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John Gardner's Bond #4
Role of Honor
For serious infractions, James Bond is drummed out of the British secret service and, as an apparently free agent, is hired by a mastermind of international crime, who was formerly America's foremost military computer expert
304 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1984
43 people are currently reading
1030 people want to read
About the author
John Gardner
113 books178 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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March 29, 2021Gardner's early Bond novels seem to have been a godsend to the Glidrose production team. Scene after scene of the 1980s Bond films seem to have been inspired by situations in the Gardner novels. The airship in this one prefigures Zorin's blimp in A View to a Kill. In retrospect, Gardner was already running out of originality and slipping into formula. Just as the screenwriters of the 1980s' 007 seemed to borrow from Gardner, Gardner himself seemed rooted in Goldfinger, etc. There is no logic to my love for the Bond stories. I know their weaknesses, I am more than aware of their toxic masculinity, and I am sure that the world of espionage there represented – no matter who the author might be – is some distance away from reality. I still love the books and I reread them.
October 16, 2024
Sometimes one comes across a nice set of hardcover novels concerning 007 which I had in my collection as paperback way back when John Gardner wrote the series to put him in our times instead of the Fleming time line. And Gardner did deliver plenty of good novels but sadly this is not one of them.
007 leaves his service under a cloud of suspicion and is supposed to be angry with his previous employer. And so other interested parties are sniffing around this previous secret agent with an impressive reputation. Which is of course a trap for a mercenary force that has a job for James Bond that turns out to be ordered by the new SPECTRE.
Sadly the whole story never gets really exciting and by the end you'll look forward to the next Gardner installment.
This book lacked the Flemingesque touches for me, no exotic places no exciting women no impressive henchmen or even impressive baddies, even the new head of 007's nemesis was kinda meh.
Nice addition to the collection but certainly one of Gardner's lesser 007 outings.
007 leaves his service under a cloud of suspicion and is supposed to be angry with his previous employer. And so other interested parties are sniffing around this previous secret agent with an impressive reputation. Which is of course a trap for a mercenary force that has a job for James Bond that turns out to be ordered by the new SPECTRE.
Sadly the whole story never gets really exciting and by the end you'll look forward to the next Gardner installment.
This book lacked the Flemingesque touches for me, no exotic places no exciting women no impressive henchmen or even impressive baddies, even the new head of 007's nemesis was kinda meh.
Nice addition to the collection but certainly one of Gardner's lesser 007 outings.
September 17, 2023
Poor thriller and horrible Bond-book. James Bond is totally out of character in this one (even if you accept the new sides to him as introduced in Gardner's first three books) and the set-up makes no sense whatsoever. Not much happens and Gardner relies on keeping the reader in the dark by "tuning out" or skipping in conversations between characters; conversations that apparently reveals a lot of details and secrets to all involved, except for the reader, and this is very frustrating. The plot is basically to take over all the world, and this is apparently not so hard to do. Feels very rushed and is the low point of the series this far I think.
November 7, 2013
Recently I have been re-reading some of John Gardner’s James Bond novels, and although they have been rather flawed, I have still enjoyed them. That is till now. As a teenager, I remember enjoying Role of Honour, but upon this reading I found it to be extremely convoluted, and the writing style varied from chapter to chapter – only returning to what I would call Gardner’s natural fluent writing style for the climax – which, by that time the damage had been done.
Let’s analyse the mess. Firstly, the basic plot premise is that James Bond has left the secret service under somewhat of a cloud. Of course this is a ruse to draw out some foreign agents who have been recruiting former spies. This story base, is not too dissimilar to that of The Spy Who Came in From The Cold, where Alex Leamas posed as washed up and drunken ex-spy. So while it being derivative, it is still a solid foundation for a spy story, however, Gardner then implements his first layer of plot convolution, and that is to make James Bond a high-level computer programmer. Yeah, yeah!
And this is believed. Bond is introduced to computer mastermind named Jay Autem-Holly, who offers him a position. Now this may be a minor spoiler, but we are talking about a book that has been published for over twenty-five years, so forgive me, but Autem-Holly has been hired by SPECTRE to use his computer skills to implement their latest scheme. And furthermore, SPECTRE is aware that Autem-Holly has employed Bond, and yet they do not object. Surely SPECTRE would have a file on Bond, as he is responsible for the death of the last two leaders of the SPECTRE organisation, and be fully aware that Bond is not a computer programmer.
Okay, the thing is SPECTRE know who Bond is, and need him for another purpose, but that is really a moot point, because even if Bond had left the service under a cloud, he would not willingly work for the organisation that killed his wife. The fact that he does willing work for SPECTRE should have alerted Holly and SPECTRE’s hierarchy that he had not in fact left the service, but it was a ruse to discover their plan. It’s a contrived double edged sword. Damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t. But that is just clumsy plotting.
In the book there is also a strange passage in the middle where Bond is spirited off to a SPECTRE training camp, called Erehwon, which I am sure you realise is ‘nowhere’ backwards. At Erehwon, Bond is put through a training routine, and suddenly the story gets rather violent. What I mean is, more violent than the usual Bond adventure – and in particular the three preceding Bond novels written by John Gardner.
This is just a theory, with no basis beyond the fact that I have been reading a few Mack Bolan novels from the mid 1980s recently – that I believe there was a deliberate attempt to toughen up the Bond stories to compete with the burgeoning popularity of the Bolan stories. Remember, Mack Bolan and The Executioner series were rebooted in 1981, which also happens to be the same year that Gardner’s Licence Renewed hit the book stands. By the mid 1980′s, Mack Bolan had grown to the point where spin off series such as Phoenix Force and Able Team were being launched. Maybe the Bond publishers, or possibly even Gardner himself, saw Bolan and his expanding action adventure universe as a threat, and as such decided to up the ante, by bringing a harder visceral style to the action passages in the Bond stories. I must admit, I’ll be curious to read the action passages in the next Bond novel Nobody Lives Forever and see how they stack up. Maybe this burst of violence was just a brief blip on the radar, or maybe it was the beginning of a conscious move to toughen up Bond.
