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John Gardner's Bond #3
Icebreaker
In Icebreaker, as indestructible as ever, Bond is back in another mission—a deadly assignment undertaken in cohort with Bond’s opposite numbers from the United States, the Soviet Union, and Israel in the desolate Arctic wastes of Lapland. Yet if resurgent fascism is the common enemy, who is really to be feared? Is it the breezy American or the voluptuous Israeli who is acting as a double agent? Are the Finns merely using Bond to break the KGB's stranglehold on their tenuous national autonomy? Never has Bond encountered such an unnervingly deceitful bunch of collaborators or been subjected to such a bewildering series of potentially lethal shocks.
250 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1983
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1000 people want to read
About the author
John Gardner
113 books179 followersBefore coming an author of fiction in the early 1960s, John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist. In all, Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year. He was also invited by Ian Fleming’s literary copyright holders to write a series of continuation James Bond novels, which proved to be so successful that instead of the contracted three books he went on to publish some fourteen titles, including Licence Renewed and Icebreaker.
Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.
Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
December 21, 2022
John Gardner's third James Bond novel is one that I haven't read since it was first published in 1983, so I thought it might be time for a revisit.
Gardner's plot is adequate, but the twists become a little excessive in the end. The main villain is incredibly dull, but there are some good action sequences & a torture scene that would have fitted nicely into a Fleming novel.
I've reread the first three Gardner 007 novels this year, but don't feel the need to return to the others again. There are plenty of better things out there.
Gardner's plot is adequate, but the twists become a little excessive in the end. The main villain is incredibly dull, but there are some good action sequences & a torture scene that would have fitted nicely into a Fleming novel.
I've reread the first three Gardner 007 novels this year, but don't feel the need to return to the others again. There are plenty of better things out there.
June 23, 2025
A decent entry in the Gardner Bond series, an old-fashioned Cold War plot involving Communists, Nazis and the Soviet Union - a reminder that the 1980s were not that far away from the end World War 2! Enough plot twists to keep it interesting and an intriguing location on the Finland-Russian border, which still has relevance today.
May 6, 2016
So, I relented and gave Gardner another chance. After the frankly disturbing end to the previous Bond novel, For Special Services, I was tempted to walk away but for pennies plus postage for an almost-new copy of Icebreaker at least I'm not really bumping his sales directly. The Gardner run has to end eventually (he did write 14 of these things) and another (read: hopefully better) author will take the reins – or maybe he's improving with time?
And, maybe, just maybe he is ... It starts with a good start, some solid functional scene setting and then straight into the action. Bond finds himself drawn into the ongoing operation Icebreaker. Given very little briefing by M he's on the Finnish/Russian border with a Russian, an American and an Israeli. It starts to sound like the beginning of a joke, but the jokes come later once Gardner gets going – really the idea of small group of Finnish Nazis rising again to try and take on the world seems laughable – although at least there's no goose-stepping. The number of double-crosses and double-double-crosses is insane, and while it's not overly confusing you do soon start to assume that everybody is going to change sides at least once during the book. The language is typically wooden, jumping between dialogue and third-person mid conversation, in a way that just feels stupidly clumsy.
But while it's far from a great book, it's not a bad Gardner Bond. There are definite signs of improvement here. I feel like we've turned an important corner. Most of the misogyny appears to have gone, although again Gardner seems to spoil that win somewhat by making Bond suddenly some kind of male incompetent, unable to decide which woman he loves/trusts implicitly or which woman he no longer loves/trusts implicitly. He completely loses any ability to form objective judgements of those he's working with – especially the various women – gone is the decisive Bond who trusts no one and instead he can't even be bothered to order simple background checks preferring instead to "uhm" and "ahh" his way through each character assessment. In fact, Bond appears to be the only spy in the game who isn't living up to his mistrust quota. The others seem to be acting out some pulp Mafia story rather than pretending to be professional spys. At the first opportunity Bond is over-sharing with the wrong woman when he should be getting his mistrustful spy on instead.
And, maybe, just maybe he is ... It starts with a good start, some solid functional scene setting and then straight into the action. Bond finds himself drawn into the ongoing operation Icebreaker. Given very little briefing by M he's on the Finnish/Russian border with a Russian, an American and an Israeli. It starts to sound like the beginning of a joke, but the jokes come later once Gardner gets going – really the idea of small group of Finnish Nazis rising again to try and take on the world seems laughable – although at least there's no goose-stepping. The number of double-crosses and double-double-crosses is insane, and while it's not overly confusing you do soon start to assume that everybody is going to change sides at least once during the book. The language is typically wooden, jumping between dialogue and third-person mid conversation, in a way that just feels stupidly clumsy.
But while it's far from a great book, it's not a bad Gardner Bond. There are definite signs of improvement here. I feel like we've turned an important corner. Most of the misogyny appears to have gone, although again Gardner seems to spoil that win somewhat by making Bond suddenly some kind of male incompetent, unable to decide which woman he loves/trusts implicitly or which woman he no longer loves/trusts implicitly. He completely loses any ability to form objective judgements of those he's working with – especially the various women – gone is the decisive Bond who trusts no one and instead he can't even be bothered to order simple background checks preferring instead to "uhm" and "ahh" his way through each character assessment. In fact, Bond appears to be the only spy in the game who isn't living up to his mistrust quota. The others seem to be acting out some pulp Mafia story rather than pretending to be professional spys. At the first opportunity Bond is over-sharing with the wrong woman when he should be getting his mistrustful spy on instead.
