No Deals, Mr. Bond: A James Bond thriller (John Gardner’s Bond series Book 6)
£3.80
Official, original James Bond from a writer described by Len Deighton as a ‘master storyteller’.
Two female agents of Operation Cream Cake – double agents and honey traps against the KGB – are murdered. Bond must find the others and conduct them to safety before they meet a similar fate.
In a race against time, Bond travels to Ireland and the KGB is soon on the scene. But all is not as it seems and soon Bond finds he needs all his wits to negotiate a labyrinth of double-crossing that is to lead him to a bewildering showdown in a remote corner of the Kowloon province of Hong Kong, where, weaponless, he is hunted by four assassins.
No Deals, Mr. Bond is the sixth in the bestselling series created by John Gardner, and one of the most original and unpredictable.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Orion (5 July 2012) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 411 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 240 pages |
by Jim J-R
No Deals, Mr Bond has to rate as one of the worst titles in the series, which is a shame as it’s one of Gardner’s better novels. I’ve found the first five to be variable in quality, but by his sixth Bond story, Gardner seems to have got a plot that works and a grip in the character he wants Bond to be.
Two former undercover agents have been killed and M asks Bond to protect the remaining three members of the team. It’s a basic and believable story with little reliance on ultramodern (for the eighties) technology or gadgetry, skips over the aspects Gardner’s vision of Bond dug into in the previous novels, and is much more like something Fleming would have penned.
Bond still lacks some of the depth of character that Fleming gave him, but at least doesn’t seem to contradict the original character. There are moments where Bond’s apparent age flickers between his thirties and sixties, but it’s hidden well and easy to suspend disbelief of this minor aspect.
A good adventure, and if the rest of Gardner’s novels follow the style of this one then I’ll be very pleased.
by D.Rollins
Impressive stuff. John Gardner gives Ian Fleming a run for his money, bringing Bond into the modern-ish era in a style which probably fits Pierce Brosnan’s 007 if anything. Fleming had the tendency to overindulge in unnecessary scenic detail which sometimes made getting from page to page seem a great effort. No such problems here; Gardner’s novels seem more stripped down and he shows respect for the Bond in previous book by referring briefly to old missions and the death of his wife to SPECTRE. This link to his past is a nice touch.
The setting of Ireland is intriguing, especially Bond rubbing shoulders with some of the underworld characters and gives this story a real freshness. The plot is packed with twists and turns throughout, and the story never becomes too far-fetched. Bond appears somewhat invincible as always and while Q unfortunately does not show up, the gadgets featured are novel. One criticism; the idea of MI6 recruiting spies aged in their teens is inconceivable and the main one, Bond’s latest squeeze Ebbie, is rather annoying at times. Her and Heather seem far too weak and vulnerable to be taken seriously as field agents.
Recommended.
by Matthew Haynes
No Deals, Mr Bond represents an overdue and immensely welcome departure from the formula used by Gardener in previous books (with the exception of ‘Nobody Lives For Ever’). The story centres around an aborted ‘honey pot’ operation against the KGB called Operation Cream Cake. Bond is instrumental in pulling two of the girls involved in the operation out of Europe via the use of a nuclear submarine. Apart from this ‘set piece’ the book leaves the usual film-inspired plot lines (megalomaniac wanting to take over the world) and moves into murkier waters. The original ‘dangles’ are being hunted down and killed by the KGB with their tongues cut out to send a clear message to MI6 not to mess with them.
M sends Bond to find and protect the remaining two women and one man who have taken on new identities. In his attempts to do this he unravels a knotty puzzle involving double agents, the GRU (the military arm of the KGB), the old head of SMERSH and of course a beautiful woman. His travels take him first to Ireland and then to Hong Kong.
There is a dollop of sexism and some mild racial stereotypes to cope with along the way, but in this respect Gardner mirrors Ian Fleming very well (whether this is a concerted effort is arguable). The final scenes where Bond is being hunted by four assassins on a small island off the coast of Hong Kong are excellently paced and executed by Gardner. Exposition is scattered about the book where required rather than being lumped at the end and the plot for once is wholly believable. This is a great book.
by M. Crossman
After resurrecting SPECTRE John Gardner now brings back Bond’s old enemy SMERSH.
To be honest it doesn’t matter what Gardner calls them, the villains in these books are pretty interchangeable, in fact it seems on the names change.
And Gardner’s decision to call one of the characters ‘Semen’ is either a poor joke or a huge oversight.
Like the majority of the Gardner Bond novels, this one is entertaining on a fairly low brow level.
by Paul Niedernhofer
I did not own a complete set of the John Gardner Bond books. All the titles are not available in the US, so a matched set from the UK was just what I needed.
by A.J.Bradley
The writing is flat, the chit-chat between Bond and the Irish characters reminded me of one of those awful John Wayne/John Ford cavalry westerns: ‘Top o’the mornin’ to ye, captain darlin”. The girlie shows off her bubs but Bond manfully resists hopping into bed with her. And how old must May be now? I suppose the overall decline in standards mirrors that of the films – which were all parodies of the novels anyway, with the possible exception of ‘From Russia With Love’. God knows Fleming wasn’t always on top form (try re-reading ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ for starters), but, at his best, in ‘Casino Royale’, he was a writer to match any in the post-war period. Only Kingsley Amis came close.
by jørgen bøttcher
We have heard the sentence before. Bond is back. Well, he is. John Gardner actually beat Ian Fleming in the end. He wrote more Bond stories than Fleming. Naturally he can never take credit for having invented the character, but nevertheless he wrote a series of great stories.
by john naylor
This is the Bond we all now and love
The girls the guns and more twists than a cork screw