Summary- James Bond inherits a large sum of money from his late uncle, Bruce Bond. Bond spends some of the money on a new Bentley and a little high living. M notices, and hatches a plot to make it seem that James Bond has been kicked out of the secret service. A supportable story leaks out, and Bond appears jobless. This is all in order for Bond to get in the confidences of Dr. Jay Autem Holy, now known as St. John Finnes. He is the man thought to be responsible for a few recent, highly effective robberies. It turns out that Finnes is making computer simulations that are being used to plan robberies. Finnes then sells these to various people. His latest buyer is SPECTRE, who wants to get a hold of the EPOC frequencies and codes, which can disable the American nuclear arsenal. A known terrorist, Tamil Rahani, is also working on the project, known as Operation Down Escalator . Bond is hired by Finnes to get the frequencies for the EPOC. He does, but got warning out ahead of time. When Finnes puts in the codes, he thinks he has succeeded. However, Rahani, who is revealed to be the new executive of SPECTRE, betrays him. Rahani escapes. The codes didn't work, however, since M got a message to the Americans to not acknowledge the codes. My Grade- C- I think that this is a very lack-luster Gardner novel. His previous three novels have been better. This is still an O.K. novel, but it doesn't stand out in any way. Best Moment- Bond plays Finnes at a simulation of the American Revolution. Bond beats Finnes, and the British win. (I don't like this because the British win, I like it because Bond beats Finnes and sends him into a childish tantrum.