Role of Honour is definitely not the Bond book to chose to read as an introduction to the work of John Gardner. Admittedly, half way through, the story starts to pull itself together (with many of the plot elements from the first half jettisoned), but most readers wont have the patience to get that far into the story. And even then, a decent second half does not compensate for a poorly plotted and patchily written beginning. This was quite a disappointment.
As an adjunct here, Gary Dobbs at the excellent website The Tainted Archive, in his review of Role of Honour posted some quotes from John Gardner, where he suggests that it was his weakest book (to that point), and much of this had to do with rewrites to avoid similar scenes in the film Never Say Never Again. Also, it is suggested that Gardner was burnt out after the first three novels, and was scheduled to take a break, but book sales were strong, and Gardner never got his break. Reading the story, this almost makes sense, the book reads very tired at the start, and as I alluded to earlier, many of the hi-tech computer plot points are jettisoned in the second half of the story.
Let’s analyse the mess. Firstly, the basic plot premise is that James Bond has left the secret service under somewhat of a cloud. Of course this is a ruse to draw out some foreign agents who have been recruiting former spies. This story base, is not too dissimilar to that of The Spy Who Came in From The Cold, where Alex Leamas posed as washed up and drunken ex-spy. So while it being derivative, it is still a solid foundation for a spy story, however, Gardner then implements his first layer of plot convolution, and that is to make James Bond a high-level computer programmer. Yeah, yeah!
And this is believed. Bond is introduced to computer mastermind named Jay Autem-Holly, who offers him a position. Now this may be a minor spoiler, but we are talking about a book that has been published for over twenty-five years, so forgive me, but Autem-Holly has been hired by SPECTRE to use his computer skills to implement their latest scheme. And furthermore, SPECTRE is aware that Autem-Holly has employed Bond, and yet they do not object. Surely SPECTRE would have a file on Bond, as he is responsible for the death of the last two leaders of the SPECTRE organisation, and be fully aware that Bond is not a computer programmer.
Okay, the thing is SPECTRE know who Bond is, and need him for another purpose, but that is really a moot point, because even if Bond had left the service under a cloud, he would not willingly work for the organisation that killed his wife. The fact that he does willing work for SPECTRE should have alerted Holly and SPECTRE’s hierarchy that he had not in fact left the service, but it was a ruse to discover their plan. It’s a contrived double edged sword. Damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t. But that is just clumsy plotting.
In the book there is also a strange passage in the middle where Bond is spirited off to a SPECTRE training camp, called Erehwon, which I am sure you realise is ‘nowhere’ backwards. At Erehwon, Bond is put through a training routine, and suddenly the story gets rather violent. What I mean is, more violent than the usual Bond adventure – and in particular the three preceding Bond novels written by John Gardner.
This is just a theory, with no basis beyond the fact that I have been reading a few Mack Bolan novels from the mid 1980s recently – that I believe there was a deliberate attempt to toughen up the Bond stories to compete with the burgeoning popularity of the Bolan stories. Remember, Mack Bolan and The Executioner series were rebooted in 1981, which also happens to be the same year that Gardner’s Licence Renewed hit the book stands. By the mid 1980′s, Mack Bolan had grown to the point where spin off series such as Phoenix Force and Able Team were being launched. Maybe the Bond publishers, or possibly even Gardner himself, saw Bolan and his expanding action adventure universe as a threat, and as such decided to up the ante, by bringing a harder visceral style to the action passages in the Bond stories. I must admit, I’ll be curious to read the action passages in the next Bond novel Nobody Lives Forever and see how they stack up. Maybe this burst of violence was just a brief blip on the radar, or maybe it was the beginning of a conscious move to toughen up Bond.
Role of Honour is definitely not the Bond book to chose to read as an introduction to the work of John Gardner. Admittedly, half way through, the story starts to pull itself together (with many of the plot elements from the first half jettisoned), but most readers wont have the patience to get that far into the story. And even then, a decent second half does not compensate for a poorly plotted and patchily written beginning. This was quite a disappointment.
As an adjunct here, Gary Dobbs at the excellent website The Tainted Archive, in his review of Role of Honour posted some quotes from John Gardner, where he suggests that it was his weakest book (to that point), and much of this had to do with rewrites to avoid similar scenes in the film Never Say Never Again. Also, it is suggested that Gardner was burnt out after the first three novels, and was scheduled to take a break, but book sales were strong, and Gardner never got his break. Reading the story, this almost makes sense, the book reads very tired at the start, and as I alluded to earlier, many of the hi-tech computer plot points are jettisoned in the second half of the story.
August 26, 2024
A little disappointing after reading 'Icebreaker'. This seemed more of a formula Bond book. One of the notable things is the incorporation of microcomputers back when they hadn't infiltrated every household in the US. The other is the bad guys using a dirigible to try and complete their evil mission. I'm taking a little break before preceding on to 'Nobody Lives Forever',
March 11, 2017
A really well done James Bond novel. It felt like it was a plot from the James Bond movies from the 1980's, so if you are fan of that James Bond era, then you will enjoy this book.
October 5, 2011
* Gardner's fourth Bond book.
* The second appearance of SPECTRE.
* With luck, this will, in a way, prove to be Gardner's first Bond book.
* It began with the last one, Icebreaker, in which Gardner did away with most of Bond's magic tricks. Here, he takes that a step further, taking away even his car--or, to put it more descriptively (and accurately) his mobile fortress. Bond returns to the Bentley, which contains nothing more than a spare gun and a mobile telephone.
* Taken in conjuntion with the previous novels, this is insane, of course, and something no secret agent who wished to remain alive would ever do. But that seems to be just the point: to SEVER the connection with the previous novels and bring Bond back down to Earth a bit.