December 28, 2020
My year for Bond, James Bond. I read four Bond thrillers this year. Started off with
by Raymond Benson, and then the first three Bond thrillers by John Gardner:
and
and Icebreaker. Loved it. I applaud that new authors are continuing the tradition of James Bond. To me Bond is an eternal character who can fit in anywhere. Why pigeon hole him in the late 50's or 60's. Adjust his character thru time, like the movies. I enjoyed this thriller and have no problems with Gardner or Raymond Benson. I already have the next two John Gardner Bond books on my shelf ready to go.
by Raymond Benson, and then the first three Bond thrillers by John Gardner:
and
and Icebreaker. Loved it. I applaud that new authors are continuing the tradition of James Bond. To me Bond is an eternal character who can fit in anywhere. Why pigeon hole him in the late 50's or 60's. Adjust his character thru time, like the movies. I enjoyed this thriller and have no problems with Gardner or Raymond Benson. I already have the next two John Gardner Bond books on my shelf ready to go.
August 21, 2010
3.5 stars. The third James Bond book by Gardner and my personal favorite. Gardner does a good job writing Bond as a modern version if the iconic character.
July 18, 2024
I reread 'License Renewed' last month. Realized (thanks to Goodreads) that I read the second of Gardner's Bond books 'For Special Services' back in 2016 and remember it well enough not to reread it. I think 'Icebreaker' is the best of Gardner's Bond efforts so far. Really enjoyed the setting in the frozen Finland, Russia, etc. during our Southern California desert record heat wave. Some surprises for me in this one. I'm taking a little break before moving on to 'Role of Honor.
September 15, 2019
Of John Gardner's 007 continuation novels, "Icebreaker" is the best.
James Bond (the 00-program is no longer functional) finds himself called in to investigate a Nazi resurgence in 1999 alongside an American, Israeli and Russian.
Nothing is as it seems, as no one is who one believes them to be, double-crossing and surprises occur right up until the final pages, and much of this novel feels genuine to the Fleming legacy.
Bond makes a mistake midway through that I don't believe Fleming's Bond would make, but overall, this book is excellent.
4 stars.
**************************
ICEBREAKER is the third 007 novel by John Gardner, and certainly reflects Gardner settling into the role as Fleming's successor. Personally, I feel the Fleming novels are superior to anything out there, but Icebreaker is a page-turner of a must-read if you are fan of the canon. 007 becomes part of an operation working with the Soviets despite his long history with them against none other than resurgent Nazi forces, alongside a group of agents with whom he shares mutual distrust as he pieces together the mystery of who's behind the new Reich. While Bond makes a mistake 3/4 of the way through the novel that I don't think Fleming's Bond would have (perhaps the film Bond would have), I found myself very drawn into this well crafted book that manages to still reference Fleming's James Bond but forge him into new, exciting territory in an action-packed way. Best of the first three Gardner Bond books.
James Bond (the 00-program is no longer functional) finds himself called in to investigate a Nazi resurgence in 1999 alongside an American, Israeli and Russian.
Nothing is as it seems, as no one is who one believes them to be, double-crossing and surprises occur right up until the final pages, and much of this novel feels genuine to the Fleming legacy.
Bond makes a mistake midway through that I don't believe Fleming's Bond would make, but overall, this book is excellent.
4 stars.
**************************
ICEBREAKER is the third 007 novel by John Gardner, and certainly reflects Gardner settling into the role as Fleming's successor. Personally, I feel the Fleming novels are superior to anything out there, but Icebreaker is a page-turner of a must-read if you are fan of the canon. 007 becomes part of an operation working with the Soviets despite his long history with them against none other than resurgent Nazi forces, alongside a group of agents with whom he shares mutual distrust as he pieces together the mystery of who's behind the new Reich. While Bond makes a mistake 3/4 of the way through the novel that I don't think Fleming's Bond would have (perhaps the film Bond would have), I found myself very drawn into this well crafted book that manages to still reference Fleming's James Bond but forge him into new, exciting territory in an action-packed way. Best of the first three Gardner Bond books.
May 10, 2021
Actually my favorite 007 novel thus far... & I Haven't read all the ones written by Ian Flemming...
But yeah, if James Bond wasn't number 1 in the spy World before, he ranked up in this explosive novel full of double & triple crosses out in the ice where nobody is beyond freezing.... & 007 trained for the job in the Antarctic region 🔥
So real I had to read it again...
But yeah, if James Bond wasn't number 1 in the spy World before, he ranked up in this explosive novel full of double & triple crosses out in the ice where nobody is beyond freezing.... & 007 trained for the job in the Antarctic region 🔥
So real I had to read it again...
January 30, 2021
Not bad. Very close in style to the books by Ian Fleming. Reasonable story.
June 22, 2017
Okay, so the plot was a little too convoluted. Shut up! It's Bond. Yeah, not Fleming but still riveting in its own fashioned? What? Don't judge me. I liked it! I did. Not wonderful, but I already read War and Peace, and I knew what I was getting into.
And it's Bond. So shut your pie hole and pass the Ritz crackers.
And it's Bond. So shut your pie hole and pass the Ritz crackers.
July 26, 2019
I’m on vacation. It’s a James Bond adventure.....what’s not to like?
June 19, 2020
Well, I really enjoyed this one. I may not have understood the book, nor am I sure if any of it makes sense, but I do know I liked this third James Bond book by John Gardner very much. "Icebreaker" is a page-turner for sure and...it is maybe the strangest 007 novel yet. Did James Bond really save the day in "Icebreaker"?? I do not know.
What made "Icebreaker"so good was that it was structured as a mystery thriller. Mystery, you say? Yes, I say, a mystery. James Bond is assigned an operation out of Finland in an effort to stop an evil fascist terrorist group called the NSAA: National Socialist Action Army, whose mission was to destroy any link to communism through violent massacres and assassinations. Bond is brought in to work on a joint venture with selected members of the CIA, the Mossad, and the KGB in order to locate the NSAA headquarters and end their rein of terror. BUT...
