Summary

This is the tenth novel in John Gardner’s James Bond series, published in 1990.

Bond is bored sitting at his desk, pushing paper, and feels that M has let him down, has left him to rot. When M suggests that he take a holiday, Bond is displeased but, in the Californian hills, he catches sight of a man who intrigues him immediately. His name is Brokenclaw Lee.

When Bond discovers that the enigmatic Brokenclaw heads a vast conglomerate of underworld operations, he wonders if M’s idea that he should go to on holiday was the clear-cut proposal it seemed. What has happened to the five scientists whose highly sensitive, secret work is crucial to the security of the American state? Why are Bond’s investigations compelling American agents to handle him as though he were a common criminal?

As ever, bond finds a worthy partner in a beautiful female agent – Chi-Chi. This time, however, he has the support of the indomitable Ed Rushia of the CIA. Just how much help will these two be able to give Bond when he is pitted against of America’s most powerful villains?

Brokenclaw is an intriguing and stimulating thriller which will delight old and new fans of Bond. It takes our hero through the slimiest parts of San Francisco to Brokenclaw’s lair, a puzzle house crammed with technological devices, to a spellbinding ending in the heartland of the Native Americans.

John Gardner was a British journalist and best-selling author who published over 50 books.  He died in Hampshire in 2007.