* At least, I fervently hope that is the point, because Role of Honor is far and away Gardner's best Bond novel to this point in the series. It's really no contest, like Bond against Nick Nack, Scaramanga's diminutive Man Friday in Roger Moore's version of The Man With the Golden Gun.
* (It isn't the first time Gardner has seemed to re-think an earlier decision. His first novel had Bond taking a house in the country near an occasional girlfriend. Neither house nor girlfriend have been heard of since.)
* This book, to modern readers, even has about it a kind of nostalgia that brings back a touch of the flavor of Fleming's originals. Not by design, of course, but because it involves computers and programming--and oh how technology has evolved in the last three decades. Even better, Bond's 3-week crash course in BASIC, Fortran, and flowcharting fails to fool the computer genius villain for even a moment.
* Gardner could still do well to reread a few of Fleming's less grandiose novels, for his plot here remains (in the end) overblown and unworkable, but remarkably suspenseful and exciting even so. It's about a computer gaming expert whose "games" provide simulations for various criminal activity. Then he takes on a contract for SPECTRE. In Dr. Jay Autem Holy, Gardner comes close to creating a memorable adversary for Bond. Without doubt, he's the most interesting one so far.
* Contains a few good set-pieces, one of which has Bond and Holy discussing SPECTRE's mission while playing one of Holy's simulations (of the Battle of Bunker Hill). To give away the others would be to spoil them, but both involve Bond in life or death situations.
* Yes, Gardner still leans too heavily on Bond's sex appeal and, yes, every woman in the world still wants him on sight, but even this is toned down (a bit) here, which is all to the good.
* In all, Gardner's first real contribution to Fleming's legacy. It still ain't Fleming, but it's good entertainment.
* The second appearance of SPECTRE.
* With luck, this will, in a way, prove to be Gardner's first Bond book.
* It began with the last one, Icebreaker, in which Gardner did away with most of Bond's magic tricks. Here, he takes that a step further, taking away even his car--or, to put it more descriptively (and accurately) his mobile fortress. Bond returns to the Bentley, which contains nothing more than a spare gun and a mobile telephone.
* Taken in conjuntion with the previous novels, this is insane, of course, and something no secret agent who wished to remain alive would ever do. But that seems to be just the point: to SEVER the connection with the previous novels and bring Bond back down to Earth a bit.
* At least, I fervently hope that is the point, because Role of Honor is far and away Gardner's best Bond novel to this point in the series. It's really no contest, like Bond against Nick Nack, Scaramanga's diminutive Man Friday in Roger Moore's version of The Man With the Golden Gun.
* (It isn't the first time Gardner has seemed to re-think an earlier decision. His first novel had Bond taking a house in the country near an occasional girlfriend. Neither house nor girlfriend have been heard of since.)
* This book, to modern readers, even has about it a kind of nostalgia that brings back a touch of the flavor of Fleming's originals. Not by design, of course, but because it involves computers and programming--and oh how technology has evolved in the last three decades. Even better, Bond's 3-week crash course in BASIC, Fortran, and flowcharting fails to fool the computer genius villain for even a moment.
* Gardner could still do well to reread a few of Fleming's less grandiose novels, for his plot here remains (in the end) overblown and unworkable, but remarkably suspenseful and exciting even so. It's about a computer gaming expert whose "games" provide simulations for various criminal activity. Then he takes on a contract for SPECTRE. In Dr. Jay Autem Holy, Gardner comes close to creating a memorable adversary for Bond. Without doubt, he's the most interesting one so far.
* Contains a few good set-pieces, one of which has Bond and Holy discussing SPECTRE's mission while playing one of Holy's simulations (of the Battle of Bunker Hill). To give away the others would be to spoil them, but both involve Bond in life or death situations.
* Yes, Gardner still leans too heavily on Bond's sex appeal and, yes, every woman in the world still wants him on sight, but even this is toned down (a bit) here, which is all to the good.
* In all, Gardner's first real contribution to Fleming's legacy. It still ain't Fleming, but it's good entertainment.
May 16, 2019
Felt something lacking with this Bond adventure. At 199 pages it didn't feel like it had enough depth to it and could have done with much of the story being fleshed out more. The ending was very rushed as well.
June 1, 2024
A Major Disappointment
As a really big time James Bond fan I was severely disappointed in Role of Honor. The story had a choppy plot, and Gardner’s writing is simply lazy in Role of Honor. Alongside the choppy plot is the fact that the characters weren’t fleshed out well at all. It was hard to even like some of the characters, and Bond was even a bore himself. 1 out of five stars.
As a really big time James Bond fan I was severely disappointed in Role of Honor. The story had a choppy plot, and Gardner’s writing is simply lazy in Role of Honor. Alongside the choppy plot is the fact that the characters weren’t fleshed out well at all. It was hard to even like some of the characters, and Bond was even a bore himself. 1 out of five stars.
June 20, 2012
The fourth book of Gardner's run as the author of the James Bond novels, "Role of Honor" is another short and sparse entry, typical of the output that the author would produce following the more substantial beginning of his run with "License Renewed". Typical of the period in which it was written, it centers on a plot to change the global state of play by destabilizing the powers locked in Cold War.
It's very clear that this was written early in the personal computer age, because a great deal of the story is based in the idea of terrorists using advanced computer war simulations to plan and strategize. That the described simulation itself is incredibly dated and primitive goes without saying; this is a reflection of computer power nearly 30 years ago. It's telling that I had to adjust my assumptions when I found myself wondering why the computer wizard employed by the terrorists wasn't using network capabilities!
Otherwise, this is typical Gardner era Bond material. The story feels like a spec script barely fleshed out into prose, and the characterization of everyone (including Bond) is fairly two-dimensional. Of course, Bond gets his requisite handful of conquests, and the names of the supporting characters are largely ridiculous.
