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Now on the CBn main page: the final entry in the CBn John Gardner "Looking Back" series...

Looking Back: Licence To Kill

John Gardner's novelisation of the 1989 James Bond film

I honestly haven't read this since it was published back in 1989. But what I do remember is that I did not like the way he tried to tie the Leiter injury into the Fleming novels. Personally I would have preferred that he ignore Live and Let Die and treat it as more of a stand-alone novel (much the way Benson ignores Gardner).
Still it was a good read and perhaps one of the better plotted (probably in part due to the movie) of his novels, though not in the same league as my personal favorite Gardner continuation novel Icebreaker.

Yeah, it was pretty stupid. He tied the whole Leiter thing in by having Leiter's run in with the shark happen for a second time. But he never bothered explaining Milton Krest (after all he died in The Hildebrand Rarity). Like you said he should have just ignored Fleming's continuity and his own and just written it up as a novelization outside his series. There's also the Captain/Commander thing.

Wasn't the last time a character came back from the dead though. Benson accidentally did it in The Facts of Death IIRC.

Yeah, novelizations...they are what they are.

The best thing about the LTK novelization was just the fact that it was done. We hadn't had anything resembling a novelzation (not even a Fleming book with poster art) since 1979. I recall having no idea this was coming. Just one day there it was, big as life, sitting in a dumpbin in the doorway of Waldenbooks. A new Bond novelization BY John Gardner! I dropped and wept with joy as mothers hustled their children from the store and security was called.

Wow.. I wish a John Gardner book could have that effect on me. That all pretty much went away after his first couple books. They weren't bad, but they were dreadfully drab, if you ask me. Still, as far as novelizations go, Licence to Kill wasn't bad though some of Gardner's choices are odd. Like him making a statement that Bond never really liked the Walther PPK - that might have been true in the beginning, but that's just an odd statement to make 30 whatever years later, and he backed it up by dumping the Walther PPK in favor of the P38K. (Benson's first novelization also had Bond switching away from the PPK - hmm just thought of that..)

It's funny. During the BCW7 in Key West and all the collecting/trading that went on in Miami before the crew headed south, Flicka had gotten a copy and read it over the trip referring to it as an "interactive travel guide" - Zencat and Athena should remember those countless hours in the vans with her nose in that book.

Of the great piece of work that it is, one of the funniest bits is Pam's explosion after Lupe visits the hotel with her and Q. It was cute in the film. In the book it's better.

*grabs copy*

"Si!Yes. Franz is taking him on some trip, with the Chinese. They leave at ten. Please! Please! You must help him." She was also near tears. "I couldn't go on living if anything happened to him. Lord help me, I love James so much."

Q saw Pam's back stiffen and knew what might come. He hurried over and took Lupe by the arm, leading her towards the door. "My dear, you must go back to Sanchez's place before you're missed. Now, don't worry, we'll think of something." And with that he hustled her out the door.

When he turned back to Pam, the situation was much worse than he expected. The anger had flooded scarlet to her face, "The lousy, two-timing, double-crossing, lying, male chauvinist son-of-a-bitch!" she exploded. "Oh, I love James so much." She imitated Lupe's voice with a fair degree of accuracy. "Well, I'm damned if I'll help him. Self-centered, reptilian, ungrateful, fornicating, useless cretin. James bloody Bond can go to hell in a handbasket as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't even help him to cross the road."

Chapter 14 - The Temple of Meditation - Licence To Kill

Great stuff and there are more little tidbits throughout.

If you haven't read it, do so.

"Self-centered, reptilian, ungrateful, fornicating, useless cretin." But Pam is not bitter!