The 007 Re-Read Project: For Special Services by John Gardner

Then-new Bond continuation novelist John Gardner's 007 debut, License Renewed, had been a critical and commercial success, and he sought to raise the stakes a bit with his follow-up novel. I remember enjoying this one quite a bit when I read it about 25 years ago, so I was interested to see how it would hold up. Grab hold of your martinis, and let's find out! As ever, I won't blow the entire plot, but there are  

SPOILERS AHEAD!

After assisting the SAS in foiling a string of violent mid-air plane robberies, James Bond finds himself summoned to M's office. He finds M sitting with an attractive young woman who seems oddly familiar. M introduces her as Cedar Leiter, the daughter of his old friend Felix! Flabbergasted, Bond sits to listen to the mission briefing. A scrap of paper found on the body of an FBI agent in the swamps of Louisiana indicates the existence of a resurgent SPECTRE, led by someone calling themselves Blofeld. Bond is sure it can't possibly be his old nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld-- with some justification, as even in the often comic book-esque world of 007, Blofeld received just about as definitive a death as possible-- but either way, a revived SPECTRE in any form is a threat to be taken seriously. And Bond, of course, has a personal interest in unmasking this new Blofeld.

The trail leads to Markus Bismaquer, an immensely wealthy (former?) Nazi sympathizer who has built his own private city in the middle of the desert in the American west, complete with a full-scale replica of Tara from Gone with the Wind. The dead FBI agent whose body yielded the SPECTRE clue, along with several other agents, had been sent to investigate suspicious activity at Bismaquer's compound. Bond and Cedar ingratiate themselves with Bismaquer and infiltrate his compound. They meet Bismaquer's wife, Nena, and his Smithers, Walter Luxor. In a shocking turn of events, Nena quickly falls for Bond, and warns him of the imminent danger they face. As for Luxor, Bond quickly begins to suspect that he may actually be the head of SPECTRE, rather than Bismaquer. Bond and Cedar investigate both of their prime suspects, and attempt to uncover SPECTRE's plan, as the rest of SPECTRE's top-level members begin to arrive for a meeting that will surely signal its initiation. And unbeknownst to Bond, Blofeld has reserved a key role in their plot just for him...

 One of the biggest issues with this novel is its pacing. There's a sizeable section early on that sees Bond and Cedar masquerading as a professor and his wife who have uncovered extremely rare prints in a bid to attract Bismaquer's attention. A group of extremely generic thugs hassle them, leading to a tussle and a halfway decent death trap. This entire section of the novel is so inconsequential that it seems to have been included solely to pad out the page count. The prints serve as a method to get into Bismaquer's compound, but that could have been easily achieved without wasting several chapters. Bond's cover identity is so useless that he just ditches it after the second thug attack, and things proceed just fine. At least when Gardner brings the leader of the thugs back later in the novel he serves a more important purpose. 

Once we're in the compound, there's quite a bit of standing around and talking, but there's nearly always a sense of things moving forward. Personally, I found it impossible not to read Bismaquer's dialogue in the voice of the Rich Texan from The Simpsons! Whether that's an asset or a hindrance depends on your own sensibilities. Bismaquer is easily one of the chummiest of Bond villains, and several scenes lend credence to Bond's suspicion that it may be Luxor who is actually leading SPECTRE. Luxor has a pretty interesting appearance and background, and he serves as the antagonist in the novel's best action setpiece. I found the revelation of the new Blofeld pretty satisfying, along with the identity of the person who helped Bond near the novel's end. Both reveals defy expectations in a very interesting manner, though the new Blofeld is sadly dispatched far too abruptly. 

There is one more thing that simply has to be addressed, and that is the character of Cedar Leiter. There's nothing really problematic about the concept itself, though it may age Felix a bit more than many readers would like. The real problem is the constant effort to force a romance between the two, though Bond does vehemently resist it. Still, even though the novel itself acknowledges how inappropriate and downright creepy it would be for Bond to have a sexual fling with the daughter of his best friend, it ends with a situation that seems guaranteed to lead there, anyway. It's nice to see Felix himself appear at the end, but the whole "gift of a daughter" thing is just stomach-churning. Even in 1982, this had to seem pretty fucked up, right?

Notable Quotes:

 "The Silver Beast" was the nickname members of the service had given to Bond's personal car-- the Saab 900 Turbo: his own property, with the special technology built into it at his expense. Jibes about it being Bond's "toy" received only a polite smile from 007; and he knew that Major Boothroyd, the Armourer, had constantly sniffed around the machine in an attempt to discover all its secrets: the hidden compartments, tear gas ducts, and new refinements recently built into the bullet-proofed vehicle. 

(The Silver Beast was a beloved part of the Gardner Bonds, and I love the idea of Q having a bit of professional jealousy over Bond having it modified elsewhere on his own dime!)

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   Bond did not blush, even though "gentlemen" was scarcely a word ladies used to describe him. 

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 "To be honest with you, Bond... if it wasn't for that predatory Nena woman, I'd put Bismaquer down as a faggot."

"Right the first time," Bond said.

"Lawks-a-mercy." Cedar  gave a satisfied smirk as they turned into Tara's main drive. "I'se sick, Mizz Scarlet, I'se sick." 

(Notable for all the wrong reasons. This one has several layers of "HOLY SHIT!" packed into it. Product of its time, and all that, and people can bitch about things today being "too PC" or "woke" all they want, but I'm still glad we don't commonly see exchanges like this in our entertainment these days.)

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This novel didn't hold up as well as its predecessor, and certainly not to my memories of reading it when I was a teen back in the late '90s, but I did find plenty to enjoy within its pages. The possibility of the Cedar romance is problematic, and I could hardly believe the quote above when I read it, but that is the novel at its absolute worst. You have to keep the context of the time in which the novel was published in mind when you read one of these, and enjoy it based on its merits despite things that stand out in a negative way. Not everyone can do that, and that's okay, but this is definitely one to skip if you can't compartmentalize certain elements of it in that way. If you can, however, give this one a read. The problematic bits don't come close to overwhelming the good bits. It's not one of the best Bonds, but it's well worth a read. It's also worth noting that this new version of SPECTRE sticks around for awhile, so the novel does have a long-term impact on the series. Next time, we'll be looking at another one I remember really enjoying, Icebreaker! Hopefully it'll hold up a bit better. See you then!