One interesting point is that the terrorists are effectively using the kind of social unrest common to the current Occupy movement, including commentary by the villains on corporate control over politics and such, to recruit and brainwash assets into violent action. It's instructive to see that these concerns are nothing new, and that current circumstances are hardly rare from a historical perspective.
November 21, 2016
Προχωρώντας την ανάγνωση της σειράς του James Bond, σειρά είχε το "Role of honor" του John Gardner! Σύντομο βιβλίο με αρκετή δράση και κάποιες ανατροπές! Όχι τίποτα ιδιαίτερες, βέβαια... Όσο διαβάζω τα βιβλία του Gardner τόσο συνειδητοποιώ ότι ο Bond του Gardner απομακρύνεται ολοένα και περισσότερο τόσο από το Bond του Fleming όσο και από το Bond της μεγάλης οθόνης. Δε μπορώ να πω ότι μας έδωσε πολλές πληροφορίες ο συγγραφέας για τον εσωτερικό κόσμο του ήρωα, κάτι το οποίο δεν παρέλειπε να κάνει σχεδόν σε κάθε του βιβλίο ο Ian Fleming. Αυτό ωθεί τον αναγνώστη να παίρνει απόσταση από τον ήρωα και να μην προσπαθεί καν να ταυτιστεί μαζί του ή να ζήσει μέσα από εκείνον τις αγωνίες του!
Έχοντας αγαπήσει τις παλιές ταινίες του James Bond πριν ξεκινήσω να διαβάζω τα βιβλία, συνειδητοποιώ ότι, ενώ στα βιβλία του Fleming φανταζόμουν τον Bond με τη μορφή του Sean Connery (παρά τις όποιες διάφορες στα φυσικά χαρακτηριστικά τους), τώρα έπιασα τον εαυτό μου να τον παρομοιάζει με τον Timothy Dalton.
Το βιβλίο, λοιπόν, αποτελεί μια ενδιαφέρουσα επιλογή για διάβασμα, κυρίως για τους φανς της σειράς, αλλά μην περιμένει κανείς ότι θα το θυμάται του χρόνου!
(Στα θετικά του βιβλίου συγκαταλέγονται το ότι ο συγγραφέας είχε διαβάσει το μάθημά του σε ό,τι αφορά τα περισσότερα θέματα τα οποία πραγματεύεται το βιβλίο, καθώς και ότι επιτέλους ξεφορτωθήκαμε το αντιπαθέστατο Saab που κουβαλούσε μαζί του ο Bond στα προηγούμενα βιβλία του Gardner!! Εύγε!!)
Έχοντας αγαπήσει τις παλιές ταινίες του James Bond πριν ξεκινήσω να διαβάζω τα βιβλία, συνειδητοποιώ ότι, ενώ στα βιβλία του Fleming φανταζόμουν τον Bond με τη μορφή του Sean Connery (παρά τις όποιες διάφορες στα φυσικά χαρακτηριστικά τους), τώρα έπιασα τον εαυτό μου να τον παρομοιάζει με τον Timothy Dalton.
Το βιβλίο, λοιπόν, αποτελεί μια ενδιαφέρουσα επιλογή για διάβασμα, κυρίως για τους φανς της σειράς, αλλά μην περιμένει κανείς ότι θα το θυμάται του χρόνου!
(Στα θετικά του βιβλίου συγκαταλέγονται το ότι ο συγγραφέας είχε διαβάσει το μάθημά του σε ό,τι αφορά τα περισσότερα θέματα τα οποία πραγματεύεται το βιβλίο, καθώς και ότι επιτέλους ξεφορτωθήκαμε το αντιπαθέστατο Saab που κουβαλούσε μαζί του ο Bond στα προηγούμενα βιβλία του Gardner!! Εύγε!!)
January 26, 2021
Mixed feelings on this one.
In most of the book we have a realistic account of what a MI6 agent would be doing (lots of travelling; admin and some actual spying.) Unlike the other Gardner books we have a believable villain with a plot that could actually happen. We also have to make allowances for the fact that writing a book based on computers is probably never going to age well.
The books set up (Bond resigns and gets hired by the villains) stretches creditability and you often wonder why he is being kept alive for so long. The action is fairly limited and the ending whilst exciting is too brief.
You feel that Gardner just about corrects mistakes in previous books only to create new ones. Hope the next one is better.
In most of the book we have a realistic account of what a MI6 agent would be doing (lots of travelling; admin and some actual spying.) Unlike the other Gardner books we have a believable villain with a plot that could actually happen. We also have to make allowances for the fact that writing a book based on computers is probably never going to age well.
The books set up (Bond resigns and gets hired by the villains) stretches creditability and you often wonder why he is being kept alive for so long. The action is fairly limited and the ending whilst exciting is too brief.
You feel that Gardner just about corrects mistakes in previous books only to create new ones. Hope the next one is better.
June 21, 2017
If I hadn't given myself the task of reading all of the James Bond novels, I'd certainly have bailed on John Gardner's series by now. Role of Honor is unimaginative, artless, and--most unforgivable of all when it comes to a tale of a sex-crazed superspy--boring. One plausible explanation for the existence of this skeleton of a novel is that Gardner's plumber mentioned that he'd always wanted to try writing a Bond story, so John let the man go to town while he used his advance to learn home pickle making.
January 13, 2024
Role of Honour was on its way to being my favorite of John Gardner's continuation novels (so far). The plot was interesting, the mystery was engrossing, and there was genuine suspense. The ending started perfectly, with Bond caught in a seemingly unwinnable scenario. Then, it fizzled; Bond was inconsequential, little more than a bystander as other characters solved all the problems for him. A major letdown after a good setup.
July 4, 2021
James Bond is assigned to infiltrate a software engineer who is apparently set on world domination, who uses computer simulations to create the perfect crimes.
Gardner never fails to deliver quintessential 'James Bond' adventures and, as ludicrous as the situation is, manages to make the plot seem to work during reading. If the plot is not over analysed, this is a satisfying romp.
