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Icebreaker (novel)
Encyclopedia
Icebreaker, first published in 1983, was the third novel by John Gardner
featuring Ian Fleming
's secret agent
, James Bond
. Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom
by Jonathan Cape
and is the first Bond novel to be published in the United States
by Putnam
, beginning a long-standing association.
(CIA
), the Soviet Union
(KGB
) and Israel
(Mossad
). The team, dubbed "Icebreaker", waste no time double-crossing each other. Ostensibly their job is to root out the leader of the murderous National Socialist Action Army (NSAA), Count Konrad von Glöda. The Count used to be known as Arne Tudeer, a one-time Nazi
SS officer who now perceives himself as the new Adolf Hitler
. The National Socialist Action Army is essentially a new wave of fascism
as a means to wipe out communist leaders and supporters around the world.
The novel is full of double-crosses and even triple-crosses where the agents and agencies go without sharing their true loyalties with one another. The American agent, for instance, first appears to be a good guy then later in cahoots with von Glöda, and then still even later a good guy once again. Things become even more complicated when the Israeli agent, Rivke, is revealed to be the daughter of von Glöda/Tudeer and her allegiance, although appearing to be legitimate, in doubt. The Russian agent also double-crosses Bond in hopes of capturing him for KGB interrogation.
Bond gets several weeks of driving training from Erik Carlsson
as preparation for this Arctic
assignment.
Icebreaker was released in Finland
under a title Tehtävä Suomessa, James Bond (Mission in Finland, James Bond), as part of the book takes place in Finland.
John Gardner (thriller writer)
John Edmund Gardner was an English spy novelist, most notably for the James Bond series.-Early life:Gardner was born in Seaton Delaval, Northumberland. He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge and did postgraduate study at Oxford...
featuring Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
's secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...
, James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
. Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
and is the first Bond novel to be published in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Putnam
G. P. Putnam's Sons
G. P. Putnam's Sons was a major United States book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.-History:...
, beginning a long-standing association.
Plot summary
Bond reluctantly finds himself recruited into a dangerous mission involving an equally dangerous and treacherous alliance of agents from the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
), the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
(KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
) and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
(Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
). The team, dubbed "Icebreaker", waste no time double-crossing each other. Ostensibly their job is to root out the leader of the murderous National Socialist Action Army (NSAA), Count Konrad von Glöda. The Count used to be known as Arne Tudeer, a one-time Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
SS officer who now perceives himself as the new Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. The National Socialist Action Army is essentially a new wave of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
as a means to wipe out communist leaders and supporters around the world.
The novel is full of double-crosses and even triple-crosses where the agents and agencies go without sharing their true loyalties with one another. The American agent, for instance, first appears to be a good guy then later in cahoots with von Glöda, and then still even later a good guy once again. Things become even more complicated when the Israeli agent, Rivke, is revealed to be the daughter of von Glöda/Tudeer and her allegiance, although appearing to be legitimate, in doubt. The Russian agent also double-crosses Bond in hopes of capturing him for KGB interrogation.
Bond gets several weeks of driving training from Erik Carlsson
Erik Carlsson
Erik Carlsson, aka "Carlsson på taket" , was born March 5, 1929 in Trollhättan, Sweden and was a rally driver for Saab. Because of his public relations work for Saab, he is also known as Mr. Saab....
as preparation for this Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
assignment.
Characters
- James BondJames BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
- MM (James Bond)M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
-
- Paula Vacker: is a frequent love interest of James Bond that he visits virtually every time he is in HelsinkiHelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
. During the course of the novel, her loyalty to him is questioned, initially appearing totally innocent, then in league with von Glöda, and finally discovered to be a deep under cover agent for SupoSuojelupoliisiThe Finnish Security Intelligence Service is the intelligence agency of Finland in charge of national security. The agency's staff is composed of 220 policemen with additional training...
.
