- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (1 Nov 1990)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0224029495
- ISBN-13: 978-0224029490
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 12.7 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,437,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Icebreaker
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
Official, original James Bond from a writer described by Len Deighton as a 'master storyteller'.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Bond reluctantly finds himself recruited into a dangerous mission involving an equally dangerous and treacherous alliance of agents from the CIA, the KGB and Israel's Mossad. The team dubbed 'Icebreaker' waste no time double crossing each other, as they try to root out the leader of the murderous National Socialist Action Army, Count Konrad von Gloda, a one time SS officer, who now perceives himself as the New Adolf Hitler.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Often billed as the strongest in John Gardner's series of official James Bond novels, Icebreaker is the third by Gardner, and has all the series' usual elements - fast cars, gorgeous women, criminal masterminds - plus Bond's allies, the crusty 'M' and the delectable Miss Moneypenny.
This time around, Bond is the target of a nefarious organisation that want his head - literally - and the story is full of twists and turns; deception and deceit. A decent read but somewhat lacking in originality; if you're looking for a way into the series try Sebastian Faulkes' awesome 2008 Bond novel 'Devil May Care' first.
This time around, Bond is the target of a nefarious organisation that want his head - literally - and the story is full of twists and turns; deception and deceit. A decent read but somewhat lacking in originality; if you're looking for a way into the series try Sebastian Faulkes' awesome 2008 Bond novel 'Devil May Care' first.
Format:Hardcover
After the solid Licence Renewed and the cracking For Special Services, Gardner took a risk and ditched the Fleming secret agent vs super villain formula, for a twisty spy story more akin to his own Herbie Kruger trilogy. Does it work? Honestly, no: but it's a brave misfire.
Story:4/10 Goldfinger had seen Bond meet the villain before being handed the mission, but in Icebreaker the mission has already begun while Bond's away training. Even then it's pretty clear M's only telling 007 half the story- namely, that Bond provide the British contingent for a joint MI6, CIA, Mossad & KGB(!) operation against an army of neo-Nazi terrorists in Finland. Naturally, no one can trust anyone and the mission starts to go badly wrong.
It was Gardner's favourite of his early Bonds and it certainly has its fans. A neat idea that could have come off in the hands of Deighton, LeCarre or Gardner himself if he were writing a non-Bond thriller. And that's the problem. Slow burn duplicitous spy stories need a gradual playout and a murky anti-hero to keep you guessing, teasing out the tragedy. 007 is a secret agent, a blunt instrument, an outright hero: here he's redundant, a victim of everyone else's machinations.
His best independent effort leads to the great snow plough set piece and the Saab's finest hour; the torture scene is powerful too. Otherwise he watches loyalties shift, confederates plot, enemies dine and gets rescued when he falls for scheme after scheme. The villain's barely in it and the ending's drawn out. There's probably a drinking game for every time he checks into a hotel or taps a phone.
Ultimately this is not a great Bond novel, but it's a likeable book and will happily pass the time on a train, plane or in a hotel bar.
Story:4/10 Goldfinger had seen Bond meet the villain before being handed the mission, but in Icebreaker the mission has already begun while Bond's away training. Even then it's pretty clear M's only telling 007 half the story- namely, that Bond provide the British contingent for a joint MI6, CIA, Mossad & KGB(!) operation against an army of neo-Nazi terrorists in Finland. Naturally, no one can trust anyone and the mission starts to go badly wrong.
It was Gardner's favourite of his early Bonds and it certainly has its fans. A neat idea that could have come off in the hands of Deighton, LeCarre or Gardner himself if he were writing a non-Bond thriller. And that's the problem. Slow burn duplicitous spy stories need a gradual playout and a murky anti-hero to keep you guessing, teasing out the tragedy. 007 is a secret agent, a blunt instrument, an outright hero: here he's redundant, a victim of everyone else's machinations.
His best independent effort leads to the great snow plough set piece and the Saab's finest hour; the torture scene is powerful too. Otherwise he watches loyalties shift, confederates plot, enemies dine and gets rescued when he falls for scheme after scheme. The villain's barely in it and the ending's drawn out. There's probably a drinking game for every time he checks into a hotel or taps a phone.