NO ONE is to be trusted. Despite the team effort, Bond had to be wary of his partners in Operation Icebreaker. Could he trust Mossad agent Rivke Ingber, CIA operative Brad Tirpitz, and especially KGB agent Kolya Mosolov?? Was any of them on the level? Any what about his Finnish lover Paula Vacker? Two hoods broke into her Finland apartment with knives and threatened James Bond (before he vanquished them), and now Paula's apartment has been ransacked and she's disappeared! How did they know Bond would be there? Paula only informed one person about Bond's presence in Finland, co-worker Anni Tudeer. What to make of ANY of this? It's weird for a James Bond book to be set-up like this. Unlike any other James Bond book I have read, 007 is kept in the dark...for the length of the entire book! WHAT???? Crazy!!
So, back to Operation Icebreaker. Rivke throws herself at Bond, tells him to not trust Brad Tirpitz and Kolya Mosolov. Then London informs Bond that Paula Vacker's co-worker Anni Tudeer is the daughter of the infamous World War II Nazi war criminal Aarne Tudeer, and that it is Aarne Tudeer who is the most likely candidate as the head of the crazy NSAA. Wow. Then, Bond gets a rare photo of Anni Tudeer, and discovers that Anni Tudeer is Rivke Ingber! WHAT?? James Bond is like "what is HAPPENING here?"
Then, Bond gets Rivke Ingber to admit her true identity, and in turn Rivke/Anni tells James Bond her long journey from daughter of tyrant Nazi to loyal Israeli member of the Mossad. Great. Bond and Rivke/Anni hook up. Great. Brad Tirpitz is an arrogant tool, Kolya Mosolov is a shady motherf*cker. Great. Rivke/Anni is wild in the sack, fantastic. All well and good. Operation Icebreaker, all systems go...
...BUT, James Bond gets a crazy-psycho call from Paula, threatening to kill Rivke/Anni, AND... Rivke/Anni is almost killed while skiing, and her injured body is taken away by...a fake ambulance! Oh no! Rivke/Anni has disappeared! WHERE did the ambulance take her? Was it Paula? Does Paula now work for the NSAA?? Has Rivke/Anni been murdered?? WHAT is HAPPENING here? 007 has no clue. He can only guess.
THEN, Brad Tirpitz tries to team up with Bond against the untrustworthy Kolya Mosolov. According to Brad, Kolya has arranged to have both Brad and Bond killed on the way to the Finnish/Russian border. So on the way to the Finnish/Russian border, and the site of the now-located NSAA headquarters, Brad Tirpitz is blown up on his ski-scooter thing. Two down, two to go. With no time to spare, Bond and Mosolov carry on with the mission traveling north in the freezing cold toward the Finnish/Russian border. At this point in the book, all bets are off because ANYTHING could happen, and it does...
...because Kolya Mosolov double-crosses James Bond, and leads him directly into the heavily armed NSAA army. Mosolov has made a deal with NSAA in order to lure Bond to Russia, and capture him as a prisoner of the state, and long-time enemy of Russian intelligence agency S.M.E.R.S.H. And who is there with Kolya? Paula Vacker, of course, 007's old friend of many years. Turns out she's evil, and is in cahoots with both Kolya Mosolov AND the insane, evil former Nazi Aarne Tudeer, who now calls himself Count von Glōda...and Führer of the great NSAA army. Well, how bout that??
So, crazy Count von Glōda meets with James Bond, explains his plan to take over the world via a new and improved Fourth Reich , and tries to get 007 to spill the beans about what British intelligence knows about the NSAA, and where is British intelligence keeping their NSAA prisoner? Bond says nothing, so Count von Glōda brings out, who else? Brad Tirpitz! Yup, Tirpitz faked his own death, and his real name is Hans Buchtman. Meanwhile James Bond is thinking WHAT is happening??? Yet Bond barely has time to put all the pieces together because Brad Tirpitz/Hans Buchtman tortures 007 by stripping him naked outside in the cold, and lowering him into ice-cold water to freeze and drown. There is no way 007 can get out of this one, especially since he refuses to give NSAA any information. So, James Bond freezes and passes out.
...THEN, 007 wakes up in a hospital bed next to...Rivke/Anni! Yay, she's alive!! Her legs are in traction from the skiing incident, yet Rivke/Anni is alive and well. Relived, Bond tells Rivke everything that has happened. Since he almost died from frostbite and drowning, and was not entirely his usual self, Bond also tells Rivke/Anni what he thinks British intelligence knows about the NSAA AND where British intelligence is keeping their NSAA prisoner.
THEN...crazy evil Paula Vacker marches into the room, and tells Bond to get dressed as its time to escape the NSAA compound! So...evil Paula Vacker is not evil!! Or...is she? Maybe? When Bond resists a little, Paula tells 007 that Rivke/Anni is actually Evil Rivke/Anni, the loyal daughter of Count von Glōda, and that Rivke/Anni's ski mountain injuries are fake! THEN...Rivke/Anni leaps out of her bed (and her fake leg-casts) and takes out a gun...but not before Paula Vacker shoots her dead. Meanwhile, both James Bond and myself are asking the time-old question WHAT is happening here??
So, it turns out Paula Vacker is actually an agent for the Finnish secret service, and she worked as a double-agent. James Bond follows her lead, as she heads to a secret camp nearby. But, Kolya Mosolov comes back and tries to capture Bond, and then is captured himself instead by Paula Vacker's men. It is then that Kolya Mosolov reveals his plan to double-cross Count von Glōda, as a Russian air strike has been ordered to destroy Count von Glōda's headquarters. And the planes come and destroy Count von Glōda's headquarters, yet Mosolov escapes!! Bond and Paula Vacker race to the Finnish border as the Russians try to murder them with bullets and bombs.
