Brokenclaw

Brokenclaw
	First UK hardback edition
Author	John Gardner
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	James Bond
Genre	Spy fiction
Publisher	Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date	July 1990
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
ISBN	0-399-13541-3 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC	21441940
Dewey Decimal	823/.914 20
LC Class	PR6057.A63 B7 1990

Last updated March 16, 2019

Brokenclaw, first published in 1990, was the tenth 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 Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam. The book title is sometimes presented as two words, but is correctly one word since it is a character name.

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1990.

John Edmund Gardner was an English spy and thriller novelist, best known for his James Bond continuation novels, but also for his series of Boysie Oakes books and three continuation novels containing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional villain, Professor Moriarty.

Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.

Plot summary

After expressing frustration over a lack of action after his year-long mission with the Royal Navy (as detailed in Win, Lose or Die), Bond threatens to resign. Instead, M orders Bond to take a vacation. Bond travels to Victoria, British Columbia where he is intrigued by Lee Fu-Chu, a half-Blackfoot, half-Chinese philanthropist who is known as "Brokenclaw" because of a deformed hand.

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years War against the Kingdom of France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is known as the Senior Service.

M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond book and film series; the character is the Head of the Secret Intelligence Service—also known as MI6—and is Bond's superior. Fleming based the character on a number of people he knew who commanded sections of British intelligence. M has appeared in the novels by Fleming and seven continuation authors, as well as appearing in twenty-four films. In the Eon Productions series of films, M has been portrayed by four actors: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown, Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes, the incumbent; in the two independent productions, M was played by John Huston, David Niven and Edward Fox.

Victoria, British Columbia Provincial capital city in British Columbia, Canada

Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 85,792, while the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria has a population of 367,770, making it the 15th most populous Canadian metropolitan area. Victoria is the 7th most densely populated city in Canada with 4,405.8 people per square kilometre, which is a greater population density than Toronto.

Later, Bond is ordered to San Francisco where he is tasked to investigate the kidnapping of several scientists who have been working on a new submarine detection system and an "antidote" known as LORDS and LORDS DAY. Bond and CIA agent Chi-Chi Sue go undercover using the codenames Peter Abelard and Héloïse that were assigned to two agents from the People's Republic of China that are sent to evaluate the submarine technology before purchasing it.

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. San Francisco is the 13th-most populous city in the United States, and the fourth-most populous in California, with 884,363 residents as of 2017. It covers an area of about 46.89 square miles (121.4 km²), mostly at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second-most densely populated large US city, and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is also part of the fifth-most populous primary statistical area in the United States, the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area.

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term most commonly refers to a large, crewed vessel. It is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine and the wet sub. The noun submarine evolved as a shortened form of submarine boat; by naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as "boats" rather than as "ships", regardless of their size.

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT). As one of the principal members of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet of the United States.

Ultimately, Bond discovers that Brokenclaw is involved in this scheme on behalf of China, and also has plans of his own which involve sparking a worldwide economic disaster by bringing about the collapse of the dollar by tapping into the New York Stock Exchange, which would in turn bring down other major currencies worldwide. The plan, dubbed Operation Jericho was a long-term plan initially started by the Japanese, but now believed to have been worked on simultaneously by the Chinese before being acquired by Brokenclaw.

The New York Stock Exchange is an American stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at US$30.1 trillion as of February 2018. The average daily trading value was approximately US$169 billion in 2013. The NYSE trading floor is located at 11 Wall Street and is composed of 21 rooms used for the facilitation of trading. A fifth trading room, located at 30 Broad Street, was closed in February 2007. The main building and the 11 Wall Street building were designated National Historic Landmarks in 1978.

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south.

