Devil May Care is a James Bondcontinuation novel written by Sebastian Faulks. It was published in the UK by Penguin Books on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ian Fleming, the creator of Bond. The story centers on Bond's investigation into Dr. Julius Gorner, a megalomaniac chemist with a deep-seated hatred of England.
Faulks wrote the book in the style of Fleming, and the novel carried the credit "Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming"; he also took the same timeframe as Fleming, setting the novel in 1967, following the events in Fleming's last novel The Man with the Golden Gun. He ignored the influences of the other Bond continuation authors and the films, producing a characterisation of Bond in the style of Fleming's.
The novel was broadly well received by critics and went into the best-seller lists by the end of the first week of sales, selling 44,093 copies in four days to become the fastest-selling fiction book after the Harry Potter titles. Faulks stated that although he enjoyed writing the book, he would write no more Bond novels.
Plot
The story is set in 1967. Bond is instructed by his superior, M, to investigate a man named Dr Julius Gorner, and his bodyguard, Chagrin. Bond is warned that his performance will be monitored and that a new 00 agent is waiting in the wings if his actions go awry.
Bond flies to Imperial Iran (Persia) to investigate. Gorner owns factories and produces legitimate pharmaceuticals; however, MI6 suspects he has other motives. During Bond's investigation he identifies Gorner due to a deformity of his hand, and establishes Gorner's complicity in a scheme to not only flood Europe with cheap drugs but also to launch a two-pronged terrorist attack on the Soviet Union, whose retaliation will subsequently devastate the UK. The attack is to be made using a stolen British airliner, earlier hijacked over Iraqi airspace, and an ekranoplan. Bond is assisted in his investigation by Scarlett Papava (whose twin sister Poppy is under Gorner's emotional spell), Darius Alizadeh (the local head of station), JD Silver (an in-situ agent), and Felix Leiter.
Bond is eventually captured by Gorner in the heroin plant, who explains that Bond is to be used as bait during a drugs delivery across the Afghan desert, and should he survive an expected ambush, is to fly the captured airliner into the Russian heartland. Bond would be identified as British upon its destruction, increasing the evidence against the British Government. Bond survives the predicted Afghan attack and plots an escape attempt, which sees Scarlett get away due to Bond surrendering himself as a diversion. In the morning he is taken aboard the aeroplane. Before the airliner can bomb the Soviets, with the aid of the airliner's pilot and Scarlett (who had been hiding on board), Bond regains control of the aeroplane and crashes it into a mountainside after parachuting to safety.
Meanwhile, Felix Leiter and Darius inform agent Silver of the second method of attack. Silver shows himself to be a double agent by failing to call in an airstrike against the Ekranoplan and by attempting to kill Leiter and Darius. In the shoot-out Darius successfully calls in the airstrike at the cost of his own life and Leiter survives only thanks to the timely arrival of Hamid, his taxi driver. The Ekranoplan is destroyed by RAF Vulcan bombers before it reaches its target. Bond and Scarlett escape through Russia but are pursued by Chagrin, whom Bond finally kills on a train. Later Gorner meets him on a boat and tries to shoot him, but Bond pushes him overboard, where he is torn to pieces by a propeller. With the subsequent elimination of both Chagrin and Gorner, Bond considers his mission a success, and on condition that the agent M has waiting in the wings will not take his place Bond is sent to assess the new agent, designated 004. She turns out to be Scarlett Papava. Scarlett discloses that the story of her twin sister was a ploy to convince Bond to enable her to join the mission. Papava feared that if Bond knew she was a potential 00 agent, he would not have worked with her. With Bond returning to active duty, Scarlett moves off to her own operations as a full 00 agent.