Bond and Paula Vacker make it back to Helsinki in one piece, have great sex BUT...Oh no! Kolya Mosolov breaks into their room, drugs Paula and kidnaps Bond. There is no escaping danger this time 007. Yet, of course, Bond thankfully figures out a way, and the next thing you know...Koyla be dead, yet not before 007 learns of Kolya plan to deliver Bond to Russia and what remains of S.M.E.R.S.H., yet not before using James Bond as bait to capture and kill Count von Glōda at the Finnish airport. Great. Bond as Bait. That's the whole book in a nutshell: Bond as Bait. Otherwise, he serves no purpose in "Icebreaker"..and is not really the hero of the book. Right? I mean, was ANYONE a hero in "Icebreaker"??
At the airport, Bond finds Count von Glōda before he got on a plane, and soon finds himself shooting it out with the Count, with like bullets and stuff. Bond goes down, yet not before killing the Count.
Yet friggin Brad Tirpitz/Hans Buchtman is there as well, saying "No Bond, we want to capture him alive!" So, huh? Brad Tirpitz/Hans Buchtman is good now? Yup, he is. At the end, Brad Tirpitz reveals he is NOT Hans Buchtman, but a CIA double agent. What is HAPPENING here? TWO double-agents in one book? No, counting Paula, Brad AND Rivke, "Icebreaker" has no less than THREE double-agents!!
Right, so yes, "Icebreaker" is crazy. Nothing is what it seems, and no one is who they initially say they are...except maybe Kolya (yet he was a shady bastard). John Gardner wrote a James Bond novel where James Bond never knows what is actually going on until the very end. Wild! What a strange, and fascinating book. The reader gets 007, and also gets a mystery-thriller as to what's happening in and around him, with the rules and motives changing by the minute! Fantastic!! What IS happening? A fascinating and crazy and unique James Bond book called "Icebreaker," THAT'S what is happening.
What made "Icebreaker"so good was that it was structured as a mystery thriller. Mystery, you say? Yes, I say, a mystery. James Bond is assigned an operation out of Finland in an effort to stop an evil fascist terrorist group called the NSAA: National Socialist Action Army, whose mission was to destroy any link to communism through violent massacres and assassinations. Bond is brought in to work on a joint venture with selected members of the CIA, the Mossad, and the KGB in order to locate the NSAA headquarters and end their rein of terror. BUT...
NO ONE is to be trusted. Despite the team effort, Bond had to be wary of his partners in Operation Icebreaker. Could he trust Mossad agent Rivke Ingber, CIA operative Brad Tirpitz, and especially KGB agent Kolya Mosolov?? Was any of them on the level? Any what about his Finnish lover Paula Vacker? Two hoods broke into her Finland apartment with knives and threatened James Bond (before he vanquished them), and now Paula's apartment has been ransacked and she's disappeared! How did they know Bond would be there? Paula only informed one person about Bond's presence in Finland, co-worker Anni Tudeer. What to make of ANY of this? It's weird for a James Bond book to be set-up like this. Unlike any other James Bond book I have read, 007 is kept in the dark...for the length of the entire book! WHAT???? Crazy!!
So, back to Operation Icebreaker. Rivke throws herself at Bond, tells him to not trust Brad Tirpitz and Kolya Mosolov. Then London informs Bond that Paula Vacker's co-worker Anni Tudeer is the daughter of the infamous World War II Nazi war criminal Aarne Tudeer, and that it is Aarne Tudeer who is the most likely candidate as the head of the crazy NSAA. Wow. Then, Bond gets a rare photo of Anni Tudeer, and discovers that Anni Tudeer is Rivke Ingber! WHAT?? James Bond is like "what is HAPPENING here?"
Then, Bond gets Rivke Ingber to admit her true identity, and in turn Rivke/Anni tells James Bond her long journey from daughter of tyrant Nazi to loyal Israeli member of the Mossad. Great. Bond and Rivke/Anni hook up. Great. Brad Tirpitz is an arrogant tool, Kolya Mosolov is a shady motherf*cker. Great. Rivke/Anni is wild in the sack, fantastic. All well and good. Operation Icebreaker, all systems go...
...BUT, James Bond gets a crazy-psycho call from Paula, threatening to kill Rivke/Anni, AND... Rivke/Anni is almost killed while skiing, and her injured body is taken away by...a fake ambulance! Oh no! Rivke/Anni has disappeared! WHERE did the ambulance take her? Was it Paula? Does Paula now work for the NSAA?? Has Rivke/Anni been murdered?? WHAT is HAPPENING here? 007 has no clue. He can only guess.
THEN, Brad Tirpitz tries to team up with Bond against the untrustworthy Kolya Mosolov. According to Brad, Kolya has arranged to have both Brad and Bond killed on the way to the Finnish/Russian border. So on the way to the Finnish/Russian border, and the site of the now-located NSAA headquarters, Brad Tirpitz is blown up on his ski-scooter thing. Two down, two to go. With no time to spare, Bond and Mosolov carry on with the mission traveling north in the freezing cold toward the Finnish/Russian border. At this point in the book, all bets are off because ANYTHING could happen, and it does...
...because Kolya Mosolov double-crosses James Bond, and leads him directly into the heavily armed NSAA army. Mosolov has made a deal with NSAA in order to lure Bond to Russia, and capture him as a prisoner of the state, and long-time enemy of Russian intelligence agency S.M.E.R.S.H. And who is there with Kolya? Paula Vacker, of course, 007's old friend of many years. Turns out she's evil, and is in cahoots with both Kolya Mosolov AND the insane, evil former Nazi Aarne Tudeer, who now calls himself Count von Glōda...and Führer of the great NSAA army. Well, how bout that??
So, crazy Count von Glōda meets with James Bond, explains his plan to take over the world via a new and improved Fourth Reich , and tries to get 007 to spill the beans about what British intelligence knows about the NSAA, and where is British intelligence keeping their NSAA prisoner? Bond says nothing, so Count von Glōda brings out, who else? Brad Tirpitz! Yup, Tirpitz faked his own death, and his real name is Hans Buchtman. Meanwhile James Bond is thinking WHAT is happening??? Yet Bond barely has time to put all the pieces together because Brad Tirpitz/Hans Buchtman tortures 007 by stripping him naked outside in the cold, and lowering him into ice-cold water to freeze and drown. There is no way 007 can get out of this one, especially since he refuses to give NSAA any information. So, James Bond freezes and passes out.