Gardner never fails to deliver quintessential 'James Bond' adventures and, as ludicrous as the situation is, manages to make the plot seem to work during reading. If the plot is not over analysed, this is a satisfying romp.
July 16, 2020
Pretty good read. Interesting hearing about technology from the early 80s' 4.2
March 7, 2022
A solid Bond novel by Mr. Gardner. I feel like he is getting a better handle on Bond with each novel but the ending of this one seemed rushed.
A good entry into literary 007.
A good entry into literary 007.
July 11, 2020
Tough call on this fourth James Bond novel from John Gardner. On the one hand, it was a fun read, and Gardner's writing is very good. "Role of Honor" was a good novel to come back to each and every day, page after page. On the other hand, the story was fairly tame, with not much action and an underwhelming payoff.
It's weird, for the second time now, the author choose to create a plot which puts 007 in a subordinate role. In essence, the "Role of Honor" story concerns M and the Secret Intelligence Service using James Bond as bait for a larger plan that they keep to themselves. James Bond, the Greatest of the Britain's secret agents, who has saved the world a thousand times (and whose commitment to his country is second to none) is sent out on a dangerous mission without being told all of the details, twice!!
The set-up of "Role of Honor" is reasonable enough. After inheriting a fortune from a distant uncle in Australia, James Bond unintentionally raises his public profile by going on a spending spree. As a punishment of sorts, M and the SIS take advantage of Bond's position by having him openly resign from the SIS so 007 could attract secret KGB recruiters sniffing around London. Yet after Bond goes through all of the hassle resigning from the Service, M reveals that the KGB recruiter scheme was bullsh*t, and that the REAL plan is for Bond to become a programmer so he can become employable to a computer wiz named Jay Autem Holly, who used to work for the U.S. State Department, faked his own death, and now lives in secrecy in England under an alias, operating a war games software company in England, and meeting with dangerous terrorists like Tamil Rahani.
Long story short, after Bond becomes a computer technician, gaining the bulk of Holly's trust, sleeping with at least two or three women, facing a stress test under fire at a military training camp, and reporting everything back to M in London, 007 becomes a entwined in a plot by the back-from-the-dead S.P.E.C.T.R.E., who have tricked Jay Autem Holly in order to use his expertise so that the Soviets can remotely (via satellites) disarm all of the United States nuclear weapons, leaving Russia with all of the power. AND, it turns out the new head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is none other than Tamil Rahani.
In short, the author took a very long road to get to the book's anti-climactic finale. Worse still, as mentioned before, James Bond seems to be only a passive participant in the plan. M and the SIS don't fully trust 007 to reveal their hand, and Jay Autem Holly with Tamil Rahani clearly didn't trust Bond either. Ironically, in "Role of Honor" Bond is left with no choice but to rely on the trust of three women and one man who really should not be trusted, as they all have been connected to Jay Autem Holly...the main villain in "Role of Honor," yet not really because the true villain of the novel is Tamil Rahani and S.P.E.C.T.R.E., so there!
When you think about it, "Role of Honor" is really a mess. 007 does not get to do very much aside from bed women, and win at a wanna-be computer game themed to the 18th Century American Revolutionary War. He DOES get to warn the SIS of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and Jay Autem Holly's plan, otherwise takes a backseat to the overall action. Weird. "Role of Honor" has such a strong set-up, that it forgets to create a payoff that at least matches it. Oh well. At least it was an enjoyable read, for what it was.
It's weird, for the second time now, the author choose to create a plot which puts 007 in a subordinate role. In essence, the "Role of Honor" story concerns M and the Secret Intelligence Service using James Bond as bait for a larger plan that they keep to themselves. James Bond, the Greatest of the Britain's secret agents, who has saved the world a thousand times (and whose commitment to his country is second to none) is sent out on a dangerous mission without being told all of the details, twice!!
The set-up of "Role of Honor" is reasonable enough. After inheriting a fortune from a distant uncle in Australia, James Bond unintentionally raises his public profile by going on a spending spree. As a punishment of sorts, M and the SIS take advantage of Bond's position by having him openly resign from the SIS so 007 could attract secret KGB recruiters sniffing around London. Yet after Bond goes through all of the hassle resigning from the Service, M reveals that the KGB recruiter scheme was bullsh*t, and that the REAL plan is for Bond to become a programmer so he can become employable to a computer wiz named Jay Autem Holly, who used to work for the U.S. State Department, faked his own death, and now lives in secrecy in England under an alias, operating a war games software company in England, and meeting with dangerous terrorists like Tamil Rahani.
Long story short, after Bond becomes a computer technician, gaining the bulk of Holly's trust, sleeping with at least two or three women, facing a stress test under fire at a military training camp, and reporting everything back to M in London, 007 becomes a entwined in a plot by the back-from-the-dead S.P.E.C.T.R.E., who have tricked Jay Autem Holly in order to use his expertise so that the Soviets can remotely (via satellites) disarm all of the United States nuclear weapons, leaving Russia with all of the power. AND, it turns out the new head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is none other than Tamil Rahani.
In short, the author took a very long road to get to the book's anti-climactic finale. Worse still, as mentioned before, James Bond seems to be only a passive participant in the plan. M and the SIS don't fully trust 007 to reveal their hand, and Jay Autem Holly with Tamil Rahani clearly didn't trust Bond either. Ironically, in "Role of Honor" Bond is left with no choice but to rely on the trust of three women and one man who really should not be trusted, as they all have been connected to Jay Autem Holly...the main villain in "Role of Honor," yet not really because the true villain of the novel is Tamil Rahani and S.P.E.C.T.R.E., so there!
