Posted 05 July 2007 - 05:47 PM
***/*****
-This is my first book review on this forum, so please forgive me if I ramble a bit.
No Deals, Mr. Bond concerns the recovery and, five years later, the subsequent murder of several MI-6 agents involved in a botched "honey trap" operation called Cream Cake. The story goes from the Baltic coast of East Germany, to Great Britain, Ireland, and finally Hong Kong as Bond tries to save the surviving Cream Cake agents from murder by a re-constituted SMERSH.
No Deals is John Gardner's sixth James Bond novel, and, in my opinion, the weakest of those early books. I feel that, while a fine espionage thriller, it is not a good James Bond novel. Bond could be replaced easily by any other spy character without affecting the book. And the villian, KGB General Chernov, is just a generic spy master, nothing spectacular or grotesque about him.
Bottom Line: If you like spy thrillers in general, then No Deals is great. But as a Bond novel, I'd recommend For Special Services or Role of Honor instead.