On Her Majesty's secret service

OHMSS see Bond pitted once again against the formidable Blofeld, who has reappeared atop a Swiss Alp running some kind of allergy research clinic and styling himself as the Comte de Bleuville.

But before tackling Blofeld Fleming gives us what amount to a five chapter prologue wherein Bond saves a girl called Tracy from committing suicide, and also from the clutches of some unscrupulous villains over an unpaid gambling debt. This sets up a meeting between Bond and the girl's father, Marc-Ange, head of the Union Corse crime syndicate, which will prove to be of great use to Bond later in the story. Because Bond becomes human and falls in love! Yes, Fleming gives his automaton killing machine feelings and an interior monologue for once and that is what makes this quite possibly the best of the Bond novels.

So, back to Blofeld. Bond goes undercover as Sir Hilary Bray, of the Royal College of Arms, under the pretence of confirming the claim to the title “Comte de Bleuville”. Ensconced atop the mountain retreat, Bond plays to Blofeld's snobbery and vanity while trying to find out what the hell his old foe is up to. For there are 10 gorgeous girls from England and Ireland all there for some kind of hypnotic therapy to cure their allergies. But the presence of the kind of British thugs SPECTRE used to employ makes Bond more suspicious, and the matronly Irma Bunt keeps the girls under a tight leash. This, of course, doesn't stop our hero from getting his end away, all in the line of duty you understand!

The action gathers pace and the final third of the novel is all about hairy escapes, and an all out assault, with the aid of the Union Corse, on Blofeld's hideaway. It's all quite spectacular and very well done. Fleming even tries to give Bond a happy ending, but tragedy is never far away from Bond and, with Blofeld escaping his clutches once more, 007 can never rest easy.

OHMSS is up there as one of Fleming's best.