For example, in “From Russia With Love”, Fleming really delved into the background of assassin Red Grant (the one who tried to murder Bond on the train while posing as a British agent). The reader learns that Grant doesn’t care about money, women or power, but that his real passion is committing murder, much like a sociopathic serial killer. He became a much more frightening and dangerous rival to Bond in the novel than in the movie. When Bond finally kills him the scene is painted in gruesome detail.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved most of the movies too, but the books were fantastic.

By the way, one thing I didn’t realize until recently, when I was reading a story to my children, but Ian Fleming also wrote “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. He wasn’t just a spy novelist, but also was a great story teller.