Devil May Care (The New James Bond Novel ) by Sebastian Faulks Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Devil May Care (The New James Bond Novel )
Book Review: A nice return for Bond
Summary: 4 Stars
Faulks appears to have done justice to Ian Fleming and his James Bond. The first chapter hooks you and its a nice ride from there. I'm half-way through and its proving to be a good read. I've always been a big fan of the films (shamefully before reading the novels by Fleming). That being said, I have not read any Bond novels by other authors so I can't compare Faulks with them.Book Review: An Authentic Fleming
Summary: 4 Stars
If There Wasn't Death
Please note that I said authentic Fleming but not authentic Bond. It is not possible to recreate a legend. Even Markham's (the very good writer, Kingsley Amis)Colonel Sun did not come near the hero of Fleming, but oh, so much better than the dreadful John Gardner's anemical Bond books.
So Mr. Sebastian Faulks, bless him, although I had not heard of him before this, manages a very creditable Fleming book without falling into the pastiche category. The title correctly identifies him writing as Ian Fleming.
Yes, it is crisp like a toast, violent like a cutthroat on the street and the sex scenes are short and provoking.
Violence: plenty of it, all in the traditional Fleming manner of not lingering too much on the details. Mathis lifted Hashim's clenched fist. There was a bloody piece of meat sticking out of it.
'It's his tongue.'
The villain is nicely vicious, and very anti-British, and although no Goldfinger, is very believable. Yes, he suffers from main de singe, or monkey's hand.
But Bond!
He's still not over his wife's death (read the Moneypenny Diaries), and is not sure he'd ever go back to active service. But he does. He drinks Johnny Walker Black with ice and club soda or Bourbon (where did he get a taste of the sour mash?)with water.
Not too many funny lines but Felix Leiter on learning where Bond was exclaims, 'And just where the Hell is Tehran?' (It is the 70s).
And one of the best throw away lines comes from Gorner the villain, ordering poached egg, bacon, coffee. Bond says, 'I should like black pepper on mine, cracked not ground.' Gorner says, 'Remember the starving Irish, a cup of water for you.'
Yes, Bond is back. Unfortunately the influence of film is written all over it, but it does not sound like a screenplay turned novel but a novel that would make a good screenplay.
Bravo, Mr. Faulks!
Ah, I nearly forgot, watch out for agent 004. Does M really want 007 to work with another or even replace him?
Hugely entertaining
Really enjoyable.
Book Review: An Egg from the Cock that Crew.
Summary: 3 Stars
I've always admired British writers because of their precise control of the language. I've read every James Bond novel written, and all of the other (non-Bond) novels written by John Gardner, and most of Raymond Benson's. I've enjoyed them all. Devil May Care is enjoyable too, yet there seems to be some sort of inside joke associated with it. Grammatical errors are rare with the British, yet Faulks throws in a few perplexing anomalies, e.g. "orientate" instead of "orient", "disorientated" instead of "disoriented", and "acclimatize" instead of "acclimate". He uses "height" instead of "altitude" when a plane is in flight. I've never read any of his books before so I don't know if it's his style, or his attempt to write as Ian Fleming, or the general deterioration of the English language. Then there's that concluding page about the "Type". Does anyone care that, "This book has been typeset in Montotype Garamond, a version of the original Garamond first introduced in 1541." I would have preferred the font that Ian Fleming used to type his original stories!!
Book Review: At Long Last, the Real James Bond is Back
Summary: 5 Stars
If Ian Fleming were alive today, he'd've just turned 100 and I like to think he'd be pretty bloody pleased with the Bond franchise he'd spawned. As a lover of everything Bond from Fleming, though Gardner and Connery through Craig (okay, I was a little disappointed in George Lazerby), I like to think I'm qualified to muse a bit about the latest of the Bond writers. First off I have to say:
Well done, Mr. Faulks.
Fleming wasn't always politically correct, of course he died before it was fashionable, and Faulks follows in the non PC tradition. I loved Fleming's Bond, read him when I was in high school, saw Goldfinger the day after it opened at Gruman's Chinese Theater.
I mourned Ian Fleming's passing and thought I'd seen the last of James Bond, then in 1968 came Colonial Sun, written by Robert Markham (which belongs back in print), who was really the excellent writer Kingsley Amis, who joined Ian Fleming in 1995. That was a great book.
Then in the Eighties came the Gardner books. Lord I loved his Bond, loved those books, all fourteen of 'em, but I especially liked his first one, License Renewed. But good things don't last forever and in the late Nineties John Gardner's health forced him to quit doing Bond and sadly last year Mr. Gardner went away and joined Messers Fleming and Kingsley.
However, right on the heels of the last Gardner book came the Benson Bond and I liked all six of those as well, read his shorter Bond stories, liked them too. But through it all, Gardner's Bond was not Fleming's Bond, nor was Amis' or Benson's. They'd changed him, some for the better, some for worse. They'd humanized him, grew him up, gave him good stories, great adventurers.
But now I feel as if I'm young again, not yet twenty, standing in line with the man I was going to marry at Grauman's, waiting to see Goldfinger. God we loved Bond back then. There was a man.
He's back.
Thank you, Mr. Faulks.
Reviewed by Vesta Irene
Book Review: Authenic yet derivative
Summary: 3 Stars
First of all, I realize the irony of using the word "derivative" to describe a work of fiction that boldy states its author is deliberately copying the style of Ian Fleming. But the fact is, Faulks relies too heavily on Bond's recollections of past missions. In fact, I re-read Casino Royale prior to this one, and was a little shocked to see a handful of scenes virtually repeated.
I'd also like to risk enraging hardcore Fleming fans by offering up this long-held observation: Fleming was very creative, but he was NOT some literary genius. His writing style was often very simplistic, blandly laying out the facts of a scene without using descriptive adjectives that are the hallmark of so many well-known and successful authors.
"Devil May Care" does indeed read like a Fleming novel, faults and all. And for those who hold the original Bond adventures dear, this is a fine tribute. And, dare I say it, it would make a pretty good movie. BUT I doubt any filmmaker would have the guts to maintain the period setting. And that's a shame, because one of the surprising charms of the book is how the character is moved forward into the late 60's/early 70's.
And perhaps therein lies the greatest challenge to Faulks or other writers who take the reins of this legendary franchise: Nobody will write James Bond exactly like Fleming, so why try? I think a better approach would be to allow the character to change with the times.