From Russia with Love recap

SMERSH devises a plan to kill and discredit James Bond. Soviet clerk Tatiana Romanova is ordered to claim that she loves Bond and will defect from Istanbul with a decoding machine. Bond suspects a trap but accepts the assignment, working with station chief Darko Kerim. He meets Tatiana, obtains the machine, and leaves with her on the Orient Express. Kerim and an enemy agent kill each other aboard the train. A man calling himself Captain Nash then appears as British support but is actually SMERSH killer Donovan Grant. Bond defeats and kills Grant after learning the full plan. In Paris, Bond and René Mathis capture Rosa Klebb, the operation's controller, but she wounds Bond with a poisoned shoe blade. He collapses at the novel's abrupt close, his survival unresolved.

Soviet state security seeks a conspicuous success against British intelligence and chooses James Bond as the target. Donovan Grant, a controlled killer already maintained by the organisation, is prepared as the plan's executioner. Chess master Kronsteen is summoned to design the operation. He proposes an elaborate trap that will not merely kill Bond but surround his death with apparently compromising evidence, turning the event into public humiliation for his service. The planning is compartmentalised so that several participants can perform their assigned tasks without understanding the whole design.

Operations chief Rosa Klebb selects Tatiana Romanova, a young cipher clerk at the Soviet embassy in Istanbul. Klebb orders her to claim that she has fallen in love with Bond after seeing his photograph and wants to defect to him, bringing a valuable Spektor decoding machine. Tatiana is frightened into obedience and is not told that the scheme ends with Bond's murder. Grant is assigned to the operation under separate instructions. By the time the preparations are complete, the Soviets have created an offer difficult for British intelligence to refuse while retaining control over both the proposed defector and the intended killer.

In London, Bond is briefed on Tatiana's proposal. M and Bond both recognise that it is probably a trap, but the chance to obtain a Soviet decoding machine justifies the risk. Bond travels to Istanbul and joins Darko Kerim, the capable local station chief. Kerim shows him the tense contest between British and Soviet networks in the city and survives an attack connected to his Bulgarian enemy Krilencu. Bond learns that his adversaries can watch and strike through established local channels, while Tatiana remains inside the Soviet embassy awaiting the controlled next stage of her assignment.

Bond and Kerim visit a travelling community allied with Kerim and are caught in an armed attack by hostile agents. Bond helps defend the camp. Kerim then settles his feud with Krilencu before concentrating on Tatiana's proposed defection. Tatiana secretly enters Bond's hotel room and follows her instructions, while Bond records their meeting as evidence and tries to determine how much of her story is genuine. She appears personally drawn to him but remains fearful and evasive about the plan behind her. The promised decoding machine is real, increasing both the potential value of the operation and the likelihood of a carefully prepared trap.

Tatiana helps Bond obtain the Spektor, and she, Bond, and Kerim leave Istanbul aboard the Orient Express. Kerim uses his knowledge of the route and border officials to keep them moving west, but hostile agents also board the train. Kerim and a Soviet operative are found dead after killing each other in a compartment, depriving Bond of his most experienced ally. Bond continues with Tatiana and the machine while trying to identify the remaining threat. Tatiana becomes ill and increasingly dependent on him, and the journey that was meant to secure their escape is now the enclosed final stage of the Soviet operation.

A man calling himself Captain Nash boards the train and appears to be British reinforcement. He is actually Donovan Grant, who drugs Tatiana and explains the Soviet plan to kill Bond, plant compromising evidence, and make the death a scandal. Bond tricks him into allowing access to a concealed weapon and kills him. Bond reaches Paris with Tatiana and the Spektor, then joins René Mathis in tracing Rosa Klebb to a hotel. Klebb is captured, but she attacks Bond with a poisoned blade hidden in her shoe. Bond collapses as the poison acts. The operation to disgrace him has failed and Grant is dead, but the novel ends before Bond's survival is confirmed.

On the Orient Express, the supposed British reinforcement Captain Nash reveals himself as Donovan Grant, the Soviet executioner. He explains that Tatiana was used without knowing the whole plan: compromising material will make Bond's death look like a scandal and damage British intelligence. Bond tricks Grant with a concealed weapon and kills him, then takes the case containing the decoding machine. In Paris, Bond and Mathis locate Rosa Klebb, who is disguised in a hotel. Klebb is captured after trying to escape and attacks Bond with a poisoned blade concealed in her shoe. Bond is struck and collapses as the poison takes effect. The book ends without confirming his recovery, while Tatiana and the decoding machine have passed out of Soviet control and the wider plot to disgrace him has failed.