When you think about it, "Role of Honor" is really a mess. 007 does not get to do very much aside from bed women, and win at a wanna-be computer game themed to the 18th Century American Revolutionary War. He DOES get to warn the SIS of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and Jay Autem Holly's plan, otherwise takes a backseat to the overall action. Weird. "Role of Honor" has such a strong set-up, that it forgets to create a payoff that at least matches it. Oh well. At least it was an enjoyable read, for what it was.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 30, 2023
James Bond is sacked by MI6 for financial shenanigans, sort of. A series of high end robberies have taken place and it looks like evil computer genius Bill Gates is behind it all. In the future high tech world of 1984 crooks are now using computers to plan and practice their crookery, and Bill has the best computers anywhere. They even display pictures. Pictures that move!
James Bond is sent to the south of France to learn computering from an expert who just happens to be a smoking hot blonde. In one month's time he learns the super technical IT computer languages of BASIC and Pascal and even(gasp) Cobol and all the other things they teach 8th graders and now he is a hacker! Then he goes back to England to infiltrate Bill's secret lair and find out just what the Big Plan is. The Big Plan turns out to involve all the heads of state of the world, including the U.S.S.R., plus the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. James Bond gets in a knife fight, some shootouts, some car chases, does some gambling, gets sexed up, and gets his name in the papers. And all the while M treats him like crap. Just your normal James Bond adventure.
Gardner is getting better at James Bond as he goes. Bond is mostly business with a limited amount of sentimentality. The villain is less over the top freakish than before though the plan is properly outlandish. Their are several gorgeous and super competent women, though one of them seems to be introduced only for use in later novels. Bond changes guns again, this time to an ASP 9mm. And Gardner has learned from his previous mistake and gotten rid of the Saab and put Bond behind the wheel of a turbocharged Bentley.
This book is clearly dated, which adds nostalgia to the fun. This was written in 1984, and PCs had first become widely available with the IBM 5150 in 1981. The evil genius has basically developed Call of Duty and is using it to train terrorists at a time when the height of computer gaming is Tetris and Duck Hunt and my personal favorite, Elite. Just like in any movie James Bond is able to become a hacker level programmer in a month, which matches up well with his previous abilities to master diamond appraisal and heraldry and rocketry in a similar amount of time. Who needs all those years of college?
I wasn't much impressed with Gardner's Bond in the earlier novels, but this one is much closer to the old Fleming Bond. What we really need is more details about breakfast.
James Bond is sent to the south of France to learn computering from an expert who just happens to be a smoking hot blonde. In one month's time he learns the super technical IT computer languages of BASIC and Pascal and even(gasp) Cobol and all the other things they teach 8th graders and now he is a hacker! Then he goes back to England to infiltrate Bill's secret lair and find out just what the Big Plan is. The Big Plan turns out to involve all the heads of state of the world, including the U.S.S.R., plus the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. James Bond gets in a knife fight, some shootouts, some car chases, does some gambling, gets sexed up, and gets his name in the papers. And all the while M treats him like crap. Just your normal James Bond adventure.
Gardner is getting better at James Bond as he goes. Bond is mostly business with a limited amount of sentimentality. The villain is less over the top freakish than before though the plan is properly outlandish. Their are several gorgeous and super competent women, though one of them seems to be introduced only for use in later novels. Bond changes guns again, this time to an ASP 9mm. And Gardner has learned from his previous mistake and gotten rid of the Saab and put Bond behind the wheel of a turbocharged Bentley.
This book is clearly dated, which adds nostalgia to the fun. This was written in 1984, and PCs had first become widely available with the IBM 5150 in 1981. The evil genius has basically developed Call of Duty and is using it to train terrorists at a time when the height of computer gaming is Tetris and Duck Hunt and my personal favorite, Elite. Just like in any movie James Bond is able to become a hacker level programmer in a month, which matches up well with his previous abilities to master diamond appraisal and heraldry and rocketry in a similar amount of time. Who needs all those years of college?
I wasn't much impressed with Gardner's Bond in the earlier novels, but this one is much closer to the old Fleming Bond. What we really need is more details about breakfast.
July 11, 2024
Role of Honor by John Gardner pits James Bond, agent 007, against computer geniuses intend to start a nuclear war. Mr. Gardner was an English novelist, known for his Bond Books, as well as books featuring Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis, Professor Moriarty.
To infiltrate a nefarious group of SPECTRE computer genius, James Bond and MI6 come up with a plan. Bond has retired and puts his services on the open market, and SPECTRE can’t wait to recruit him.
To make his story believable Bond spend a month in Monte Carlo training in computer programing with CIA agent Miss Percy Proud. Using this background Bond infiltrates the group of SPECTRE agents plotting to destabilize the world.
I know this book was published in 1984, but even then, I think the premise would have been laughable. James Bond infiltrates a group of SPECTRE computer geniuses learning computing and Cobal (COBOL?) to become a senior computer programmer in a month.
A foolish premise, however we already have established that Bond memorized the first paragraph every Wikipedia page that exists, so it might be plausible.
Might!
Role of Honor by John Gardner is a very fast read, but lacks humor and suspense. As cartoonish as it is I do think that Mr. Gardner does a good job picking up the character arc from Ian Fleming. It’s a tough job to take a familiar character and still keep it fresh.
This is an easy read; the plot moves fast and some of the parts are very good. Unfortunately, that’s when Gardner leaves technology alone and goes back to spy craft.
Like the previous James Bond novels by John Gardner, this one inspired part of the 1980s 007 movies. For me, it’s actually enjoyable to hunt for bits and pieces of those parts, so I enjoyed this book much more decades later than when it came out.
About half way through the book, the plot starts to make sense, which require the author to get rid of several of the plot elements from the first half. I believe I read somewhere that Mr. Gardner had to rewrite a lot of the book because they were too similar to the non-canon Bond movie Never Say Never Again, and I can certainly tell why.
I did enjoy reading this book, but not as much as the others. Some of it didn’t make sense (the programing boot camp, Bond working for SPECTRE, to name a few), but it comes together eventually. I’m looking forward to read the next one, but I wouldn’t recommend this book as an introduction to James Gardner’s James Bond series.