...THEN, 007 wakes up in a hospital bed next to...Rivke/Anni! Yay, she's alive!! Her legs are in traction from the skiing incident, yet Rivke/Anni is alive and well. Relived, Bond tells Rivke everything that has happened. Since he almost died from frostbite and drowning, and was not entirely his usual self, Bond also tells Rivke/Anni what he thinks British intelligence knows about the NSAA AND where British intelligence is keeping their NSAA prisoner.
THEN...crazy evil Paula Vacker marches into the room, and tells Bond to get dressed as its time to escape the NSAA compound! So...evil Paula Vacker is not evil!! Or...is she? Maybe? When Bond resists a little, Paula tells 007 that Rivke/Anni is actually Evil Rivke/Anni, the loyal daughter of Count von Glōda, and that Rivke/Anni's ski mountain injuries are fake! THEN...Rivke/Anni leaps out of her bed (and her fake leg-casts) and takes out a gun...but not before Paula Vacker shoots her dead. Meanwhile, both James Bond and myself are asking the time-old question WHAT is happening here??
So, it turns out Paula Vacker is actually an agent for the Finnish secret service, and she worked as a double-agent. James Bond follows her lead, as she heads to a secret camp nearby. But, Kolya Mosolov comes back and tries to capture Bond, and then is captured himself instead by Paula Vacker's men. It is then that Kolya Mosolov reveals his plan to double-cross Count von Glōda, as a Russian air strike has been ordered to destroy Count von Glōda's headquarters. And the planes come and destroy Count von Glōda's headquarters, yet Mosolov escapes!! Bond and Paula Vacker race to the Finnish border as the Russians try to murder them with bullets and bombs.
Bond and Paula Vacker make it back to Helsinki in one piece, have great sex BUT...Oh no! Kolya Mosolov breaks into their room, drugs Paula and kidnaps Bond. There is no escaping danger this time 007. Yet, of course, Bond thankfully figures out a way, and the next thing you know...Koyla be dead, yet not before 007 learns of Kolya plan to deliver Bond to Russia and what remains of S.M.E.R.S.H., yet not before using James Bond as bait to capture and kill Count von Glōda at the Finnish airport. Great. Bond as Bait. That's the whole book in a nutshell: Bond as Bait. Otherwise, he serves no purpose in "Icebreaker"..and is not really the hero of the book. Right? I mean, was ANYONE a hero in "Icebreaker"??
At the airport, Bond finds Count von Glōda before he got on a plane, and soon finds himself shooting it out with the Count, with like bullets and stuff. Bond goes down, yet not before killing the Count.
Yet friggin Brad Tirpitz/Hans Buchtman is there as well, saying "No Bond, we want to capture him alive!" So, huh? Brad Tirpitz/Hans Buchtman is good now? Yup, he is. At the end, Brad Tirpitz reveals he is NOT Hans Buchtman, but a CIA double agent. What is HAPPENING here? TWO double-agents in one book? No, counting Paula, Brad AND Rivke, "Icebreaker" has no less than THREE double-agents!!
Right, so yes, "Icebreaker" is crazy. Nothing is what it seems, and no one is who they initially say they are...except maybe Kolya (yet he was a shady bastard). John Gardner wrote a James Bond novel where James Bond never knows what is actually going on until the very end. Wild! What a strange, and fascinating book. The reader gets 007, and also gets a mystery-thriller as to what's happening in and around him, with the rules and motives changing by the minute! Fantastic!! What IS happening? A fascinating and crazy and unique James Bond book called "Icebreaker," THAT'S what is happening.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2024
Something different. Bond has to work with spies from different countries. I don’t really get to know them so what happens in the first hundred pages, isn’t thrilling. A lot of exposition and dialogue. It was still ok. The action picks up at the 200 page place. Action moves fast. Double turns. Bond is going to be traded to the Soviets by the villain.
The last third of the book is fast and adventurous.
The last third of the book is fast and adventurous.
April 21, 2017
Gardner does it again! This time chasing Nazi war criminals to the Russian / Finnish border. But there is even more treachery abound within this volume, as Bond joins an international team of The CIA, Mossad (Israeli), KGB and of course MI5.
But as double crosses and triple crosses happen, an old Fleming enemy rises its head.... SMERSH, the Russian organization that's motto is "death to spies"
A great Bond story.
Overall rating of book series:
1 - Casino Royale / On Her Majesty' Secret Service
2 - Goldfinger / For Special Services
3 - From Russia with Love / License Renewed
4 - Live and Let Die
5 - Diamonds are Forever / Dr. No / Icebreaker
6 - Moonraker
7 - Colonel Sun
8 - Thunderball
9 - James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (Wood)
10 - You Only Live Twice
11 - For Your Eyes Only / Octopussy & The Living Daylights
12 - The Man with the Golden Gun
13 - The Spy Who Loved Me
14 - James Bond and Moonraker (Wood)
But as double crosses and triple crosses happen, an old Fleming enemy rises its head.... SMERSH, the Russian organization that's motto is "death to spies"
A great Bond story.
