming's use of characters' war time experience in the novels is a recurring theme that the lines of good and evil can be blurred, most readily revealed as Bond's own conscious about killing opponents.

This is of course also one of the Blofeld novels (along with Thunderball and You Only Live Twice - though he is more widely used in the films). Akin to Bond's more humanistic elaboration, Fleming also takes more time to explore Blofeld's past and shows an oddly individualistic and even vulnerable side to the arch villain.

One of the better Bond novels.

*** I watched the 1969 Peter R. Hunt film starring George Lazenby and Dianna Rigg. This is actually a GREAT Bond film. Lazenby made a really good Bond, too bad it all did not work out.