To infiltrate a nefarious group of SPECTRE computer genius, James Bond and MI6 come up with a plan. Bond has retired and puts his services on the open market, and SPECTRE can’t wait to recruit him.
To make his story believable Bond spend a month in Monte Carlo training in computer programing with CIA agent Miss Percy Proud. Using this background Bond infiltrates the group of SPECTRE agents plotting to destabilize the world.
I know this book was published in 1984, but even then, I think the premise would have been laughable. James Bond infiltrates a group of SPECTRE computer geniuses learning computing and Cobal (COBOL?) to become a senior computer programmer in a month.
A foolish premise, however we already have established that Bond memorized the first paragraph every Wikipedia page that exists, so it might be plausible.
Might!
Role of Honor by John Gardner is a very fast read, but lacks humor and suspense. As cartoonish as it is I do think that Mr. Gardner does a good job picking up the character arc from Ian Fleming. It’s a tough job to take a familiar character and still keep it fresh.
This is an easy read; the plot moves fast and some of the parts are very good. Unfortunately, that’s when Gardner leaves technology alone and goes back to spy craft.
Like the previous James Bond novels by John Gardner, this one inspired part of the 1980s 007 movies. For me, it’s actually enjoyable to hunt for bits and pieces of those parts, so I enjoyed this book much more decades later than when it came out.
About half way through the book, the plot starts to make sense, which require the author to get rid of several of the plot elements from the first half. I believe I read somewhere that Mr. Gardner had to rewrite a lot of the book because they were too similar to the non-canon Bond movie Never Say Never Again, and I can certainly tell why.
I did enjoy reading this book, but not as much as the others. Some of it didn’t make sense (the programing boot camp, Bond working for SPECTRE, to name a few), but it comes together eventually. I’m looking forward to read the next one, but I wouldn’t recommend this book as an introduction to James Gardner’s James Bond series.
September 7, 2024
James Bond may have been getting on in years by the mid-Eighties. His 1950s and 1960s exploits were legendary, and demanded continuation into new Bond adventures by other authors following the passing of Ian Fleming, and yet "Role of Honor," John Gardner's fourth trip out with Agent 007, begins with a highly well-orchestrated plundering of precious artifacts in London (this is not clearly tied in with the rest of the plot, however rich and compelling the latter is), and then, the notion of Bond's termination from MI5 on a technicality. Fortunately, it functions just as a put-on to belligerent powers in and around Western Europe, as 007 is assigned to be watchdog to a native (though very rogue, for years) computer-game-programming genius who works with a militant faction striving for the ultimate blow to civilization as we know it...taking a highly unlikely form.
That, and their entrapment of Bond in the scheme, forcing him into submission and compliance...is on behalf of his "new" employers...none other than the organization SPECTRE.
While this comes as a shock, perhaps anathema to the really die-hard 007 acolytes, the story—though with minimal action, save a couple or so of intense scenes—is played out well enough to be on the level of Fleming, while still following Gardner's own signature, super-spy style. Bond is indeed, it turns out, in a "role of honor" toward those he should be.
And while the climax (see it for yourselves) is just a small tad of a precursor in some elements to that of the under-sustained Bond movie "A View To A Kill," which was released in theaters only a year after this book's publication, he continues to entice women, like the nonetheless very focused and learned Percy Proud, and take in settings of dreamlike serenity, even including the locale of the militant group. Adventure awaits fans who get a load of this powerful, old-school spy yarn to really see James Bond as he had entered a new phase of operation, perhaps with the bad guys to at least some degree, but in the 1980s and beyond; a precursor itself to some of the more recent movies to redeem the single greatest secret agent in the history of the world. You still got it, Jimmy.
That, and their entrapment of Bond in the scheme, forcing him into submission and compliance...is on behalf of his "new" employers...none other than the organization SPECTRE.
While this comes as a shock, perhaps anathema to the really die-hard 007 acolytes, the story—though with minimal action, save a couple or so of intense scenes—is played out well enough to be on the level of Fleming, while still following Gardner's own signature, super-spy style. Bond is indeed, it turns out, in a "role of honor" toward those he should be.
And while the climax (see it for yourselves) is just a small tad of a precursor in some elements to that of the under-sustained Bond movie "A View To A Kill," which was released in theaters only a year after this book's publication, he continues to entice women, like the nonetheless very focused and learned Percy Proud, and take in settings of dreamlike serenity, even including the locale of the militant group. Adventure awaits fans who get a load of this powerful, old-school spy yarn to really see James Bond as he had entered a new phase of operation, perhaps with the bad guys to at least some degree, but in the 1980s and beyond; a precursor itself to some of the more recent movies to redeem the single greatest secret agent in the history of the world. You still got it, Jimmy.
January 7, 2024
This is the fourth John Gardner Bond book I've read recently. I read a chunk of them back in the 90s but I'm doing a read/re-read having finished all the original Fleming books.
They're set in the late-80s with an older Bond. There are references to events in previous books, e.g. Tracey's murder gets a passing reference, but age doesn't seem to matter much. Although if we're assuming Bond was the same age as Connery he'd have been late 50s at this point.
They're are as formulaic as hell, but when that formula works they're good fun reads. And this one is a good one. Bond has resigned from the service and there are people out there that might need the services of an angry former SIS agent. And Bond finds himself involved in one of those big plans that Bond villains are so keen on. The villains though are probably the weakest point of this book in that it dilutes the focus of Bond's mission a little.
This is also the book where Bond learns how to write computer programs, which is rather amusing.
There are women, of course. There's a Bentley. There are casinos. As I said. Formulaic. But formulas aren't a problem if they're used effectively. I gave it three stars, which seems to be a little unfair but I think the villain problem knocks a star off.
They're set in the late-80s with an older Bond. There are references to events in previous books, e.g. Tracey's murder gets a passing reference, but age doesn't seem to matter much. Although if we're assuming Bond was the same age as Connery he'd have been late 50s at this point.
