Your Top Five Non-Fleming Bond Novels

Outside of Colonel Sun, I've not read any of the non-Fleming Bonds, and I really don't plan to. That said, I am interested in what you lot think are the best of the bunch and why. So fire away. The only stipulation is that you not include novelizations of the films.

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

Outside of Colonel Sun, I've not read any of the non-Fleming Bonds, and I really don't plan to. That said, I am interested in what you lot think are the best of the bunch and why. So fire away. The only stipulation is that you not include novelizations of the films.

I'd read ICEBREAKER first. Why? I think it's the best, most pure of the Gardner novels, and it's the first one to employ the double and triple crosses that Gardner would use too frequently in the following books. I think it also happens to be his best because it probably interested him the most: a tale of Nazis, World War 2 hideouts in Finland, double-agents, and different spy networks working together to bring down a fascist in 1983 Europe. Gardner would go on to weave Nazism into some of his latter books, but none to the effect that it was used here. Because the tables keep turning and very few in the novel are whom they appear to be, there's really not a villain you can latch on to until the very end.

I'd also suggest NOBODY LIVES FOREVER, which is a bit touch-and-go in the first half, but ends with Bond in Key West trying to kill the heir to SPECTRE and take the bounty off his (Bond's) head.

NO DEALS, MR.BOND...actually gets to see Bond do some actual spying and deals with young East German girls smuggled out as teens (if I recall correctly), but one of them is apparently snitching on the rest of the people who were smuggled out, and they're being killed off one by one. Of course Bond steps in to save the day, but not before going from Ireland to Hong Kong.

Those are the strongest three I feel.

Pick up the first three or four Gardners and read them with a younger Roger Moore or Jeremy Brett even in mind, always thought they give a nice vibe. Not quite Fleming but worth a try if you look for bit of Bond in books.

The other Gardners aren't always up to this but BROKENCLAW has an interesting villain and endgame at least.

Kennon wrote:

Pick up the first three or four Gardners and read them with a younger Roger Moore or Jeremy Brett even in mind, always thought they give a nice vibe. Not quite Fleming but worth a try if you look for bit of Bond in books.

The other Gardners aren't always up to this but BROKENCLAW has an interesting villain and endgame at least.

Right. BROKENCLAW had an interesting endgame, but getting to that endgame was a tedious slog. I remember only being about 20 or 30 pages into the book and already having gotten completely lost, and it wasn't that the plot was so complex, but that it lacked focus. Gardner tended to have some great ideas that somehow fell apart as the reader went through the book.

Still, ICEBREAKER is one of the best Bond novels of either Gardner or Fleming. It's not traditional; it features 007 acting more defensively than offensively. But the women are at their deadliest in this book, the back-story is fascinating, and the location is an area that Bond had never been to, and certainly never been on film. The cold, remote location above the Arctic Circle helps amplify the way Bond feels and lives his life.

Yep, ICEBREAKER is a fair deal making the most of the Arctic, Nazis and the whole double and triple game. Fun read.

Maybe I'll give IB a shot one of these days.

Could it make for a good Bond film?

I've only read Carte Blanche, sorry. And after having read it, I shrink a little more from reading the other non-Fleming James Bond novels. I prefer reread Ian Fleming's novels instead of change my view of James Bond with authors who are not the creators of the character.

Ed Tom Kowalsky wrote:

Maybe I'll give IB a shot one of these days.

Could it make for a good Bond film?

Absolutely. I think it would make for one of the best Bond films, though it now needs some updating, as the character links to the Nazis of World War 2 would be too old to exist in a 21st century timeline. It might even make a great period piece set in the 50's.

It's got all kinds of great action: snow mobile chases, exploding arms fortresses, Bond's car being attacked by snow plows, a skiing accident...treacherous women that keep Bond's head spinning.

My only problem with the book is that it has one twist too many at the end; an unnecessary twist regarding one of the key characters. But other than that it's almost flawless book. And the Nazis are still despised today; who can argue against a good Nazi villain? It's a sure fire box office winner if EON were to unclench their keister and take a stab at adapting Gardner's novels. Can we really say that TOMORROW NEVER LIES (as nice a film was it was) was somehow light years ahead of anything that Gardner wrote? I think not.

Licence Renewed: A perfect literary revival.
Icebreaker: If Allistair MacLean had written a Bond.
Nobody Lives Forever: FRWL, LALD & YOLT rolled into one.
Scorpius: Eerily prophetic plot involving suicide bombers.
Win, Lose or Die: Gardner's OHMSS.
Brokenclaw: Appears much tighter when compared to anything Gardner wrote subsequently.

Zero Minus Ten: Raymond Benson writing as Ian Fleming.
High Time to Kill: Benson's Icebreaker.

As you've already read Col. Sun, Mr. K, I'll refrain from reccomending it too (too late!).

I'd recommend any of Higson's Young Bonds over Gardner, Benson, Faulks or Deaver. I've never approved of the concept of young Bond stories but Higson's writing (seemingly effortlessly) captures the spirit of Fleming better than those four put together.

I've only read Licence Renewed by Gardner which I enjoyed. Anton Murik seemed like a hybrid between Blofeld and Zorin and I somehow pictured Connery when I was reading it.

Hard to say. I've read them all but none really stand out. I liked the Gardner books best, but John Pearson's Authorized Biography is by far the most interesting, although it's more an alternative universe Bond, in that Bond co-exists with the books and films, which were devised to convince his enemies he was a fictional character. Its a very interesting premise.
The scene where the author meets Bond for the first time, is really spooky. The scene is done expertly. Pearson had me convinced that Bond was actually a real person and that here we were meeting the legend - the man that had done battle with NO and GF and Blofeld, who were also very real, but deftly disguised as fiction by Fleming. Awesome stuff.
We the reader feel like we are in the room meeting Bondin person, and that we are being let in, on one of the great espionage deceptions of all time.
It's chilling to think that James Bond really exists and here he is in the room. IIRC Pearson meets him formally, in a very formal M like office setting. The scene carries much gravitas. There are other high ranking intelligence persons in the room. This is a real big deal that Pearson is being made privy too. Bond is initially in shadow or not clearly visible until he steps out and Pearson meets the actual "living" legend face to face. You will get goosebumps.

MP Diaries were well written too and did a nice job working with the Fleming continuity post OHMSS, but Bond only pops in out of the narrative, even if he does have some good adventures.

Top 5 then would be
1. Pearson, Authorized James Bond Biography, 1973
2. Colonel Sun, 1968. Kingsley Amis.
I rank this pair, top two, because the Fleming continuity is still pretty fresh and both Pearson and Amis were Fleming contemporaries, so there is still a tenuous link with the original writer and characterization. By the time of the Gardner books publication, Bond had been updated for the 80's.
3. Gardner's 2nd, For Special Services, 1982
4. Gardner's 4th, Role of Honour, 1984
Both of these books revive Spectre which I quite enjoyed.
5. Gardner's 6th, No Deals Mr. Bond, 1987. Bond is particularly violent is this book. It's got a nasty edge and some real bad villains that Bond ultimately puts down with full prejudice.

Bottom 3, are the last 3 adult Bond releases, from worst down.
Deaver's, Carte Blanche
Faulks, Devil May Care
and Benson's last effort, The Man with the Red Tattoo