Overall rating of book series:
1 - Casino Royale / On Her Majesty' Secret Service
2 - Goldfinger / For Special Services
3 - From Russia with Love / License Renewed
4 - Live and Let Die
5 - Diamonds are Forever / Dr. No / Icebreaker
6 - Moonraker
7 - Colonel Sun
8 - Thunderball
9 - James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (Wood)
10 - You Only Live Twice
11 - For Your Eyes Only / Octopussy & The Living Daylights
12 - The Man with the Golden Gun
13 - The Spy Who Loved Me
14 - James Bond and Moonraker (Wood)
September 2, 2019
So it probably doesn’t bode well I stopped this to read not only one but two books I liked way better. I keep trying with these older Bond books but Gardner rambles about spy tech the way Fleming does about food, wine and races he doesn’t care for. Having said that, I did like this incrementally better than the last two Gardners despite giving it the same rating. I liked that this took me to a part of the world Bond has never been. I also liked that Bond was in over his head, which is effective and all too rare. I wanted to like this more but other books kept catching my eye. Keep trying I guess.
June 30, 2021
M orders James Bond to work alongside the CIA, KGB and Mossad to uncover a Neo Nazi group and apprehend their leader. However, each Service has its own agenda, and its own reasons for capturing Count von Gloda, the head of the National Socialist Action Army.
Wheels spin independently in this thriller by John Gardner as he shows each stakeholder's interest in the Icebreaker mission. Full of the grand set pieces from the film series, this novel effectively evokes the character of 007.
Wheels spin independently in this thriller by John Gardner as he shows each stakeholder's interest in the Icebreaker mission. Full of the grand set pieces from the film series, this novel effectively evokes the character of 007.
November 17, 2021
Bond didn't do anything but react to everyone else until page 233 when he, all by himself, decided to drive a car.
March 13, 2023
Interesante libro que aunque algún episodio se hace pesado y la tema se hace un poco enrevesada, cumple su objetivo como novela Bond. #librosleídos #bond #librosrecomendados
January 18, 2025
Three in, and this is the best John Gardner Bond thus far. He actually seems to be having fun with this one. There are lots of great set pieces, so much so I wonder if EON films ever sent a covetous glance in its direction.
Maybe the conclusion doesn’t match what went before, but I still had a good time.
Maybe the conclusion doesn’t match what went before, but I still had a good time.
July 21, 2020
This review originally appeared on The Reel Bits as part of my 007 Case Files project. Some spoilers may be present.
Frozen tundras, sexy double agent, Nazi villains and a title that gives you chills. Now on his third James Bond adventure, John Gardner’s ICEBREAKER is an outing that may seem familiar to fans – and that’s just half the fun.
While Licence Renewed and For Special Services divided critics and fans alike, Gardner got back to basics with this book. First published in 1983, thirty years after the publication of Casino Royale and in the same year that both Octopussy and the rival Never Say Never Again were released to film audiences. It was the Year of Bond if ever there was one.
Gardner’s novel may not get the high profile that the contemporary films received, but there’s a lot to love here. On the most basic of levels, it concerns Bond joining a CIA, KGB and Mossad alliance of spies (dubbed ‘Operation Icebreaker’) to bring down the National Socialist Action Army (NSAA). Led by Count Konrad von Glöda, the fascist collective have been running a violent and effective campaign across the globe to bring down communist leaders by any means necessary.
In an especially exciting prelude chapter, Gardner establishes that those means tend to involve a fair bit of killing. Yet these aren’t your grandfather’s Nazis. I mean, not your grandfather. Someone’s grandfather. Seeing themselves as “architects of the Fourth Reich,” NSAA leader Glöda is a self-styled “new Fuhrer, a Nazi Moses, there to lead his children back to their promised land.”
Now, a few years ago the idea of a organised group of Nazis re-seeking power was the domain of sci-fi and speculative fiction. Reading this in 2020, the idea of a hate group getting collective support reads as almost too close for comfort.
Thankfully, Gardner manages to keep us on the right side of fantasy thanks to a solidly created villain. Very much in the same vein as previous enemies – indeed, Bond spends a few pages comparing him with past villains such as Goldfinger, Hugo Drax and, of course, Blofeld – Glöda’s motivations are both unambiguous and global in nature.
Glöda is also responsible for one of the more classic torture scenes in Bond history, a tradition Fleming started when Le Chrivre strapped 007 to a wicker chair back in the beginning. Here it’s torture by icy water, as the book’s increasingly multi-layered title suggests:
By the end of the sequence, Bond isn’t even sure if he’s given up the relevant information. Like Casino Royale, he’s left to ponder the trust of one of the women in his life – and looks aren’t what they seem.
Which might be one of the defining characteristics of this outing: it’s constant twists and turns. Just when you think that you’ve got a handle on who someone is working for – be it love interest Paula Vacker, CIA Agent Brad Tirpitz, or Mossad agent Rivke Ingber – they will flip and be working for the other side. Even that is no guarantee that they aren’t actually what you thought in the first place, or a third option hitherto unseen. Some kind of map is probably needed in the back-matter to make sense of their various pathways.
In the wake of all of this, the ending may feel a little bit anticlimactic. The broader adventure over, Bond confronts his enemy in a chapter literally called “Loose Ends.” Nevertheless, it’s one of the strongest Bond stories in Gardner’s run up to this point and, on a personal note, it has made me excited about reading 007’s adventures again.
James Bond will return…in Role of Honour.
Frozen tundras, sexy double agent, Nazi villains and a title that gives you chills. Now on his third James Bond adventure, John Gardner’s ICEBREAKER is an outing that may seem familiar to fans – and that’s just half the fun.
While Licence Renewed and For Special Services divided critics and fans alike, Gardner got back to basics with this book. First published in 1983, thirty years after the publication of Casino Royale and in the same year that both Octopussy and the rival Never Say Never Again were released to film audiences. It was the Year of Bond if ever there was one.
Gardner’s novel may not get the high profile that the contemporary films received, but there’s a lot to love here. On the most basic of levels, it concerns Bond joining a CIA, KGB and Mossad alliance of spies (dubbed ‘Operation Icebreaker’) to bring down the National Socialist Action Army (NSAA). Led by Count Konrad von Glöda, the fascist collective have been running a violent and effective campaign across the globe to bring down communist leaders by any means necessary.
