Devil May Care (The New James Bond Novel ) by Sebastian Faulks Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $0.75 You Save: $24.20 (97%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Devil May Care (The New James Bond Novel )
Book Review: Hard to follow
Summary: 1 Stars
I certainly didn't expect Ian Fleming's prose. I was, however, disappointed in the inconsistent characterization of the guy with the kepi hat as well as the event where Bond knocks over a bank of sorts.Book Review: I Don't
Summary: 2 Stars
It took me over half of the book to get into the tense, compact, edge-of-my seat writing I expected from a James Bond story. In fact, The Devil May Care reads like a short story or novella padded into a novel.Book Review: Irritated
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm only on page seven, and I'm already irritated with Faulke's constant usage of French terminology in the narrative. I'm familiar with common French expressions, but this is over the top. And a car squeals its tires pulling away from the curb--on a rainy night? Come on! Furthermore, although we know where we are, we don't know WHEN we are at this point. I can only hope that it improves, because I am not a happy reader.Book Review: Missteps away from Fleming jar the reader
Summary: 3 Stars
Written to celebrate the centenary of Fleming's birth the book boasts "Written in the style of Ian Fleming." Well sort of. To be fair the writer has done a wonderful job of copying Fleming's style and patter. The problem is that he is so good at it and the villain so improbable that the missteps are all the more jarring.
Set after the last novel "The Man With the Golden Gun" Bond is on leave, wounded in body and soul, trying to decide if he can return to the 00 section when he is recalled by M who doesn't care if he's got 2 weeks leave left.
Bond is set on the trail of Gorner, an Estonian pharmaceuticals magnate who is believed to also be dealing in heroin. Bond is to determine if this is true and report back to London. All that seems fair enough, Bond see's a London "gone mad" with hippies starting to appear and drug use starting to make regular news. This is not a normal style for Fleming but to be fair it was the way London was developing when he died and it is not impossible or even improbably that this is not the way he would have gone.
In style and pacing this does follow Fleming's style. When he writes about Persia in the 1960's you forget this is a 21st century writer setting down an historical piece. It seems so like Fleming when he was writing contemporary pieces. The love interests and action are developed in the same was as Fleming did and if you loved the original books this will remind you why.
That having been said, the missteps are particularly jarring because they are off the beam completely. Some are minor such as Miss Moneypenny reserving the hotel room for Bond. "A typical Moneypenny reservation" When long time readers know full well bond would select his own hotel. Certainly the senior secretary to the head of the service would not do something so trivial. Some missteps are glaring, such as suddenly breaking away from Bond's point of view to cover someone else's adventures. While common in a film it is not done in the novels of Fleming. In those, once bond is introduced, it is almost entirely from his point of view. Occasionally a comment from someone near at hand but never breaking off to change countries!
In between are small missteps that the fan of movies who never read a book would not notice but to a fan of the books has you going "No, no, no, I don't think so." The other problem is with the villain. In this we really can question the author's research. An Estonian businessman able to travel freely to the west, outside the iron curtain would of course be under the watch of the service from the start. His plan to implicate Britain in a plot against the Soviet Union to provoke a soviet counter attack, is laughable in that he has painted Union Jacks on the planes to be used and will have the pilots carrying British passports, as if that will survive the destruction of the aircraft.
If you've never read a James Bond Book this is enjoyable. If you've read and loved the books, this will be wonderfully nostalgic, but just be prepared for those missteps to break violently into the reverie. Fans can be grateful for the return of the style, but when it comes to Fleming and writing James Bond, remember, nobody does it better.
Book Review: Moderately good Bond
Summary: 3 Stars
I've been reading Bond since the 60's. This is among the best of the books written after Fleming's death. Its strongest feature is that the character of Bond comes across as real, very much in the flavor of Fleming's Bond -- unlike the novels of Benson, whose Bond was cardboard, or the novels of Gardner, whose Bond was cartoonish. (I stopped reading Gardner when Bond made love to a one-breasted Amazon who turned out to be Blofeld with a sex change!) The storyline is also good, set in the cold war where we get a sense that Smersh is still an active threat. However, one would've hoped for more suspense. In our present sound-byte culture, novelists today don't take the time to develop a suspenseful thriller, they go right to the meat. In this case, Bond doesn't gradually uncover the villainy. Rather, the villain just makes a long speech telling us all the very bad things he's doing. The climax is disappointing as well: Bond is about to be shot by a professional assassin so he comes up with diversion. But ask yourself: How long would it take to pull of this particular diversion? Try it at home. My guess is that Bond would have had six bullets in him by the time he finished his diversion. Lastly, there is a denouement at the end which, in my opinion, diminishes Bond's status as a double-O agent. Still, despite its flaws, the book has some value and makes for a pleasant read.