GoldenEye

The story, without spoilers

Janus, a powerful Russian criminal leader, has acquired GoldenEye, technology capable of attacking the West's financial systems. Xenia, once a KGB operative, works for him. Bond has to uncover and stop the operation before the stolen capability becomes a devastating weapon.

Gardner turns the 1995 film into a novel, so this belongs alongside his continuation writing as a screen-story adaptation. Readers who want the film's adversaries and central threat in prose can choose it without treating it as the next original Gardner mission.

Can I start here?

Yes, if the 1995 film is your point of interest. It is optional in Gardner's original-novel order. Licence Renewed remains the place to begin his independent sequence of new Bond stories.

What stands out

The financial-system threat is the defining premise. Its screen origin also matters when comparing styles: Gardner is adapting an existing Bond adventure here, rather than choosing a wholly new mission of his own.

Who wrote it

Gardner had created the comic spy Boysie Oakes before the Fleming estate invited him to bring Bond into the 1980s; he later wrote GoldenEye. His run contains fourteen original novels and two film adaptations.

Where it fits in Bond’s life

GoldenEye follows its film’s story and screen continuity. Read this author’s film adaptations separately from Fleming’s originals.

Content notes

Adult readers. Killings, assassination, a destructive technological threat and adult violence.

Setting

• Russia and the film’s international locations

Main characters

James Bond, Janus, Xenia Onatopp.