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Title: Shaken, not Thrilled
Review: Two words came to mind after finishing this book: Juvenile and pedestrian. It's not among the worst of its ilk, but Gardner does himself no favors with some of the cheeky side references to Bond's favorite actor (Sean Connery, naturally) and the marathon "honeymoon".Given the nature of Scorpius, a megalomaniacal cult leader commanding a legion of former drug addict suicide bombers, and his strange quirks, I would have to wonder whether or not this was originally conceived as a Conan novel that Gardner shoe-horned into the Bond mythos.The whole thing just feels rather shallow and weak, especially when one expects a thrill a chapter in a rollicking adventure. It wasn't the worst novel I've read in a while, but it's nothing particularly memorable neither. I'd recommend readers skip it unless one is a true Bond completist.
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