In an especially exciting prelude chapter, Gardner establishes that those means tend to involve a fair bit of killing. Yet these aren’t your grandfather’s Nazis. I mean, not your grandfather. Someone’s grandfather. Seeing themselves as “architects of the Fourth Reich,” NSAA leader Glöda is a self-styled “new Fuhrer, a Nazi Moses, there to lead his children back to their promised land.”
Now, a few years ago the idea of a organised group of Nazis re-seeking power was the domain of sci-fi and speculative fiction. Reading this in 2020, the idea of a hate group getting collective support reads as almost too close for comfort.
Thankfully, Gardner manages to keep us on the right side of fantasy thanks to a solidly created villain. Very much in the same vein as previous enemies – indeed, Bond spends a few pages comparing him with past villains such as Goldfinger, Hugo Drax and, of course, Blofeld – Glöda’s motivations are both unambiguous and global in nature.
Glöda is also responsible for one of the more classic torture scenes in Bond history, a tradition Fleming started when Le Chrivre strapped 007 to a wicker chair back in the beginning. Here it’s torture by icy water, as the book’s increasingly multi-layered title suggests:
“The crash of ice around him, the red-hot, blinding liquid, then agony, as the body became aware again. Out, swinging and dripping, gasping, every centimetre of him torn to shreds. The brain which, so far, had computed extremes of temperature, pain like nibbling animals, snakes and needles, had, finally, hit on the real source of pain. Cold. Dead cold. A death by slow freezing.”
By the end of the sequence, Bond isn’t even sure if he’s given up the relevant information. Like Casino Royale, he’s left to ponder the trust of one of the women in his life – and looks aren’t what they seem.
Which might be one of the defining characteristics of this outing: it’s constant twists and turns. Just when you think that you’ve got a handle on who someone is working for – be it love interest Paula Vacker, CIA Agent Brad Tirpitz, or Mossad agent Rivke Ingber – they will flip and be working for the other side. Even that is no guarantee that they aren’t actually what you thought in the first place, or a third option hitherto unseen. Some kind of map is probably needed in the back-matter to make sense of their various pathways.
In the wake of all of this, the ending may feel a little bit anticlimactic. The broader adventure over, Bond confronts his enemy in a chapter literally called “Loose Ends.” Nevertheless, it’s one of the strongest Bond stories in Gardner’s run up to this point and, on a personal note, it has made me excited about reading 007’s adventures again.
James Bond will return…in Role of Honour.
October 5, 2011
* Gardner's third Bond book.
* Fleming made it very clear that Bond hates being cossetted. But that was Fleming. Gardner's Bond loves it. Especially when it comes from the unlikeliest of sources: M. In this one, M even gives Bond a little pat on the hand to show him how much he loves him. It really is quite revolting.
* This one starts with a promising idea. For whatever reason (I don't think I'm alone here), it's always nice, in a novel like this, to see the Nazis back in action. Here, they've established themselves as a growing terrorist group with aspirations to political relevance. Having established that much, however, Gardner shoots his own wheels off and the story goes spinning off into the Arctic wastes in which most of it is set.
* Bond finds himself on an international team that includes a CIA agent, a Russian agent, and a beautiful female agent of the Israeli Mossad. Their task is to get the goods on the National Socialist Action Army and, if possible, bring it down. Trouble is, Bond doesn't trust any of them, a condition that isn't helped when suspicion falls on the one person he does trust, an on-again-off-again girlfriend. Nobody, it appears, is quite who they seem to be. By the end of the novel, all of these people have been thoroughly scrambled in a plot that becomes more ludicrous with each "startling revelation."
* You know, Fleming's Bond got into trouble with females, but that was okay because it all fell well within the bounds of chivalry (which, in a way, was as much what the Bond novels were about as Bond's secret agent exploits). But when it comes to women, Gardner's Bond, on the other hand, is just stupid, and, really, a miserable spy. All he wants is sex, but he's willing to pay for it with trust. How whipped can you be?
* And if you think Movie Bond's ego is inflated, just check him out here. He actually believes one woman, who has known him for all of about 48 hours, who tells him she loves him. I guess we can understand why, though. A nurse, who has said no more than 20 words to the guy in her lifetime, is chomping at the bit to get into bed with him. If this is feminism, then women really are as stupid as men used to think they were. If people want to criticize the treatment of women in Bond novels, they should leave Fleming alone and concentrate on Gardner. Here we have one ultra-professional woman who, after saving not only Bond's life but his reputation, as well, steps quietly aside and lets Bond order her and her team about as though it was the natural order of things, never minding the fact that to this point Bond hasn't demonstrated the competence to order breakfast.
* Fleming made it very clear that Bond hates being cossetted. But that was Fleming. Gardner's Bond loves it. Especially when it comes from the unlikeliest of sources: M. In this one, M even gives Bond a little pat on the hand to show him how much he loves him. It really is quite revolting.
* This one starts with a promising idea. For whatever reason (I don't think I'm alone here), it's always nice, in a novel like this, to see the Nazis back in action. Here, they've established themselves as a growing terrorist group with aspirations to political relevance. Having established that much, however, Gardner shoots his own wheels off and the story goes spinning off into the Arctic wastes in which most of it is set.
* Bond finds himself on an international team that includes a CIA agent, a Russian agent, and a beautiful female agent of the Israeli Mossad. Their task is to get the goods on the National Socialist Action Army and, if possible, bring it down. Trouble is, Bond doesn't trust any of them, a condition that isn't helped when suspicion falls on the one person he does trust, an on-again-off-again girlfriend. Nobody, it appears, is quite who they seem to be. By the end of the novel, all of these people have been thoroughly scrambled in a plot that becomes more ludicrous with each "startling revelation."
