An ambitious honeypot operation against the Soviets has gone off the rails, and now the KGB are out for revenge. Before the Ruskies can eradicate the entire list of young assets, Agent 007 is sent into the field by M to locate and rescue as many of the survivors as he can. An exploding pen, Irish castles, turncoats galore, animal abuse (maybe?), and Bond with only a half-loaded Luger in a "The Most Dangerous Game" finale! Da-da-DA-DA!
Okay, let's get it out of the way right now. The title of this novel: No Deals, Mr. Bond. It's not great. A lot of fans are going to say it's easily the worst title in the history of Bond media, and it's difficult to argue that point. Personally, I have come to appreciate the title No Deals, Mr. Bond in an ironic 'so-bad-it's-good' kind of way, but even then it's a tough sell. In defense of author John Gardner, he hated No Deals, Mr. Bond as a title but was kinda-sorta strongarmed into going with it at the behest of the publishers, who also suggested the equally terrible 'Oh No, Mr. Bond!' and 'Bond Fights Back' as alternate titles. What were these idiots at the publishing house smoking at the time? The only thing I will say in favor of No Deals, Mr. Bond as a title is because it's so odd and cringey, it at least stands out when you're looking at all the Gardner books on a shelf. It's certainly more remarkable than one we'll get to a couple of reviews from now (the utterly generic titled Win, Lose, or Die - blah!).
Anyway, No Deals, Mr. Bond has a lowly reputation among certain literary Bond fans and is often derided as the beginning of John Gardner phoning in stories, recycling plots, and over-utilizing the concept of double or triple agents carrying out last minute betrayals at the behest of their true masters. I can't deny Gardner certainly loved his double agents, but it's not as if the idea of double-crosses is entirely alien to the genre of spy fiction. Gardner also played this hand many times over in his third Bond novel Icebreaker, which I found to be beyond tedious, but here in No Deals, Mr. Bond, I don't find the trope too bothersome. Perhaps it's because Bond dispatches the characters who turn out to be villainous double-crossers in short order, thus they don't have a chance to wear out their welcome once it becomes apparent they're baddies.
There's a slightly understated thread in this novel of M becoming more fatherly towards Bond, which we see hinted at on occasion in both the book series and the films. It comes to Bond's attention after speaking with a fellow British agent in the field that the mission to save the young ladies (and gent) who were involved in the honeypot is less an official mission from Queen and country and more of a personal request from M, as the brewing scandal of a botched honeypot potentially becoming public knowledge is threatening to take M's job as the head of British intelligence and the only agent he felt he could rely on for such a personal, off-the-books task is Bond. And despite the mortal peril this ultimately puts him in, Bond is more than willing to go through with the operation to help M because that's just what bros do, right? While the reader isn't battered over the head with this theme, it's kind of sweet to see how deep both character's loyalty goes for one another.
I wouldn't say this novel is anything near outstanding, but I had a pleasant enough time reading it. From the extremely filmic opening chapter which could have easily been a Roger Moore era pre-title sequence to the setting bouncing around from the streets of London to the Republic of Ireland to Hong Kong (with a one chapter diversion in Paris), I found it easy to lose myself in the brain candy of No Deals, Mr. Bond. The ending in particular, which see Bond stuck on a small island off the coast of Hong Kong, completely outnumbered by a group of bloodthirsty hooligans, and with only four bullets to his name is some truly priceless pulp action that kept me turning pages until the very end.
Don't be deceived by the stupid title, No Deals, Mr. Bond is another worthwhile John Gardner 007 novel. Recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment