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A review by jmgustaf
Licence to Kill by John Gardner
4.0
I finished reading this one and I have to say that I enjoyed it. It was very similar to the film, but with some minor changes.
The plot is very much the same, James is in Florida for Felix’s wedding when Felix’s ‘prize turkey’ of a villain shows up to collect his girlfriend. Felix can’t ignore the rare opportunity to arrest him, and Bond goes along to do so. This, of course, makes them late to the wedding. In the film they parachute down to the wedding after capturing Sanchez, but not in the book, they drive up about three hours late. I appreciate the mention in the book that James and Della (Felix’s bride) are old friends. The kisses in the film always seemed too much for me. Sanchez escapes, his henchman kill Della and maim Felix, I was thinking that it should have been something different than a shark in the book, since that was already done to Felix in Fleming’s book, “Live and Let Die.” At first I thought maybe a chainsaw, but then after finishing it and remembering that Sanchez tries to kill James with a machete, I thought that would’ve been a nice touch, he hacks at Felix with the same machete. There was a small change too, that made me wonder why they changed it. Instead of the toothpaste plastic explosive being detonated by a remote cigarette detonator, it was in the form of a remote pen detonator. I would’ve thought, if anything, they would’ve shied away from cigarettes in the film and not the book.
Sanchez is a great villain, I have always thought so and the book somehow makes him even more maniacal and menacing. Lupe seems more terrified of him as well. His operation is great, his deviance is wonderful and I love his ‘above it all’ feel as he deals with his inferiors (which he sees everyone as).
The leading lady is Pam Bouvier. A second is Lupe, Sanchez’s “girlfriend.” She is a great character and I enjoy her story arc, we learn a little of her past and we see a victim of circumstance who’d rather be a victim of abuse! She gets a potential ‘happy ending’ that has the romantics shaking their heads, while the pragmatists cheer. We also get our standard Gardner possible double cross, but just like in the film, Pam is genuinely on the ‘side of angels’ and the double cross is actually on Sanchez through his head of security, Heller.
I was curious how they would handle Milton Krest, since he is a character in the literary world of Bond that was already in “The Hildebrand Rarity (which is a great short story). I thought maybe Gardner would alter his name for the book, but they don’t. We can just chalk it up as two people having the same name and some similar personality traits. I tried to figure it in my head for them to be the same character, but it doesn’t work. I enjoyed the extra bit we got with Isthmus city chief of police Rojas in the book. I also felt Q had more presence in the book than in the film. M was par for the course outwardly disapproving of Bond’s move, but ultimately supporting it and using Moneypenny as his vicarious support.
I really enjoyed reading this, I finished it in two days. It was a great read that will help me enjoy the film more thoroughly. I give it an 8 out of 10.
The plot is very much the same, James is in Florida for Felix’s wedding when Felix’s ‘prize turkey’ of a villain shows up to collect his girlfriend. Felix can’t ignore the rare opportunity to arrest him, and Bond goes along to do so. This, of course, makes them late to the wedding. In the film they parachute down to the wedding after capturing Sanchez, but not in the book, they drive up about three hours late. I appreciate the mention in the book that James and Della (Felix’s bride) are old friends. The kisses in the film always seemed too much for me. Sanchez escapes, his henchman kill Della and maim Felix, I was thinking that it should have been something different than a shark in the book, since that was already done to Felix in Fleming’s book, “Live and Let Die.” At first I thought maybe a chainsaw, but then after finishing it and remembering that Sanchez tries to kill James with a machete, I thought that would’ve been a nice touch, he hacks at Felix with the same machete. There was a small change too, that made me wonder why they changed it. Instead of the toothpaste plastic explosive being detonated by a remote cigarette detonator, it was in the form of a remote pen detonator. I would’ve thought, if anything, they would’ve shied away from cigarettes in the film and not the book.
Sanchez is a great villain, I have always thought so and the book somehow makes him even more maniacal and menacing. Lupe seems more terrified of him as well. His operation is great, his deviance is wonderful and I love his ‘above it all’ feel as he deals with his inferiors (which he sees everyone as).
The leading lady is Pam Bouvier. A second is Lupe, Sanchez’s “girlfriend.” She is a great character and I enjoy her story arc, we learn a little of her past and we see a victim of circumstance who’d rather be a victim of abuse! She gets a potential ‘happy ending’ that has the romantics shaking their heads, while the pragmatists cheer. We also get our standard Gardner possible double cross, but just like in the film, Pam is genuinely on the ‘side of angels’ and the double cross is actually on Sanchez through his head of security, Heller.
I was curious how they would handle Milton Krest, since he is a character in the literary world of Bond that was already in “The Hildebrand Rarity (which is a great short story). I thought maybe Gardner would alter his name for the book, but they don’t. We can just chalk it up as two people having the same name and some similar personality traits. I tried to figure it in my head for them to be the same character, but it doesn’t work. I enjoyed the extra bit we got with Isthmus city chief of police Rojas in the book. I also felt Q had more presence in the book than in the film. M was par for the course outwardly disapproving of Bond’s move, but ultimately supporting it and using Moneypenny as his vicarious support.
I really enjoyed reading this, I finished it in two days. It was a great read that will help me enjoy the film more thoroughly. I give it an 8 out of 10.