Devil May Care (The New James Bond Novel )
by Sebastian Faulks
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Book Reviews of Devil May Care (The New James Bond Novel )
Book Review: Not quite the same as the originals, but still fun
Summary: 3 Stars
He was glamorous, dangerous and debonair. He drank martinis, wore expensive name-brand clothing, and had assignations with women called Sparkle Plenty and Pussy Galore. And, of course, he grappled with twisted masterminds who plotted world domination. When I first encountered James Bond, I was a '50s teenager and thought he was the last word in sophistication. I read all the books --- 12 novels, two volumes of short stories --- inhaling not only the baroque and ingenious plot twists but also the risqué, self-mocking tone. When the first Bond film came out in the early '60s (Doctor No), I had already formed a clear idea of what 007 should look like, and Sean Connery wasn't it --- too much chest hair (later, he grew on me).
By now pretty much everybody has seen a Bond movie, but I'm not sure how many people have also read the books, or how well the series has weathered some 50 years (I haven't re-read the originals lately). The Bond oeuvre is fact-based in the sense that the author, Ian Fleming, was director of British Naval Intelligence during World War II. Because Fleming was known for his playboy image and lavish habits, it is also a sort of larger-than-life self-portrait. Since his premature death, at 56, legions of writers have attempted to build on the Bond legacy. But DEVIL MAY CARE is unique in having been commissioned by Fleming's two nieces (and heirs) to mark the centenary of his birth.
Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming, hand-picked to execute this commemorative hommage, is both an unlikely and a likely choice. Unlikely because his books, notably the marvelous BIRDSONG, although widely read, are also seriously literary. Likely because he has already written a couple of quasi-spy novels: CHARLOTTE GRAY evokes World War II derring-do; ON GREEN DOLPHIN STREET (which I reviewed for Bookreporter.com in 2003) is a Cold War romance set in Washington, D.C. Both of these, however, are part of a later espionage-fiction tradition epitomized by John le Carré's 1963 THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD --- more realistic, cynical, ambiguous. Spies à la Bond are quite a different proposition.
DEVIL MAY CARE picks up where ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Fleming's last two novels, leave off: Bond, still mourning his brief, ill-fated marriage, is sent by M, head of the secret service, on an enforced sabbatical. He wanders around aimlessly, questioning his nerve, his fitness, his (ulp) potency. It's a mid-life crisis, Bond-style --- which means he is having it in the best hotels and restaurants of several scenic European capitals. All the trademark details are there: a hair stuck in the doorway of the hotel bathroom to detect intruders; sea-island cotton shirts; custom-built Bentley; fetishistic tastes in cigarettes and cocktails (satirized here when Bond asks for pepper "cracked, not ground" rather than a martini "shaken, not stirred").
Instead of updating Bond, Faulks decided to take the novel back some 40 years, which requires diligent scene-setting. We know it's Paris sometime in the '60s because Charles DeGaulle is President; the Algerian War and the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu are recent memories; there's an "awful Piaf racket" on the radio; and across the Channel, the Rolling Stones have been arrested for drugs. Bond, of course, is soon summoned into action. In an amusing departure from the high-tech prep of the Bond movies, M --- a recent convert to yoga, according to Miss Moneypenny --- insists that 007 have a session with an expert in "breathing and relaxation techniques" before embarking on a new death-defying venture.
The enemy this time, Julius Gorner, is so consummately wicked that he fought for the Nazis and the Russians in World War II; these days he traffics in heroin from a desert base somewhere in Iran. He was hoping to turn England into a nation of addicts, but that was too slow, so he's resorting to plan B: a nuclear "accident" in the USSR for which Britain will be blamed. This is not le Carré's murky world, where the difference between the good guys and the bad is blurred and elusive; this is the realm of the mythical, ethical spy-as-hero (who kills only when absolutely necessary) and his battle with the embodiment of evil (who condones the removal of tongues with pliers and, almost as bad in British eyes, the running over of dogs). DEVIL MAY CARE also has a cameo by Bond's ex-CIA pal, Felix Leiter, and it's equipped with a "Bond girl," the brainy and seductive Scarlett Papava. (Her wardrobe is sufficient that she is never forced to convert velvet drapes into a dress.)
Although Faulks could have done more with Scarlett's name --- he could have done more with the whole assignment --- I think he is so determined to avoid parody and kitsch that he errs on the side of caution. And because the whole point of DEVIL MAY CARE is to replicate the Fleming legend, not to pioneer a new one, it's silly to criticize it for not taking chances. The fun is understated. The prose is clean and not too purple. There are plenty of juicy details about food and clothes and futuristic (for the time) technology. It's skillful and tasteful, but not entirely thrilling.
Perhaps that's inevitable, given the different context. Fleming, for all his sly wit, had genuine enthusiasm for this swinging-bachelor, espionage-as-gamesmanship stuff. He believed in it, and lived it. Faulks, who read the Bond books as a schoolboy but undoubtedly put them away with other childish things as he grew up, can't possibly feel the same way. There's a certain juice that's lacking.
