As this 1989 thriller begins, James Bond has lost his license to kill. After he took revenge on the CIA agent who handed his friend over to the master criminal Sanchez, M revoked Bond's double-0 status. Now considered a rogue agent, with MI6 trying to bring him in and only the support of Q behind him, Bond goes after Sanchez. Aboard a ship, Bond tricks his way into Sanchez's inner circle and discovers the secret of his wealth—but Bond is walking a tightrope, and it is only a matter of time before he slips. After Kingsley Amis wrote Colonel Sun in 1968, it was John Gardner who was asked to carry on writing new adventures starring James Bond. Gardner ultimately wrote 14 original Bond books (as did Bond's creator, Ian Fleming), plus novelizations of the films GoldenEye and License to Kill.
