The Spy Who Loved Me is the tenth novel in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. It was first published by Jonathan Cape on April 16, 1962. It is the shortest and most sexually explicit of Fleming’s novels, as well as a clear departure from previous Bond novels, in that the story is told in the first-person by a young woman named Vivienne Michel. James Bond actually does not appear until two-thirds of the way through the book (chapter 10). In order to maintain the fiction of the book’s central character, Vivienne Michel (and, some critics suggest, distance himself from a book with which he was unsatisfied), Fleming gave “Michel” co-author credit.

Due to the reactions by critics and fans, Fleming was not happy with the book and consequently only gave permission for the title to be used when he sold the film rights to Harry Saltzman and Albert R Broccoli. In 1977 the title was used for the tenth film in the EON Productions series. The film was novelised the same year by screenwriter Christopher Wood and is the first novelisation of a Bond film. To avoid confusion with Fleming’s novel, the book was named James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me.

Fleming’s novel is considered an interlude novel in what is known as the “Blofeld Trilogy.” This novel is generally not considered part of the story arc that includes the previous novel, Thunderball and succeeding books On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice, although it clearly takes place after Thunderball and does make references to its adventure.

Plot summary: The central character and narrator of The Spy Who Loved Me is “Vivienne Michel,” a young Canadian woman who ends up running a cheap motel in the Adirondack Mountains to pay for a trip through America. The novel is broken up into three parts.

The first section of the book deals with Michel’s past love affairs, the first being Derek Mallaby who took her virginity in a field after being kicked out of a cinema for indecent exposure. The relationship ended that night and Michel was subsequently dumped later when Mallaby sent her a letter from the University of Oxford saying he had met someone else and had recently gotten engaged. Michel details her second love affair to her German boss, Kurt Rainer, whom would eventually get Michel pregnant. After learning of her pregnancy and informing Rainer, he subsequently dumps her and pays for her to go to Switzerland to have an abortion.

The second section of the book details Michel’s journey through America and how she came to work at “The Dreamy Pines Motor Court” in the Adirondack Mountains for Jed and Mildred Phancey, the managers. After a while of working for them the Phancey’s take a vacation and leave her in charge for one day until the owner, Mr Sanguinetti, arrives to resume business. In the meantime, however, two mobsters, “Sluggsy” Morant and Sol “Horror” Horowitz, show up under the guise that they work for Sanguinetti and are there to look over the motel for insurance reasoning. In truth, the two were hired by Mr Sanguinetti to burn down The Dreamy Pines Motor Court so that Sanguinetti can make a profit on the insurance. The blame for the fire would fall on Michel, who would perish in the fire. The mobsters, specifically “Sluggsy”, are very cruel to Michel, threatening to rape her later that night and when she attempts to escape she is captured and beaten.

The two mobsters are however stopped in the third part of the book when British secret service agent James Bond appears, blaming his being there on a flat tire while passing by. He later details to Michel why he’s actually in America, saying that after Operation Thunderball was completed, SPECTRE was pretty much finished except that the allied nations were still searching for Ernst Stavro Blofeld who had gotten away. The book ends with Bond protecting Michel through the night and later killing Sluggsy and Horror in a gun battle.

See also:

• Bond novels: Ian Fleming