Brokenclaw's hideout in California is raided by Special Forces after he is located by Naval Intelligence officer Ed Rushia who was searching and attempting to help Bond and Chi-Chi while on their mission. Brokenclaw escapes the raid only to be tracked down by Bond and Rushia, off the books, to the Chelan Mountains of Washington where Bond is challenged to a torture ritual known as o-kee-pa. In the end, the competition comes down to a fight between the two using bow and arrows; Brokenclaw barely misses Bond and in turn is shot through the neck by Bond's arrow.

The Chelan Mountains, or Chelan Range is a mountain range in the U.S. state of Washington. Located west of the Columbia River, north of the Entiat River, and south of Lake Chelan, the range is part of the North Cascades section of the Cascade Range. The Chelan Range is about 40 mi (64 km) long northwest to southeast and about 8 mi (13 km) wide, southwest to northeast.

Characters

James Bond
M
Bill Tanner
Ann Reilly
Brokenclaw: Half Chinese, half Blackfoot, he was born Lee Fu-Chu. He received the name "Brokenclaw" because of a deformity in his left hand where his thumb is on the right (viewing the palm up) rather than the left. Brokenclaw is a crime lord in San Francisco who has a large hold on the city's prostitution, gambling, and drug rackets. He also works for CELD (Central External Liaison Department), the intelligence service of the People's Republic of China, and possibly CCI (Central Control of Intelligence). Brokenclaw has managed to get his hands on a new technology that can detect submarine signatures which he plans to give to CELD. Additionally, Brokenclaw also plans to cause economic disaster by bringing about the collapse of the dollar. Ultimately Brokenclaw's plans are prevented by Bond. He later retreats to a getaway location in the Chelan Mountains of Washington. There he challenges Bond to a ritual known as o-kee-pa. During this competition he is shot by Bond in the neck with an arrow.
Miss Sue Chi-Ho: Known to her friends as Chi-Chi Sue or simply Chi-Chi, she is on loan from the CIA. She can speak fluent Cantonese and was previously a U.S. Naval Intelligence officer. She accompanies Bond on Operation Curve posing as Jenny Mo, an operative codenamed Héloïse from the People's Republic of China who was sent to evaluate Brokenclaw's submarine detection technology.
Ed Rushia: A Commander with U.S. Naval Intelligence. He is tasked with following Bond and Chi-Chi to ensure their safety throughout their mission. After Bond and Chi-Chi disappear, Rushia searches California for them. After eventually picking up their signal he helps Bond escape a deathtrap in which Bond is thrown to Brokenclaw's wolves. He later teams up with Bond, off the record, to find Brokenclaw in Washington after Brokenclaw's hideout is raided.
Wanda Man Song Hing: A Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, Wanda is undercover posing as Brokenclaw's lover. Her father who owed Brokenclaw an enormous sum of money gave her (willingly to go undercover) to Brokenclaw as compensation. She is later discovered and as retribution her father is thrown to the wolves while she is badly tortured.
Agents Nolan and Wood: Crooked FBI agents who are working secretly for Brokenclaw. They discover Bond is not who he claims to be and capture him for Brokenclaw. They later capture Chi-Chi for Brokenclaw and attempt to hold her ransom. They are eventually arrested by Ed Rushia.

Publication history

U.S. first hardback edition: 1 August 1990 Putnam
UK first hardback edition: September 1990 Hodder & Stoughton
UK first paperback edition: October 1991 Coronet Books
U.S. first paperback edition: 1991 Berkley Books

Trivia

The local Victoria newspaper is referred to as the 'Times-Columnist'; it is actually called the Times-Colonist, referring to Vancouver Island's previous colonial status in the British Empire.
Although it has been established by Ian Fleming on numerous occasions that James Bond hates tea, in the opening chapters of the novel Bond drinks tea.
Peter Abelard and Héloïse, Bond and Chi-Chi's undercover names, is a reference to a famous love affair.
John Gardner considered Brokenclaw to be one of his least favourite Bond books, in addition to Role of Honour . At the time Gardner wrote Brokenclaw he had just moved to the United States and had been recovering from a prostate cancer operation.

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References

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