ICEBREAKER

James Bond in Finland and Russia—for more of the same, just colder. This time Gardner's neo-Bond (who's less vividly characterized with every book) is sent by M to join three other agents—a CIA man, a KGB man, and beauteous Rivke of Israel's Mossad—in an action against the NSAA, a neo-Nazi group that has been responsible for heaps of recent terrorism. The plan? To catch the NSAA in the act of getting arms supplies . . . which are coming from Russia, of all places, near the Finno-Russian/Arctic-Circle border. But Bond suspects that the operation is not quite what it seems to be. First off, Rivke (not her real name) turns out to be the daughter of the old Finnish Nazi who's rumored to be the NSAA mastermind! Moreover, the KGB guy is clearly up to no good. And what about Bond's Helsinki girlfriend Paula: is she a neo-Nazi too? So it goes, with the requisite bursts of techno-violence (lethal snow-plows, snow-scooters, etc.), kidnaps, grenades, mild smirks of sex, double-crosses, triple-crosses (can Bond even trust M himself), and a final dollop of missile warfare. And though the formula is tired beyond belief, the scenery's nice, the pacing is competent—and the readership has proven to be uncommonly loyal.