They're are as formulaic as hell, but when that formula works they're good fun reads. And this one is a good one. Bond has resigned from the service and there are people out there that might need the services of an angry former SIS agent. And Bond finds himself involved in one of those big plans that Bond villains are so keen on. The villains though are probably the weakest point of this book in that it dilutes the focus of Bond's mission a little.
This is also the book where Bond learns how to write computer programs, which is rather amusing.
There are women, of course. There's a Bentley. There are casinos. As I said. Formulaic. But formulas aren't a problem if they're used effectively. I gave it three stars, which seems to be a little unfair but I think the villain problem knocks a star off.
September 26, 2018
Gardner's fourth Bond book. The problem Gardner always had is that when Ian Fleming wrote the original series the characters and situations were new and fresh. By the time Gardner wrote this book there had been 18 previous Bond books, 15 movies, plus (mostly) inferior knock offs. There was nothing Gardner could do to refresh the series this late into his tenure. Doing what the films did, pulling the plug and rebooting with Daniel Craig, could have worked, but it was never on the minds of the writers who took on the task after Fleming. In this adventure Bond inherits a fortune, gets accused of impropriety with his money, booted from the British Secret Service, and sells his skills on the open market. Of course his arch-enemies pay him to join them. And it is all a ruse, as you suspect from the first chapter. Bond never left MI6, it was all a convoluted plot to get him into SPECTRE. But it doesn't stand up to scrutiny. If he inherited enough to buy the world, why was he selling his skills to the highest bidder? He didn't need the money. Despite that, this isn't nearly as bad as Gardner's fist few attempts.
April 23, 2020
I feel like my reviews of Gardner’s Bond novels are all fairly similar. The plots are generally quite engaging, but the delivery often misses the mark (unlike Bond himself).
In this iteration, Bond is seemingly cast out of the Service of which he is the most well-known (fictional) agent. With time and money to burn, he takes up the playboy life. But all this has an ulterior motive - to infiltrate the villain’s lair and find out what they are trying to achieve.
As it happens, the main villain turns out to be something of a pawn for an old, and well-known enemy of Bond’s, who must seek to maintain his own newly-acquired villainous persona right until the final pages.
As ever, there are glamorous women, knuckle-dragging henchmen and well-equipped cars - all the classic ingredients for a Bond novel.
The villain’s ultimate goal was one of the best I’ve read in a Bond novel and captured my attention - including to late twist, which was sadly rather rushed through in the final pages.
I’m heading back to the non-fiction shelves next but I will look forward to the next Bond when I come to it!
In this iteration, Bond is seemingly cast out of the Service of which he is the most well-known (fictional) agent. With time and money to burn, he takes up the playboy life. But all this has an ulterior motive - to infiltrate the villain’s lair and find out what they are trying to achieve.
As it happens, the main villain turns out to be something of a pawn for an old, and well-known enemy of Bond’s, who must seek to maintain his own newly-acquired villainous persona right until the final pages.
As ever, there are glamorous women, knuckle-dragging henchmen and well-equipped cars - all the classic ingredients for a Bond novel.
The villain’s ultimate goal was one of the best I’ve read in a Bond novel and captured my attention - including to late twist, which was sadly rather rushed through in the final pages.
I’m heading back to the non-fiction shelves next but I will look forward to the next Bond when I come to it!
October 9, 2020
Bond working for SPECTRE? Say it isn’t so! Head on over to The Reel Bits and my 007 Case Files for the full review. It's got some spoilers in it, so it was easier to link to it than post it here. Summary version: At the time, Gardner felt that this was the “weakest so far,” partly due to his own illness, various constraints, and lack of a break between volumes. If anything, the final coda means the entire book can probably be read as a prelude to . You may also take issue with the perfunctory way in which women, henchmen, and mild racial slurs are used, abused and dispatched without ceremony. In other words, it’s Gardner channelling the spirit of Ian Fleming.
March 7, 2025
Okay, not great. Having the climax in an airship over Lake Geneva was a cool idea (I wonder if it was a coincidence that one year after this was published, the Bond film View to a Kill would feature an airship climax over San Francisco Bay), as was the return of SPECTRE. The story lacked clever quips, Q-gadgets, a memorable henchman, and one or two other things I expect in a Bond story, but did deliver on multiple exotic locations, multiple liaisons with beautiful women, CIA cooperation, several chases, and an eccentric, psychopathic, enormously wealthy villain. The book was par for the course.
December 28, 2019
I can pretty much paste in my review of the other three John Gardner books and be covered. Maybe it’s confirmation bias but this one follows pretty much the identical pattern. It starts off very strong but then stalls into the worst snooziness of Fleming. This one is very focused on computer tech but it being written in 1984 does it no favors. Again, not much else to say because I’ve said it before. Maybe the later ones I read as a kid are better. I can only hope.
June 9, 2020
Basic coding, arcade games and floppy discs doesn’t suite James Bonds outfit. Parts of pages needed to be re-read and utterly boring. I mistrust John Gardner. Why would he give a way James Bonds identity during the firing scheme? Yet to see how this will affect the continuation? (Wouldn't basically every villain in the world know James Bond by now?) How did he even land the job to represent the Fleming legacy? Is Gardner working for S P E C T R E?
September 10, 2024
The opening and set up is clear early on. Right into the story. Things happen and it feels meandering. A surprise twist comes at page 200. The twist changes the tone of the beginning middle and end.
The book has 302 pages and there is action on page 302. Get over a mid-book slump and it is all story and action.
The book has 302 pages and there is action on page 302. Get over a mid-book slump and it is all story and action.
February 17, 2022
Not the best Bond book but I liked the introduction of the new Blofeld and also liked the airship which had hints of 'A View To A Kill'. The book was just not Bondlike, one dimensional in terms of locations and villains. The end saved it.
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