* You know, Fleming's Bond got into trouble with females, but that was okay because it all fell well within the bounds of chivalry (which, in a way, was as much what the Bond novels were about as Bond's secret agent exploits). But when it comes to women, Gardner's Bond, on the other hand, is just stupid, and, really, a miserable spy. All he wants is sex, but he's willing to pay for it with trust. How whipped can you be?
* And if you think Movie Bond's ego is inflated, just check him out here. He actually believes one woman, who has known him for all of about 48 hours, who tells him she loves him. I guess we can understand why, though. A nurse, who has said no more than 20 words to the guy in her lifetime, is chomping at the bit to get into bed with him. If this is feminism, then women really are as stupid as men used to think they were. If people want to criticize the treatment of women in Bond novels, they should leave Fleming alone and concentrate on Gardner. Here we have one ultra-professional woman who, after saving not only Bond's life but his reputation, as well, steps quietly aside and lets Bond order her and her team about as though it was the natural order of things, never minding the fact that to this point Bond hasn't demonstrated the competence to order breakfast.
January 4, 2013
I'm tempted to give less than 3 stars but I won't. It is not a bad book but its just OK. My problem is this - I have read all the original Ian Fleming Bond books over the last 30-some years, some a couple of times or more. So I have an expectation of what I should get with James Bond and Icebreaker didn't meet those expectations. it started off OK although I found the premise to be a bit of a stretch. i was willing to accept it though because there have been a lot of 007 tales by this point, both book and film. What bothers me is two things the author did: (1) he made Bond dumb. He was making mistakes that I could see as they happened and they were both very non-Bond-like and also apparent to me as the reader. And, hey, i am no 007, so... (2) he treated the reader as if they were dumb as well. The plot twists were either transparent or, even worse, non-sensical. The author uses the A is really B is really A trick more than once, and frankly one is too many times. I can't recommend this book to Ian Fleming Bond fans at all. Maybe its OK for airport reading though.
July 30, 2016
Καλούλι... Μέχρι εκεί... Δεν έχει πολλές σελίδες, αλλά άργησα πολύ να το τελειώσω... Θες επειδή έχει αρκετά μπερδεμένη πλοκή, θες επειδή εκτυλίσσεται σχεδόν εξολοκλήρου στον Αρκτικό Κύκλο, ενώ εδώ έχουμε καλοκαιράκι;; Πάντως δε μπόρεσα να μπω μέσα στο βιβλίο! Οι χαρακτήρες, εντωμεταξύ, δε με ενθουσίασαν! Νομίζω ότι αυτό που σου διατηρεί το ενδιαφέρον είναι οι πολλές ανατροπές! Ίσως υπερβολικά πολλές για το μικρό μέγεθος του βιβλίου! Αλλά "έτσι είναι ο κόσμος των κατασκόπων" θα μου πεις... Χάρηκα που το διάβασα, χάρηκα, όμως, και που το τελείωσα! Πάμε γι' άλλα!
Υ.Γ.: Και επιτέλους! Έλεος πια με το Saab!! Δεν ανήκει στην υπηρεσία, αλλά η υπηρεσία τού επιτρέπει - και του το μεταφέρει κιόλας - να το έχει πάντα μαζί του, οπουδήποτε στον πλανήτη!! Όπως τότε που ήμασταν πιτσιρίκια και παίρναμε τα αγαπημένα μας παιχνίδια παντού! Βέέέέβαια! Πολύ ρεαλιστικό σενάριο! Εύγε!
Υ.Γ.: Και επιτέλους! Έλεος πια με το Saab!! Δεν ανήκει στην υπηρεσία, αλλά η υπηρεσία τού επιτρέπει - και του το μεταφέρει κιόλας - να το έχει πάντα μαζί του, οπουδήποτε στον πλανήτη!! Όπως τότε που ήμασταν πιτσιρίκια και παίρναμε τα αγαπημένα μας παιχνίδια παντού! Βέέέέβαια! Πολύ ρεαλιστικό σενάριο! Εύγε!
September 21, 2018
Gardner had a hard time finding his footing as the James Bond author. This was better than his previous novel, "For Special Services", but it is a very poor Bond compared to the spy Ian Fleming invented. Here Bond is part of an international team trying to find the leader of a new terrorist organization, which is a front for the rise of Nazi's and the leader to take Hitler's place. There are double and triple crosses galore, and a quadruple cross waiting to happen when it is discovered that one of the members of Bond's team is the daughter of the villain they are searching for. At this stage Gardner was unqualified (or perhaps just under qualified) to write Bond novels.
January 8, 2014
I'd echo the sentiment that the number of double, triple, quadruple crosses seems dizzying. I also find the believability of Bond's reaction to these double crosses a bit of a stretch. One moment he believes them without question, the next he's convinced they're on the other side and five minutes later he trusts them completely. the location and suobject us good, but it seemed like the author trotted to stuff to many plot twists into this story
September 12, 2023
As a big of James Bond, I'm disappointed that I don't like this book. Mainly because the English was a bit hard to understand (Eng is not my first language btw) so I couldn't really understand what's going on. There were less actions than I hoped for, more to Bond flirting with women (even though that's what he always do). Nevertheless, I just want Bond to fight, fire people and scare his enemies.
April 27, 2017
Now this was a spy novel! It was filled to the brim of twists and turns that will leave you guessing right up until the very end, and on a couple of points, a little bit after. I great read if you're a James Bond fan.
February 23, 2018
Racy as expected.When Bond sets out to form a secret cartel with three other agents from countries who have interests in destroying the Ice Palace a notorious hub deterimental to the safety of the globe all you can ask for is bone chilling,ice breaking action.Worth the read.
November 18, 2018
One of John Gardner's better James Bond novels. The cold is evocatively brought to life, the double crosses are still quite fresh, though Gardner would use a similar formula regularly later. Very enjoyable.
June 8, 2018
Read in the 80s
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