One scene in DEVIL MAY CARE works perfectly, though, and that is a high-stakes tennis match between Bond and Gorner. It has sweat, tension, pace and a behind-the-scenes twist you find out about only after they leave the court. Maybe Faulks is a tennis buff, and that's why the episode has so much more vitality than the rest of the book. This suggests to me that bringing a bit more of himself into these pages could have been a risk worth taking. Maybe next time?
--- Reviewed by Kathy Weissman
Book Review: "He seemed to be beyond reach, locked in a world where ordinary human concerns couldn't touch or weaken him."
Summary: 4 Stars
Written in the tradition of Ian Fleming, Sebastian Faulks delves deep into Fleming's iconic secret agent and the mythology that surrounds him, meditating on darker-than-usual themes that have implications for the way we live now. In Faulk's Cold War mid-1960's world, Bond has been ravaged at the hands of his enemies and temporarily pensioned off by M, his life at best a double-edged sword where no triumph is likely to be anything but short-lived.
When a Frenchman of Algerian birth is savagely murdered on the outskirts of Paris, Detective Inspector Mathis is mystified as to who could have caused such a violent act: the boy's tongue had been severed and a single bullet has been fired up through the roof of the mouth. When drugs are thought to be the likely cause of the crime, Mathis comes to the realization that there is something far bigger going on than just young dissolute youths peddling heroin,
Meanwhile, James, tired of the South of France, has on the invitation of Felix Leiter, his old friend from the CIA, come to Rome, where in the middle of St. Peters Square he meets an extraordinarily beautiful woman by the name of Larissa Rossi, ostensibly in Rome with her husband, a director of one of the large insurance companies, but whose presence fills James with a strange mixture of unease and passion: she reeks of "breeding, youth, and expensive hosiery."
Intent to enjoy his time with Larissa, James can't quite believe it when he is called out of sabbatical and back to London by a cigar smoking M, after all, this is a tired and worn-down James, fresh from his encounter with Auric Goldfinger and his plans to raid Fort Knox and obliterate the world economy. James is beginning to show his battles with evil, on his torso and arms there's a network of scars, small and large, that trace a history of his violent life: "Your tired James, Your played out, Finished."
But perhaps it is only James that can battle "the master-of-all-trades the psychopathic Dr. Julius Gorner who is most likely responsible for this recent influx of drugs, infiltrating both Europe and England with pharmaceuticals in the form of heroin. Changing sides during the 2nd World War, fighting for the Nazis initially and then for the Russians at the battle of Stalingrad, Gorner has become a soldier of fortune, contemptuous of England because he feels as though the country had laughed at him.
So Bond must embark on a mission to doggedly pursue Gorner across Europe to Persia, hot on the trail to shut down the operation of a twisted individual with a demonic sense of purpose. Gorner seems to be beyond reach, locked in a world where ordinary human concerns couldn't touch or weaken him; he's bent on world destruction and domination and has made himself a key figure in the drug world. His only vulnerability is his physicality, marked by a rare deformity, a hair covered wrist shaped like a monkey, and a white glove that hides it.
Surprisingly it is Larissa who also has a connection to Gorner, soon revealing herself as Scarlett Papava, a lonely housewife, busy banker, and lady of the night who wants to enlist James' help to get Poppy, her heroin addicted sister back from the evil clutches of Gorner: "He just won't let her go, he's slowly killing her and loving every moment of it." But there's something about Scarlett that gets right under James' defenses, something about her that makes him feel profoundly uneasy.
With Scarlett determined to find her sister, and James delving deeper into Gorner's criminal enterprises, both are blindsided by the extent of this madman's plans for world domination that eventually plays out deep within the city of Tehran and the vast surrounds of the Caspian Sea.
From London to Paris, to Tehran, and then onto Leningrad and Helsinki, Bond is faced with a world mostly ruled by protection and influence, arms and dollars. In a novel that is filled with misfits and vagabonds, stoolpigeons, agents and secret police, Gorner and Bond must battle it out against a background of the cold war where America is fighting a lonely war for "freedom" in Vietnam and where the threat of the West being overrun by communism is ever present. Formulaic to the last, Faulks doesn't shy away from giving us a series of spectacular set pieces involving a giant ship-sea plane, loaded with nuclear bombs and with a British flag on it and a stolen a Vickers VC10 British airliner, painted with BOAC livery that is heading towards a fiery crash landing in the Soviet Union. Although this novel certainly doesn't reinvent the legend of our favorite secret agent, Bond's adventures are still harrowing in his journey from the known to the unknown with Faulks propelling his story along at break-neck speed, riding the apex to its violent conclusion, with Bond ultimately saving the world and getting his girl. Mike Leonard July 08.
Book Review: A James Bond Thriller Without Thrills
Summary: 2 Stars
If someone had told me that the new James Bond novel had been written by a food and fashion critic rather than a novelist, I would have believed it.
