My Gardner history here or the continuing story of Bungalow Bill.
OK, by now I was regularly on the phone to Glidrose and when they told me the title (well prior to publication), I almost fell off my chair. It is the worst Bond title ever (I know Gardner did not come up with it).
That summer, my maternal grandmother visited and I was gifted some money which went on buying up first editions. I remember NDMB was the first time I'd bought the new Bond book around the date of publication. I remember being disappointed that the cover of the UK first was glossy (not matt like the predecessors) and that the illustration was not Chopping-esque. Still, I was feverish in that eccentric Aladdin's cave for bibliophiles that was the old Foyle's Bookshop on Charing Cross Road, London (the refit means you can actually find books there now but I miss those mysterious, musty aisles).
The book itself was fun. I guess now Gardner had got into his own Bond formula with double plus crosses, tradecraft, James Boldman, the ASP and the COB etc. I enjoyed the book and felt he had done well with the locations (Ireland, HK) and motley, Alistair MacLean-like crew of fellow travellers. The logic of the story always troubled me (won't spoil it here) but compared to what was to follow, NDMB seems fairly sensible now. I loved Heather Dare (although I later discovered this was a character name from a Boysie Oakes book) and Ebbie Heritage (whom, we discover later in a subsequent GardnerBond, Brokenclaw, taught Bond how to lip read). I felt it was a beat below ROH and NLFE. It reminded me somewhat of Icebreaker and Gardner would re-use virtually the same plot in Death Is Forever (the 2nd worst Bond title ever!). It's Cold War leanings have not been kind to this book either. However, I really enjoyed reading it, it was great fun and I devoured the book in a single sitting.
After reading Nobody Lives Forever, my personal favourite Gardner Bond novel, I was a bit let down here. The plot seemed overly complicated and the villain was somewhat forgettable. It is certainly not Gardner's worst, but there are several other novels I prefer to this one.
Totally agree, Qwerty
I forget the exact chronology but it was summer 1987.
Hmmm. Summer 1987.
Well,
everything happened this summer.
Suddenly last summer
I started going out of my head...Second wind on filmBond with
the Timothy Dalton reboot. Joined the various fan clubs. The Living Daylights was a wonderful whole other adventure in itself from premiere day onwards...
Left school.
Fainted on the first day of my first real job - with Bruno, the motorbike crazy Swiss-German headchef...
Also,
it was twenty years ago today during the Sgt Pepper CD launch that I began to properly discover the Beatles....
et alors il y avait Christelle, ma belle.
Sont les mots qui vont tr
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