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Devil May Care (James Bond) | 
 enlarge | Author: Sebastian Faulks
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: £18.99
Buy Used: £4.70
You Save: £14.29 (75%)
New (35) Used (23) Collectible (21) from £4.70
Rating:  73 reviews
Sales Rank: 370
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0718153766
EAN: 9780718153762
ASIN: 0718153766
Publication Date: May 28, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Amazon.co.uk Review
A variety of authors have written 007 novels since the death of Bond's creator, Ian Fleming -- and the results have been mixed, to say the least. As 'Robert Markham', Kingsley Amis penned the very first post-Fleming Bond, and this attempt by a novelist better known for his 'literary' work was judged a success. Now, after a decade of less successful entries by such writers as John Gardener, we have another serious writer, Sebastian Faulks (author of such acclaimed novels as Birdsong), taking up the challenge. Devil May Care has already collected a jaw-dropping amount of publicity, with even the Royal Navy helping to put the book firmly at the top of the best-seller charts (Bond is, of course, a naval commander), and few books have had such wind under their sails (the relaunch of the movie franchise with the re-make of Casino Royale and Daniel Craig's second Bond film, Quantum of Solace, is all part of the ever-accelerating momentum). Of course, this also gives the book farther to fall if it misses the mark. Faulks' author credit on the book ('Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming') is both revealing and encouraging - the author has reportedly said that he undertook the task with total seriousness, and he has tried to work within the parameters of the Ian Fleming formula (Faulks re-read all the extant Bond novels and stories) rather than the more glossy film incarnation. Among several very canny moves by the author is his decision to keep his 007 in the 1960s rather than catapulting him into the 21st century (as other ersatz Fleming novels - and, of course, the films -- have done. So how successful are the results? Fleming aficionados can relax - this is a sterling job of recreation, and a novel that functions with total authority in its own right. The evocation of time and place (or places, notably Paris and the Middle East) is impeccable, as are the plotting and detail (as colourful and violent as anything in Fleming); there is a satisfyingly unpleasant larger-than-life villain, Julius Gorner, with a grotesque deformity of the kind Fleming often gave such characters (the chapter 'The monkey's hand' gives this away) and grandiose, evil ambitions. Best of all, this is Ian Fleming's James Bond - not a superman -- worried about his health and his physical powers (which he fears may be on the wane). Delicious stuff in fact. Now... can Faulks be persuaded to write another such novel? --Barry Forshaw.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Racy but ludicrous - just as good as Fleming! June 9, 2008
Mr. Nicholas J Robertson (Kent, UK)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
"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.
Welcome back Mr Bond May 29, 2008
M. W. Withnall (Shropshire England)
48 out of 55 found this review helpful
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)
Very Enjoyable July 28, 2008
Steve Horsfall ( author) (UK)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is a Real Boys Own tale that is written with style and panache which captures the mood of the sixties as expressed by Ian Fleming. What you get is the sinister deformed villain and his psychotic sidekick, some superhuman Bond stunts, a beautiful heroine, some lovely cultural references and all during the backdrop of the Cold War. A great experiment that really works
It really is that close to the original.... May 30, 2008
Drambuster (UK)
9 out of 14 found this review helpful
If, like me (and Sebastian Faulks) you read Fleming's books by torchlight under your bedcovers, you will really enjoy this. If this had been advertised as a 'long lost Fleming manuscript', I doubt if many would have disagreed.
Of course there was only one Ian Fleming, but to dismiss this book is to miss out on true entertainment and a real sense of Bond from those original books. In Faulks, the literary estate has chosen a quality writer with the ability to engage with Fleming's style head on and produce a stunningly authentic story.
There will always be those who claim this is a stunt and that only Fleming's books will ever be true. However, if you, like Bond on the page, give this a try. It really is good stuff. I hope Mr Faulks does another.
Absolutely brilliant June 2, 2008
Stan... (London, UK)
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
Exaclty what one would hope for - both from a Bond novel, and from Sebastian Faulks. The perfect mix of Bond sophistication, action, pace, thrill and a healthy sense of fun... which is what a few people reviewing seem to miss here - Bond is about fun, about entertainment as much as it's about jeopardy and thrill. Faulks captures this perfectly - and captures it in the spirit of Fleming. Many of the reviewers, both here and in the press seem determined to follow that typically British pattern of trying to take a chunk out of something that is deemed to be too successful, something that everyone else is happily getting on with and enjoying.
What Devil May Care delivers is a wonderfully rich and superbly written thriller. A very well executed homage to Fleming, but a darn good thriller in its own right too. Faulk's Bond continues from where Fleming left off - and in many ways, some of Fleming's later foibles have been left by the wayside - so you have Bond back in top form. Faulks takes Bond to some brilliant new locations, there are plenty of fast-paced and action packed set piecesm, and Faulks has thrown in some pretty cool hardware too. What's not to like.
Again - I urge you to take the pooterish reviews for what they are, some very narrow-minded and kill-joy bores, trying to score rather pathetic points off something beyond the limits of their humour and enjoyment. Devil May Care is a very very enjoyable read.
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