Vivienne Michel, a young French-Canadian woman travelling alone through the United States, agrees to mind the isolated Dreamy Pines Motor Court in the Adirondacks after the tourist season has ended. Two armed men arrive and reveal that the motel is at the centre of an insurance fraud that requires both the building and its temporary caretaker to disappear. The story is told from Vivienne’s perspective rather than Bond’s.
James Bond arrives by chance while travelling after Operation Thunderball and becomes involved in the siege. The novel is unusual within the series because organised crime, gendered danger and roadside America matter more than international espionage. Its fictional crisis is nevertheless firmly located in the prosperous but mobile post-war North American world of motels, automobiles and long-distance travel.
