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For Special Services

By: John Gardner
Narrated by: uncredited
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About this listen

In this second instalment of John Gardner's Bond series, Bond teams up with CIA agent Cedar Leiter, daughter of his old friend Felix Leiter, to investigate Markus Bismaquer, who is suspected of reviving the notorious criminal organisation SPECTRE.

©2011 John Gardner (P)2011 Orion Publishing Group Limited Action & Adventure

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All stars
Most relevant  
Fleming esq - exciting and dramatic story in suiting with the originals. Great interlinking of the spectre story

Brilliant Bond Book

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Very entertaining and continues the James (007) Bond legacy. Took me back to the sixties and the height of the films.

Oh oh 7

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rushed end as always but still worth a listen. Bit ridiculous at times ,good fun

2nd best book by Gardner. Well worth a read

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It was well narrated but it felt like I've heard a lot of it before and knew pretty quickly who Blofeld was.

Okay

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Usual good fun. A bit predictable. Ultimately satisfying. Give it a go. The narrator does a good job

Spoiler alert. This may spoil the upcoming oboe SPECTRE

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The narrator is Jeremy Northam, not sure why it states uncredited.

More John Gardner madness, but an enjoyable romp. If you like Bond stories and the franchise then you'll find this enjoyable enough.

I've cream villainy, with a twist.

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John Gardner's second book is much better than the first (Licence Renewed) and this is also the second narrated by Jeremy Northam, who this time doesn't seem bored or uninterested. His Bond is still, well, Bland, but it's miles better than his previous attempt. The story itself is much more a typical Bond story, albeit farcical at times. And sadly the ending, after the big twist, is sadly anticlimactic.

Bond vs Bismacher

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Outstanding story telling, twists and turns on every page. 10/10. John Gardner is a master of suspense ...

Bond battles Blofeld...

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This is one of the strangest Bond books I’ve read: First read in print on release and now 30+ years later via Audible.
The narration elevates the story. It was exceptionally well read and the accents and intonation fit perfectly.

There are some parts of the story that haven’t aged well for a reader in 2023. I wonder if, when it was written, it felt so anachronistic? It’s not so much that Bond is inappropriate but that the writer puts some storylines in that are designed to titillate but we’re more disturbing especially by the very end of the book. I won’t “spoil” that here.

Still don’t find the inclusion of the SAAB in keeping with Ian Flemings Bond. Not that another car could be used by Bond, it just seems to be a mismatch imho and features prominently. The Aston Martin was always a better fit.

The storyline ultimately felt like an episode from a Bond TV series clawing in a few new versions of old characters, a cameo, an unoriginal enemy agency and poorly used “who is it” enemy mystery.

The depiction of sexuality and sex left me feeling icky as a reader. Perhaps another reader will feel differently but for me there wasn’t a genuine appropriate love interest, rather weakly explored fetishes that had no appeal.

Whether or not the writer matures a better Bond I don’t remember. I had intended to read more Bond novels by the same author but I’ll skip to a different writer as I’m not so committed to Bond to endure books of this calibre.

Hotpot Story but excellent narration

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One to miss if not. It just doesn't work as a story. To much name dropping not enough story.

Only read as part of the whole bond series

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