- Paula Vacker: is a frequent love interest of James Bond that he visits virtually every time he is in Helsinki
-
- Brad Tirpitz: is a member of the Icebreaker team and an agent from the CIACentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
. He is later discovered by Bond to be in league with the National Socialist Action Army and to have killed the real agent Tirpitz and taken his place; he claims, his name is actually Hans Buchtman and is described as von Glöda's Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich HimmlerHeinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
. Buchtman, however, turns out to be an alias of Brad Tirpitz, who created this back-story as a way to gain entry into von Glöda's organisation; indeed, he actually works and is loyal to the CIA.
- Brad Tirpitz: is a member of the Icebreaker team and an agent from the CIA
-
- Kolya Mosolov: is a KGB agent who is a member of the Icebreaker team. He is discovered to have planned the entire Icebreaker team in coordination with von Glöda. The two have a deal in which Mosolov would betray his country and sell arms to von Glöda in exchange for the capture of secret agent 007. Mosolov being not only an agent of the KGB, but also an agent working within "Department V", a department formerly known as SMERSHSMERSH (James Bond)SMERSH is a Soviet counterintelligence agency featured in Ian Fleming's early James Bond novels as agent 007's nemesis. СМЕРШ is an acronym from two Russian words: "SMERt' SHpionam" meaning "Death to Spies"...
; Bond's main nemesis throughout the Ian FlemingIan FlemingIan Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
novels. Mosolov believes that von Glöda will not succeed and is merely going along with the deal for the time being in order to capture Bond for the Soviets.
- Kolya Mosolov: is a KGB agent who is a member of the Icebreaker team. He is discovered to have planned the entire Icebreaker team in coordination with von Glöda. The two have a deal in which Mosolov would betray his country and sell arms to von Glöda in exchange for the capture of secret agent 007. Mosolov being not only an agent of the KGB, but also an agent working within "Department V", a department formerly known as SMERSH
-
- Rivke Ingber: is a member of the Icebreaker team and an agent working for the MossadMossadThe Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
. She is discovered to actually be Anni Tudeer, the daughter of Count von Glöda (aka Aarne Tudeer). Rivke plays both sides, initially acting like she is disgusted with her father's past, but later actually being discovered to be in league with him, thinking of herself as a future Führer.
- Rivke Ingber: is a member of the Icebreaker team and an agent working for the Mossad
-
- Count Konrad von Glöda: is the mastermind behind the National Socialist Action Army and self-declared FührerFührerFührer , alternatively spelled Fuehrer in both English and German when the umlaut is not available, is a German title meaning leader or guide now most associated with Adolf Hitler, who modelled it on Benito Mussolini's title il Duce, as well as with Georg von Schönerer, whose followers also...
. His real name is Aarne Tudeer, a low-level SS officer wanted by the AlliesAlliesIn everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them...
for crimes during the Second World WarWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He attempts to bring back fascismFascismFascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
by targeting communist leaders and supporters around the world.
- Count Konrad von Glöda: is the mastermind behind the National Socialist Action Army and self-declared Führer
Publication history
Gardner reveals that his publisher originally rejected the title Icebreaker, only to come back to it after rejecting "turkey after turkey" in terms of alternate titles.Icebreaker was released in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
under a title Tehtävä Suomessa, James Bond (Mission in Finland, James Bond), as part of the book takes place in Finland.
- UK first hardback edition: July 7, 1983 Jonathan CapeJonathan CapeJonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
- U.S. first hardback edition: April 1983 PutnamG. P. Putnam's SonsG. P. Putnam's Sons was a major United States book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.-History:...
- UK first paperback edition: 1984 Coronet Books
- U.S. first paperback edition: May 1984 Berkley BooksBerkley BooksBerkley Books is an imprint of Penguin Group that began as an independent company in 1955. It was established by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein, who were working for Avon and formed "Chic News Company". They renamed it Berkley Publishing Co. in 1955. They soon found a niche in science fiction...