/ Literary 007 / 1983 - Icebreaker /
Summary
Written by Ross Sidor on 06 Oct, 2002
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John Gardner’s Icebreaker was published in 1983, and is often considered as the author’s best contribution to the James Bond series
Looking Back: Icebreaker
The Man Who Taught 007 to Drive on Ice
“The Silver Beast”
James Bond has never been on a mission like the one described in Icebreaker, not in the best-selling License Renewed, not even in For Special Services. Posted by M to the freezing forests of north Finland in winter, the indomitable 007 is obliged against his better judgment to collaborate with fellow agents of the KGB, the CIA, and Mossad (the Israeli Secret Service). Their task: to discover, fix, and, if feasible, eradicate a secret neo-Nazi core group whose worldwide terrorist activities have reached alarming proportions and whose headquarters, the Ice Palace, may well be across the border in Arctic Russia. Right From the start, Bond senses that things aren’t what they seem. First there is Paula Vacker, Bond’s old Helsinki dalliance. But if Paula is a dalliance, why are two knife-wielding professionals waiting for Bond in her apartment? And why the three giant snow plows, lying in ambush on the frozen nocturnal roads of the North to make a sausage of Bond’s Saab? Then there are his mission partners: Kolya Mosolov of the KGB, the chameleon with a thousand faces; “Bad” Brad Tirpitz of the CIA, given to calling a spade a shovel, who trails Bond’s snow scooter on of his own; and Rivke Ingber of Mossad, whose wiles and beauty entice Bond to one of the rare blunders of his career. Behind them all lurks the mysterious Count von Gloda, he of the Nazi calling, deviser (among other things) of the ice torture, as deadly a power as Bond has encountered. For, unknown to Bond, von Gloda has made a pact with the KGB. Von Gloda’s part of the bargain? To deliver James Bond-alive if possible! The heirs of SMERSH, it seems, have long memories indeed. -Putnam dust jacket
Shifting down, Bond glanced into his mirror. Behind him, with its lights also on full, a second plow appeared, presumably from the turning he had just passed. He allowed the cart to coast, then picked up the engine again, edging gently forward. If there were bad falls of snow ahead and even off to the east, he wanted to pull over as far as possible and allow the great juggernaut completely right of passage. As he pulled over, bond realized the plow ahead was holding the center of the road. Another glance in the mirror told him the plow behind was doing the same thing. In that instant, Bond felt the hair on the nape of his neck prickle with the sensed danger. He passed a crossroads and one glance to the right told him the road was relatively clear. These plows, therefore, were not out on their normal job: their purpose was more sinister. Bond was only three seconds past the crossroads when he acted, turning the wheel hard right, slamming his left foot hard onto the brake, feeling the back begin to swing into the inevitable skid, then gunning the accelerator, spinning the Saab in a controlled turn. In that one instant, Bond had changed direction. Gently, he increased the revs, correcting the back swing which would send him into a second spin across the coating of ice below him. - Chapter 6, Icebreaker |
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