Devil May Care

A very enjoyable 007 story. I appreciated the uniqueness of the plot and the darkness of the villain, though Gorner's birth defect may have been a bit much. Also enjoyed the references to other Bond stories, characters, and Scarlett's character twist.

“Come In, 007”, said M. “It’s good to see you back”. There’s no better way to say it, in this, the first James Bond novel in a long time. Ian Fleming died in 1964, and while there have been attempts at Bond novels since, this one comes across as the real thing. Just as the recent “Casino Royale” film with Daniel Craig reinvigorated the film...more

“Come In, 007”, said M. “It’s good to see you back”. There’s no better way to say it, in this, the first James Bond novel in a long time. Ian Fleming died in 1964, and while there have been attempts at Bond novels since, this one comes across as the real thing. Just as the recent “Casino Royale” film with Daniel Craig reinvigorated the film franchise, so this book does the same for the printed equivalent. It’s a straightforward story of an attempt at world domination by the usual megalomaniac with the usual sadistic nicknamed assistant, foiled by the swashbuckling Bond, accompanied by the beautiful woman. The story almost exclusively follows Bond, with minor diversions to bring back his old protégés from the CIA and the Deuxieme Bureau. But that’s what you expect from a Bond novel. There are a lot of nice touches in the book, related to setting it in the 1960’s and the tension caused between the UK and US by Britain not joining in the Vietnam War. Hindsight allows the author to put some things in better context than might have been possible if writing in 1968, but it is well carried out. I liked it a lot.    hide