No Deals, Mr. Bond (1987)

Author: John Gardner Published: May 1987 MI6 Rating: Data Stream Villains: General Konstantin (Kolya) Nikolaevich Chernov, Mischa, Norman Murray Plot: Eliminating all participants in a defunct espionage operation Bond Girls: Ebbie Heritage, Heather Dare Allies: Maxim Smolin, Swift Locations: Baltic, London, Ireland, Hong Kong, Cheung Chau Island Highlights: Shootout in the castle, battle on Cheung Chau Island Capsule Synopsis The newspapers tell of two young women being murdered and mutilated. M reveals that they had both been part of a covert operation against the Russians, which had ended five years earlier. As someone operates a callous programme of revenge, it's up to Bond to pull out the remaining operatives, and track down the killers.

Above: British 1st edition Jonathan Cape hardback.

Official Blurb (First Edition USA Hardback)
James Bond is back—in his deadliest assignment ever!
Brutal murders are occurring with alarming similarities in the English countryside: After two strangled bodies with severed tongues are found near London, James Bond learns from a hasty briefing with “M” that the victims were once members of Operation Cream Cake—double agents against SMERSH, whom he had helped smuggle out of East Germany five years before. But something has gone badly wrong. To save the survivors, who are clearly earmarked for ritual killings, Bond must smoke out the traitor among them. As always here is a catch, but this time M’s own head is on the line and bond must succeed alone, with no help from anyone in the department.
This time, as the title suggests, there will be "No deals, Mr. Bond."
With little to go on, Bond rescues the beautiful Heather Dare from the same fate as her fellow operatives. Together, in a race against the clock, Bond and Heather slip into Ireland to save the next intended victim, only to realize that they face an even more deadly opponent: Kolya Chernov (code name: Blackfriar), who heads the newly reorganized, newly menacing SMERSH. Jetting to Hong Kong to ferret Chernov out of his lair, a weaponless Bond becomes the quarry of four armed and vicious assassins in a hellish version of "the most dangerous" game.
From its slam-bang opening to its breathless climax, No Deals, Mr. Bond is a roller coaster of a read packed with surprising twists, in which people never are who or what the seem—except for the ever infallible James Bond.

Official Blurb (First Edition US Paperback)
Two members of Operation cream cake - double agents against the KGB - are brutally murdered: Bond has to protect the rest, and expose the traitor amongst them. A race against the clock has begun and, with the gorgeous Heather Dare, Bond flees to Ireland, only to discover that his adversary is none other than Kolya Chernov of the KGB. Jetting to Hong Kong to ferret Chernov out of his lair, a weaponless Bond becomes the quarry of four viscous assassins in the most dangerous game 007 has ever played...

Chapter Listing Seahawk Seahawk Plus Five Dare to be Chic Ducking and Diving Jacko B Basilisk Accident Cockerel or Weasel Schloss Gruesome Interrogation Dog eat Dog Strange Meeting Blackfriar Dinner in Paris The Mystic East Swift Letter from the Dead Tung Wan Bay Meet the Robinsons Zero Hour Emperor of the Dark Heaven Death of a Double Chinese Takeaway

Top Left: American 1st edition Putnam hardback. Top Right: American 1st edition Charter paperback. Bottom Left: British 1st edition Coronet paperback. Bottom Right: Japanese edition paperback.

Excerpt
"'I would advise you to keep running, James Bond; to run as far as you can. We shall kill you tonight, I am certain of that, but in the unlikely event that I am wrong, our time will come again and I shall kill you myself. My Department will never rest until you are dead. Do you understand?'
"Bond nodded curtly and left with as much dignity as his churning stomach would allow."

Trivia
This was author John Gardner's sixth Bond adventure and is often touted as one of his best. The traditional 007 formula, which Gardner would later resent and rebuke with "The Man From Barbarossa", is in full flow here. The UK first edition hardback was the first jacket in the Gardner series not to be designed by Richard Chopping. Gardner, who was living in Ireland at the time and featured as one of the book's locations, dedicated the novel to his dear friend Tony Adamus.

Timeline