In honor of the 100th anniversary of 007 creator Ian Fleming's birth, a new Bond novel was commissioned by his estate and Ian Fleming Publications (his literary business) and it's the first published in six years. Sebastian Faulks was chosen--a curious choice, as he is known mostly for "literature" and not thrillers. It's now apparent why he appeared to be a good selection, because he has the ability to mimic Fleming's style... but unfortunately he is not able to reproduce Fleming's flair for storytelling. The cover legend "Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming" turns out to be a joke, really, because DEVIL MAY CARE straddles the fine line between pastiche and parody. It was as if Faulks sat down with a checklist of "Bondian Stuff" and proceeded to make sure every page was full of it--so much so that the work becomes annoying and, frankly, laughable. Fleming was often accused of "sex, sadism, and snobbery," but in Faulks' book, only the snobbery is apparent. There is way too much brand-name-dropping and food description. Fleming did this but he made it an art and used it sparingly. Here, there seems to be a meal or a drink or clothing described in painstaking detail in every sequence--all to the detriment of plot and characterization.
Hardcore Fleming fans will be quick to point out the various errors Faulks has made with regard to the Bond canon, but these are minor and can be forgiven. After all, other continuation authors have made mistakes as well, and even Fleming committed the occasional factual error. What is more problematic is that Faulks has written a by-the-numbers Bond story that feels more like a treatment for an unproduced Roger Moore-style Bond movie. The tone and attitude in the book is too flippant and light. One can feel the author winking at us, as if to say, "See what I'm doing? I'm writing a *James Bond novel*!"
The plot is silly. There is no good reason why M sends 007 out to shadow the villain (who has what the author must have thought was a Fleming-esque deformity--a monkey's paw--but that really is parodic!). Events happen without cause and effect. Bond is suddenly a tennis champ but there is no evidence in the 007 canon that Bond ever played tennis. He walks blindly into suspicious scenarios as if he had the brains of a rookie (he's probably thinking about what he's going to wear and what he's going to have for dinner!). The villain, Dr. Julius Gorner (couldn't the author have come up with a better first name, since we've already had a "Dr. Julius"--Dr. Julius No?), is ineffectual and provides no real threat that we, as readers, can feel. Fleming, known for his "Fleming Effect," could write a story that compelled readers to keep turning the pages. Faulks fails miserably in that regard. There is no suspense whatsoever.
It is sad that this poor excuse of a Bond novel was chosen to celebrate Fleming's centenary. What is more remarkable is the amount of money spent to promote it. The former authors--Kingsley Amis, John Gardner, and Raymond Benson--never benefitted from this kind of promotion. This book is simply not worth the hoopla. Raymond Benson came up with infinitely better plots and villains; John Gardner captured the page-turning sweep of Fleming's storytelling; and Kingsley Amis was a better imitator of Fleming's style. But no one can top Fleming himself.
The worst sin that Faulks has committed, though, is producing a "James Bond thriller" that has no thrills. And that is unforgivable.
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: Mr. Faulks is no Ian Fleming..! A sad pastiche for new 007 book
Summary: 2 Stars
The problem, I suppose, is that when one is writing "as Ian Fleming", one is expected to write like Ian Fleming.
Devil May Care, the new `adult' James Bond novel (as opposed to the `young' Bond book series by Charlie Higson) is written by Sebastian Faulks. Now, I've read Ian Fleming, and Mr. Faulks is no Ian Fleming.
There is next to no of the so called "Fleming sweep" that picks you up and carries you through the book. Part of the reason why is every time the story starts to sweep you along, Mr. Faulks cuts away to somewhere else.
The first half of the book also suffers from mischaracterizations of familiar characters from the Bond canon. Bond's housekeeper May is the first causality. If you had read Fleming, you would know how see addresses Bond. They way Faulks does it I found to be jarring. We expect familiar reactions from familiar characters. Bonds' boss M. suffers the same fate. Who is this person? Certainly not the man who sent Bond on all those dangerous missions. Can you picxture that M., aka Sir Miles Messervy, asking Bond to bring him chocolates on his way back from Paris? What the Devil is going on here?
And then we have the mission. Summer,1967: M. has a feeling that someone is up to no good and wants Bond to find out what it is.
That's it. That's all the reason Bond is sent on a mission. A feeling. All that's needed, I suppose.
The fact that the person really is up to something doesn't matter.
Plus, as it turns out, M. is not being truthful to Bond. Sends him out without the full and truthful information that Bond may need to survive. "Not quite cricket", as the villain would (and does) say in this book.
By the time the nefarious plot of the villain is revealed, we are more than halfway into the book. And then it turns out to be a revenge plot against England. But what about the whole setup about drug running? Oh, all this and World War III? And the British non-involvement in Viet Nam....?
The Devil May Care about this book, but I really don't. It's second rate Bond, ranking alongside the worst of the Gardner books (Don't get me wrong, I only consider one or two of Gardner books really bad). Muddled villain reasonings, characters who appear then vanish (Bond's once and future secretary, brought back for no reason at all after leaving the service OVER FIVE YEARS BEFORE THE STORY BEGINS). Badly characterization of familiar figures, and familiar figures who are brought into the story just to be brought into the story (Felix Leiter, although I'm always glad to see him, really didn't need to be in this book).
To be a second rate Fleming could be forgiven. To give us a second rate adult Bond after all this time....unforgivable.