History Literature / FromRussiaWithLove

The novel got made into the second ''Film/JamesBond'' [[Film/FromRussiaWithLove film]]. UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy famously listed ''From Russia, with Love'' as his 9th favourite book.

* CrapsackWorld: The book outlines how life in the USSR sucks and why only depraved sociopaths such as Red Grant ''actually enjoy'' working for its espionage apparatus. Authorities use beatings, forced labor, and the like to quash dissent. If the government wanted to [[ThePurge purge]] "enemies of the state" en masse, then it has no qualms doing so. The book also describes that no ordinary citizen would dare utter the word SMERSH openly lest they face [[SecretPolice the KGB]] knocking at their door. In the end, the average Joe in Soviet Russia has no stomach for a possible revolt.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Averted, actually; it's mentioned that Kronsteen has a wife and children, but his years as a merciless Soviet intelligence agent has left him unable to see them, or anyone, really, as anything other than pieces on a chessboard. Furthermore, depending on what he exactly meant by having to "put one of [his] children in hospital" as a cover for his being summoned away from a chess tournament in the book, it's possible he's willing to hurt his own family to protect his cover.

* PsychoForHire: SMERSH's first instinct is to have Grant killed, giving that he's an insane serial killer with no interest in the communist cause. But they realise that someone who can systematically kill [[EvenEvilHasStandards without suffering mental breakdown]] is useful for a system that regularly requires [[ThePurge the elimination of large numbers of people]].

* TokenGoodTeammate: Vozdvishensky reluctantly signs off the death warrant against Bond, despite his reservations about the plan to humiliate [=MI6=]. It's later revealed in the TieInNovel for ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' that he's since defected to Britain.

** SMERSH also considered killing Grant straight off, but decided that a psychotic killer would be useful as he wouldn't suffer the VillainousBreakdown that normal people do when killing large numbers of people over a long period of time. They keep a tight control of Grant during his lunatic phases, just using him for executions (which a ''chainsaw'', it would seem) instead of missions at such times.

* EveryoneHasStandards: The Soviet colonel who interviewed Grant immediately after he defected was visibly nervous in the presence of the man, and briefly considered having Grant shot.

* CrapsackWorld: A portion of the book outlines how life in the USSR sucks and why only depraved sociopaths such as Red Grant ''actually enjoy'' working for its espionage apparatus. Authorities use beatings, forced labor, and the like to quash dissent. If the government wanted to [[ThePurge purge]] "enemies of the state" en masse, then it has no qualms doing so. The book also describes that no ordinary citizen would dare utter the word SMERSH openly lest they face [[SecretPolice the KGB]] knocking at their door. In the end, the average Joe in Soviet Russia has no stomach for a possible revolt.

* CyanidePill: Bond is issued a cyanide pill with his kit. He flushes it down the toilet at the first opportunity.d

* CyanidePill: Bond is issued a cyanide pill with his kit. He flushes it down the toilet at the first opportunity.
* DanBrowned: Fleming's introduction insists that General G. was a real person and really ran SMERSH at the time the book was set. In fact, the real SMERSH never lasted beyond UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, and the general never existed.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: While Bond is having to deal with Captain Troop on London, mention is made of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, two high-profile defectors to the Soviet Union; perhaps mindful of what the future might bring, Fleming adds a footnote to say that he was writing this in March 1956. Over in Moscow, Klebb mentions that Grant will be trained in how to act like an English gentleman by a defector who used to work for the Foreign Office; although not named, this person could be either Burgess or Maclean (more likely the latter, who was the more useful of the two as far as the Soviet authorities were concerned).

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: While Bond is having to deal with Captain Troop on London, mention is made of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, two high-profile defectors to the Soviet Union. Over in Moscow, Klebb mentions that Grant will be trained in how to act like an English gentleman by a defector who used to work for the Foreign Office; although not named, this person could be either Burgess or Maclean (more likely the latter, who proved to be the more useful of the two as far as the Soviet authorities were concerned, although Fleming would probably not have known that).