Year - 1963

Tease - In a closely guarded bastion of evil high in the Swiss Alps Ernst Stavro Blofeld, puts the finishing touches to a most fiendish plot involving ten beautiful and ingenuous girls . . . to a most diabolical plot for murder on a mass scale.  Only one man can stop him and that man is Blofeld's archenemy - secret agent James Bond.

Villain - Ernst Stavro Blofeld, returns from the Thunderball caper and has lost a great deal of weight.  He weighed 280 pounds in Thunderball and now weighs 168 pounds.  His hair is silvery white and his right nostril has been eaten away by what looks like tertiary syphilis.  He wears dark green-tinted contact lenses.  But despite the changes, he is still an evil genius capable of bringing destruction on those he hates.  In this case, England.

Bond-Girl - La Comtesse Teresa di Vicenzo or Tracy, has golden hair that reaches her shoulders, blue eyes and shocking pink lips.  She is suffering from depression when Bond meets her due to a broken marriage and the death of her daughter to spinal meningitis.  After meeting Bond, she finds new meaning in her life and even saves Bond from Blofeld's men.

Minor Characters - Marc-Ange Draco,  M,  Irma Bunt

Plot - Infecting England with biological warfare.

Highlights - Opening beach scene and casino, meeting Blofeld at his mountain hideout Piz Gloria, ski chase, final battle at Piz Gloria and the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. James Bond.

Opening Sentence - It was one of those Septembers when it seemed that the summer would never end.

Trivia - Originally titled The Belles From Hell.

Personal Comment About This Novel - A real page-turner and the second best Fleming novel.  Characters are well developed.  An interesting footnote is that the two best Bond novels (From Russia with Love and OHMSS) both end tragically.

Jonathan Cape hardcover edition

Dr. Shatterhand's Scale from 1 - 10

"10"

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