Devil May Care (James Bond) [Hardcover]

 

 

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I purchased this at 11 yesterday morning and went to bed at 3 this morning. Forget Raymond Benson and John Gardner, this is vintage James Bond, you can feel Fleming's ghost over your shoulder, it reads like the best of his books with a fast moving plot bags,of gourmet food and drink with a cracking villain. I always liked the early Bond books never liked the films, the Bond in the books was toally different darker and more vulnerable, and if you are expecting the Bond of the movies you will be disappointed. Sebastian Faulks has captured this brilliantly. I hope he writes another, I think Bond does for the fifties and sixties what Sherlock Holmes has done for the Victorian and Edwardian age the early books are becoming classics (my old english teacher will role over in his grave)

"Bond has lost his licence to thrill" proclaimed The Scotsman newspaper in a review in the edition the day after this book was published. A play on words dreamt up months if not years ago, I should think, and having now read the book, one week on, written on the basis of a less than complete reading of it.

I read "Devil May Care" while considering the question "if I did not know that was not written by Ian Fleming (say about1967, when it is set), would I have known?". In short, I think not. Faulks captures Flemings' style brilliantly.

Faulks does allow himself a few nods to the Bond films as well as to the earlier books (Flemings' ones only - even Kingsley Amis/Robert Markham's Colonel Sun appears to have been discounted, not to mention the 23 other Bond novels. (Fleming published 12 novels, plus two collections of short stories.)) The villain, one Dr Julius Gorner, has more than a passing resemblance to Drax ("Moonraker") and appears in one scene "in a tropical suit with a carnation" just as I remember Charles Gray playing Blofeld in one of the films. There are some topical references too: opium poppies are coming from Helmand province in Afghanisatan - which just happens to be where British troops are battling the drugs trade and international terrorism today. Bond is equipped with a gadget by "Q Section" (there was never a man called "Q" in the books, just the films); Bond, however, fails to use it or even mention it again.

The plot's formula follows Fleming's established pattern with only the requisite number of variations. Bond is on a sabbatical, because he is losing his touch and has not quite recovered after the snake bite poisoning from Scaramanga's bullet two years before. He is on the wagon on doctor's orders. We know that all is not well when a woman offers herself to him - but he turns her down. There is an early "social" encounter with the villain, after which Bond follows him to his lair, falls into his evil clutches, is set a test to challenge the very best, fails but subsequently escapes, kills the baddie, saves the world. Did I mention that Felix Leiter appears to help out (and boost sales in the US?). As ever Bond has a female accomplice, and here I think Faulks does achieve something new. I was kept guessing throughout the book as to whether she was really what she said she was, and, if she was not, whether that was good or bad. I guessed the wrong way.

Lest you think that I am seeking to belittle the Bond novels, far from it. They are brilliant - entertaining, informative in their way, racy - but the plots were always (if you thought them through) a bit ludicrous. That was the point - and not the point - a willing suspension of disbelief was all that was needed, but was essential. If you want (to pretend you are reading) something more credible try Le Carre or even, god knows, Gerald Seymour or Andy McNab.

If I have any bones to pick, then I point out one "continuity" mistake that made it through (even though Faulks re-read all of the Bond books before writing this one. Bond could not have "found himself at last in Russia" because he had travelled across Russia between the end of You Only Live Twice" and the beginning of "The Man with the Golden Gun". I am inclined to accept that Faulks did this intentionally, however, as Bond had, perhaps, not been entirely in his own mind on that journey - he was being brainwashed by the KGB. Perhaps more irritatingly, some "new" characters were really quite derivative - quite apart from Gorner, Bond's SIS contact in the Middle East is almost identical to Kerim Darko from "From Russia with Love" - it is one thing to tip the wink to the original book, quite another to copy characters!

A well-reconstructed blast from the past, I loved it. Whether I think Faulks or anyone else should write any more Bond novels I don't know - but, on the basis of this work, I'd be prepared to give it a shot.

Sebastian Faulks comes almost as close as Kingsley Amis to bringing off the Fleming style without lurching into parody. He gets the Bond of the 1960s exactly right, but sadly the heroine is not in the Pussy Galore/Honeychile Ryder league and the villainous Dr Gorner recycles too many elements of Hugo Drax (like the Toby Stephens character in Die Another Day). A protracted tennis game (like golfing with Goldfinger) goes on and on and on, but the momentum builds up to a cracking finale. Perhaps it's time to let 007 collect his pension and his bus pass!

Reviewer is the author of Shaikh-Down

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4.0 out of 5 stars Devilish fun!
As a teenager, I devoured the James Bond books I found in charity shops on holiday - the original Pan paperbacks, mostly. Read more

Published 12 days ago by Beebarf

1.0 out of 5 stars Childish
Having wasted my time reading this book (although I must admit I just skipped through the last third of it) I would just say that it is childish, simplistic junk. Read more

Published 4 months ago by R. Hill

3.0 out of 5 stars Bond/Fleming - Faulks hits the target
Considering I've just read (and reviewed) Carte Blanche, I thought I'd revisit Devil May Care, just to re-assess my opinion of it in comparison to the latest addition to the Bond... Read more

Published 4 months ago by The Real Critic

1.0 out of 5 stars devil may care
Did not grab my attention for more than a couple of minutes, very disappointing. Perhaps after Birdsong I might regard Faulks as a one trick pony.

Published 8 months ago by Roy E Stolworthy

3.0 out of 5 stars Never Let Me Down (Again)
Note: This review is about the paperback version not the Kindle edition.

I saw this for a couple of pounds in a record shop and decided to give it a try. Read more

Published 8 months ago by G. Tully

3.0 out of 5 stars Faulks bites off more than he can chew
For this continuation Bond novel, pitching us back to 1967, Faulks claims to be writing as Ian Fleming, rather than himself. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Mr. C. Morris

1.0 out of 5 stars Just not very good
I really wanted to like this book but it simply seemed too bland. There was a lack of pace and tension, and it didn't really feel like a thriller at all. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Emanon

1.0 out of 5 stars Ian Fleming it ain't
The best thing about this book is that it made me return to the Ian Fleming novels gathering dust on my bookshelf. What is easy to forget is just how well written they were. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Tom Williams

2.0 out of 5 stars What the devil?
Where do I start with a book that claims is written in the style of Ian Fleming but is actually written in the style of Jilly Cooper in parts and a comedian/author in others... Read more

Published 11 months ago by D. Meakin

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant evocation of Fleming
A beautifully written homage to Fleming, fast paced and full of interesting detail. Devil May Care is set in the period between the murder of Tracy and Bond's return to service... Read more

Published 12 months ago by Jo Bennie

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