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John E. Gardner

Author profile

born

November 20, 1926 in Seaton Delavel, Northumberland, The United Kingdom

died

August 03, 2007

gender

male

genre

Mystery & Thrillers

About this author

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In 1964, Gardner began his novelist career with [Book:The Liquidator] , in which he created a richly comic character named Boysie Oakes who inadvertently is mistaken to be a tough, pitiless man of action and is thereupon recruited into a British spy agency. Oakes is, in actuality, a devout coward with many other character failings who wants nothing more than to be left alone and is terrified by the situations into which he is constantly being forced.

The book appeared at the height of the fictional spy mania and, as a send-up of the whole business, was an immediate success. It was made into a movie by MGM The Liquidator, and another seven light-hearted novels about the cowardly Oakes appeared over the next 12 years.

Following the success o...more In 1964, Gardner began his novelist career with [Book:The Liquidator] , in which he created a richly comic character named Boysie Oakes who inadvertently is mistaken to be a tough, pitiless man of action and is thereupon recruited into a British spy agency. Oakes is, in actuality, a devout coward with many other character failings who wants nothing more than to be left alone and is terrified by the situations into which he is constantly being forced.

The book appeared at the height of the fictional spy mania and, as a send-up of the whole business, was an immediate success. It was made into a movie by MGM The Liquidator, and another seven light-hearted novels about the cowardly Oakes appeared over the next 12 years.

Following the success of his Oakes books, Gardner continued to write with new characters: Derek Torry, Herbie Kruger, and the Railton family, which he intended as more serious works in the spy novel genre. Gardner also wrote three novels using the character of Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes series. The third of this series, titled simply Moriarty , was delayed due to a dispute with the publisher, but was finally released shortly after his death.

In 1981, Gardner was asked to revive Ian Fleming's James Bond series of novels. Between 1981 and 1996, Gardner wrote fourteen James Bond novels, and the novelizations of two Bond films. While the books were commercial successes, Gardner was ambivalent about writing novels with a character he hadn't created. In 1996, Gardner officially retired from writing Bond novels. Ian Fleming Publications quickly chose [Author:Raymond Benson] to continue the literary stories of James Bond.

In the late 1990s, Gardner stopped writing for several years due to a prolonged battle with cancer and the death of his wife in 1997. Gardner recovered and returned to print in 2001 with a new novel, [Book:Day of Absolution], which was widely praised by critics. Gardner also began a series of books with a new character, Suzie Mountford, a 1930s police detective.
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Books by John E. Gardner

Average rating: 3.40 · 4,100 ratings · 175 reviews · 58 distinct works

	Nobody Lives Forever 3.53 avg rating — 511 ratings — published 1986 — 13 editions	My rating:
	License Renewed 3.34 avg rating — 514 ratings — published 1981 — 20 editions	My rating:
	Role of Honor 3.40 avg rating — 372 ratings — published 1984 — 11 editions	My rating:
	License to Kill 3.38 avg rating — 289 ratings — published 1989 — 7 editions	My rating:
	For Special Services 3.35 avg rating — 306 ratings — published 1982 — 13 editions	My rating:
	Goldeneye 3.68 avg rating — 224 ratings — published 1995 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Icebreaker 3.30 avg rating — 251 ratings — published 1983 — 10 editions	My rating:
	Scorpius 3.32 avg rating — 221 ratings — published 1988 — 8 editions	My rating:
	No Deals, Mr. Bond 3.30 avg rating — 181 ratings — published 1960 — 10 editions	My rating:
	Brokenclaw 3.26 avg rating — 149 ratings — published 1990 — 6 editions	My rating: