Reviews for Devil May Care (James Bond 007 Series)

The average rating for Devil May Care (James Bond 007 Series) based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-09-15 00:00:00 Stephen Bombay This James Bond novel has been penned by Sebastian Faulks. I had heard about his literary novels and was curious to see his version of the iconic British spy. I can't claim to be a die- hard fan of the James Bond series, but I do enjoy watching the movies and reading the novels. It is the swinging sixties. Industrialist Dr. Julius Gorner, consumed by his hatred for Britain, is flooding it with narcotics. But, his animus won't stop at that. He has something more devastating in his mind (he has to! Otherwise how can we have a jolly good adventure?) Bond would travel exotic locales all around the world - fight a lot of bad guys, face certain death situations, kill a lot of bad guys, prevent World War III and thwart the villain's plans, and get the girl at the end. I particularly liked two things - a tennis match between Bond and Gorner, and the visit to Tehran of the sixties. Not saying anything more!! Evil genius plotting his twisted schemes, a psychotic henchman, mysterious and attractive women, exotic locales, intense action - all the tropes of Bond stories are there. The story is well-written - a page-turner that can be read very quickly. It was fun read, but I was expecting something more you know. Maybe because I had heard about Faulk's literary novels - I thought there would be a bit more complex characterization or more clever twists. I am not saying the book was bad - it was a thriller after all, and Faulks did try to write a decent Bond novel. Anyway, I would recommend this book to Bond aficionados who don't mind the authorized novels.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-04-23 00:00:00 Rod Mondaca Reading this directly after Kingsley Amis's 'Colonel Sun', really does show up the flaws in this other 'literary' Bond novel. For a start, Faulks does not get anywhere near as close to Fleming's voice as Amis did. Whereas 'Colonel Sun' could have been mistaken for an actual Ian Fleming novel, this stands about as much chance as Anthony Horowitz's 'House of Silk' does to being mistaken for an actual Conan-Doyle. And part of that might be that whereas Faulks is writing historical fiction (this book, like 'Colonel Sun' is set directly after the events in 'The Man with the Golden Gun'), Amis was writing about the time in which he lived. So while Faulks feels the need to slip in references to The Rolling Stones, the 1966 World Cup Final (something I don't think Ian Fleming would have cared that much about) and to put historical lectures into the mouths of his characters, Amis is just far more comfortable with the world around him. Another problem is that Faulks as a writer keeps peeking through. I wrote in my review of 'Colonel Sun' that Amis and Fleming were much the same type of Englishman. Faulks on the other hand is unashamedly a man of the left. This does lead to a rather amusing aside basically implying that Rupert Murdoch is some kind of James Bond villain (which does gain more bite with events since publication), but other more Twenty First Century and - to use a dread phrase, PC - attitudes find themselves creeping in and that just isn't Bond. But the biggest problem - the most crucial by far problem - is that it just isn't exciting enough. Yes there's the mad super villain, the dastardly plan, the beautiful woman and the torture scene - yet where it should be exciting, it just tends to be a bit perfunctory. These are thrillers and as such they're supposed to grab the reader and not let him or her go, but instead this reader found himself going 'ho-hum'. Just for the sake of clarity, I won't be reading the Jeffrey Deaver book as it's set in modern times, and surely if we want a James Bond in today's world we can just watch the films. That's what they're there for, right? However I will be back on board for the William Boyd version which has just been announced.