Ultimately this is not a great Bond novel, but it's a likeable book and will happily pass the time on a train, plane or in a hotel bar.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
A strange compromise between Fleming and the Bond films
7 Aug 2000
Format:Hardcover
John Gardner's Bond books, if "Icebreaker" is any indication, aim for a compromise between the classiness of Ian Fleming's stories and the bombast of the film series. The plot is relatively straightforward, as 007 travels to the Finland/Soviet border to track down an international neo-Nazi conspiracy, without any of the tired, obligatory globetrotting of the latter-day films. "Icebreaker's" cartoon-like villain, however, seems reminiscent more of the movies than the Fleming novels, and the story climaxes with the big explosions required of the films as well. Gardner's own contribution to this mix is the conflicting loyalties among the characters. Agents turn out to be double-agents, then triple-agents, as someone turns traitor in almost every chapter. The novel as a whole, thus, is an uneasy combination of these three elements that reads quickly and enjoyably, but it's kind of hard to recognize James Bond in there.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Icebreaker
8 May 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
With his first two novels in the series, Gardner stuck to the standard Bond formula. But with his third novel, Icebreaker, he stayed outside the formula and established all the key elements that would comprise his 007 series: Bond actually involved heavily in intelligence and espionage and a plot with a real-life political or historical background, instead of a big adventure with the fate of the world in the balance and an evil multimillionaire. I don't understand why this bothers so many people. There's dozens of Bond stories following the same routine, formula -the same story with different characters and locations- and Gardner at least tried to do something original and different with the character.
In Icebreaker, Bond is assigned to a team also consisting of American, Israeli, and Russian agents. Their mission in the arctic is to monitor a convoy of stolen high-grade military equipment from a Russian army outpost to a WWII-era bunker serving as the headquarters of the National Socialist Action Army, a well-organized neo-Nazi paramilitary group responsible for a number of terrorist attacks and assassinations. Bond quickly learns that the mission has been compromised. The team has been infiltrated by enemy agents. Additionally, the KGB is using the operation as a scheme to capture and deliver Bond to Moscow.
The story is extremely fast-paced. The action is tense and well-written. It's fun watching Bond put the pieces together and doubt who he can trust. The locations are an original and fresh change of pace for Bond and really enhances the story's atmosphere and suspense, as there is nothing glamorous or ritzy about Bond struggling to survive in the frozen forests of Finland and Russia.
There's a couple minor problems. If the Soviet Union was having problems with their weapons ending up in the hands of a terrorist faction, would they really go to the UK and US for help? And it would seem that a NATO or Russian special ops team would be more suited to carry out a reconnaissance of the enemy base in the middle of the arctic than a team of intelligence agents. But then, this is a Bond story, so I don't expect realism to get in the way of entertainment.
Overall, one of Gardner's best Bond novels and just a really great Cold War adventure for 007.
In Icebreaker, Bond is assigned to a team also consisting of American, Israeli, and Russian agents. Their mission in the arctic is to monitor a convoy of stolen high-grade military equipment from a Russian army outpost to a WWII-era bunker serving as the headquarters of the National Socialist Action Army, a well-organized neo-Nazi paramilitary group responsible for a number of terrorist attacks and assassinations. Bond quickly learns that the mission has been compromised. The team has been infiltrated by enemy agents. Additionally, the KGB is using the operation as a scheme to capture and deliver Bond to Moscow.
The story is extremely fast-paced. The action is tense and well-written. It's fun watching Bond put the pieces together and doubt who he can trust. The locations are an original and fresh change of pace for Bond and really enhances the story's atmosphere and suspense, as there is nothing glamorous or ritzy about Bond struggling to survive in the frozen forests of Finland and Russia.
There's a couple minor problems. If the Soviet Union was having problems with their weapons ending up in the hands of a terrorist faction, would they really go to the UK and US for help? And it would seem that a NATO or Russian special ops team would be more suited to carry out a reconnaissance of the enemy base in the middle of the arctic than a team of intelligence agents. But then, this is a Bond story, so I don't expect realism to get in the way of entertainment.
Overall, one of Gardner's best Bond novels and just a really great Cold War adventure for 007.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Another Solid Bond Book By Gardner
27 Nov 2001
Format:Paperback
As John Gardner's third Bond novel, Icebreaker shows an increasing understanding of the character. The novel shows a good deal of creativity as far as situations and the Neo-Nazi villains are concerned, and keeps the reader guessing as to who on Bond's team are actually on his side, especially as the book progresses. All in all, a nice adventure for Bond, and a nice time for any Bond fan.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