Characters and themes
The central character of the novel is James Bond, the fictional MI6 agent created by Ian Fleming. Faulks modelled his version of the character on Fleming's version, ignoring the other continuation authors and the films; when interviewed, Faulks said that "My Bond is Fleming's Bond—not Connery, or Moore or Craig, for all their charms",[1] going on to say that "my Bond drinks and smokes as much as ever".[1] Faulks saw Bond as a man in constant peril: "This Bond, this solitary hero with his soft shoes and single under-powered weapon, was a man in dreadful danger. You feared for him."[1] On another occasion he returned to the theme, describing the character as "a very vulnerable man, with his nice suit and soft shoes and ludicrously underpowered gun. He finds himself in terrible situations, and he's all on his own—you just worry for his safety."[2]
With the novel following the fictional timeframe of The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond is still in a state of decline following the death of his wife,[3] and has been forced to take a sabbatical on medical grounds.[4] His mind and body were feeling the effects of his previous missions and lifestyle and he was considering M's offer of a desk job; before he can make the decision, M sends him out on another mission.[5]
For the main female character in the book, Faulks created Scarlett Papava, a fellow MI6 agent who is promoted to the 00 section at the end of the novel. Academic Tony Garland draws a similarity between Papava and the John Gardner character Fredericka von Grüsse, as they both create "a tension between mission and desire."[6] Faulks himself considered that: "My female lead—the 'Bond girl'—has a little more depth than Fleming's women, but not at the expense of glamour",[1] although Christopher Hitchens complained that "there is almost no sex until the very last pages."[7]
The primary antagonist of the novel is Dr Julius Gorner, a chemist with main de singe, monkey's paw: a left hand resembling that of a monkey, covered with hair and without an opposed thumb.[8] Writer Ian Thomson sees Gorner as being "a villain to rival the half-Chinese Dr Julius No",[9] describing him as "a megalomaniac in the cruel lineage of Tamburlaine".[9] When mocked as a student at Oxford because of his hand, he became obsessed with destroying England.[10] Gorner was Lithuanian by birth, which was a nod by Faulks to Auric Goldfinger's Baltic background,[9] whilst his cheating in a game of tennis against Bond was "a deliberate twin to golf with Auric Goldfinger; there is even a sinister Asian manservant—Chagrin, nodding across literary time to Oddjob—who helps his boss to cheat."[3] Academic Marc DiPaolo also noted a similarity between Gorner's plans to take over the media and destroy British culture from within and the actions of Rupert Murdoch.[11]
The main theme of the novel is drugs, which Faulks said came partly from the timeframe of the novel and partly from Fleming not using it as a major theme: "1967, the summer of love... Drugs were first coming to public notice. The Stones were busted, and there was that famous leader in The Times. And, you know, what are we talking about now all the time? Drugs. It's still very resonant. And there's little about drug-dealing in Fleming. It's not something he did in any depth."[2] Faulks also wanted to broaden the aspect of the story compared to Fleming: "The book is set during the Cold War and I wanted it to not just be a crime story but to also have a political background. I was also determined that although the book is set in 1967, I wanted the issues that it touches on to still be alive to us today".[12]
During May 2006 Sebastian Faulks was approached by Ian Fleming Publications and asked to write a Bond book for Ian Fleming's centenary.[1][13] Although he initially refused, he was persuaded after he re-read Fleming's novels and the company gave him an article by Fleming in 1962—How to Write a Thriller—which revealed that he wrote each Bond book in only six weeks.[1][2] Faulks copied elements of Fleming's routine, joking that "In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write 1000 words in the morning, then go snorkelling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another 1000 words in the late afternoon, then more martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch and the snorkelling."[12]
The novel carried the unusual credit of "Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming" and Faulks described how—using Fleming's article—he had employed the same style as Fleming did in his novels: "it's standard journalistic: no semicolons, few adverbs, few adjectives, short sentences, a lot of verbs, a lot of concrete nouns. These are the tools, and that's literally the style."[2] Faulks also commented that "some people find it perplexing but I think the way that the book has been presented... is a clever way of showing that it is not my book, although, of course, it is my book."[12] A large part of Devil May Care is set in Persia (now Iran); it was an area Fleming had not previously dealt with in his Bond novels, describing it as "full of thieves and crooks".[2] Faulks said of his choice of location that Fleming "didn't set any of his books there, which is surprising in some ways because Lebanon in the 60s would have made a great setting for a Bond story. But his loss is my gain.".[12]
Faulks stated that Devil May Care would be his only Bond book, saying: "One tribute, one centenary, one book",[17] adding "My contract did offer me a second go, but definitely not... 'Once funny, twice silly, three times a slap', as the nanny saying goes. But I think it would be a good gig for someone to do."[18] He saw his novel as a continuation of the Fleming books, saying "I tried to put the films out of mind",[12] adding that "I prepared in a rather pedantic way by reading all of the books in chronological order and when I got to the end I wrote mine."[12]
Release and reception
Devil May Care was published in the UK on Wednesday, 28 May 2008, to mark the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth.[19] The hardcover published by Penguin Books was 295 pages long and cost £18.99.[9] It was released through Doubleday in the United States.[17] 400,000 hardcover copies were printed for the launch for the UK and US markets.[17] The jacket artwork featured the model Tuuli Shipster, who said: "I was thrilled that Penguin chose me to be their Bond girl. It’s fantastic to be involved with something so iconic."[20] The cover picture was taken by British photographer and commercials director, Kevin Summers. The jacket was created by the design agency The Partners.[20]
In the UK, Devil May Care went to the top of the best-seller lists by the end of the first week's sales, having sold 44,093 copies in four days; this made it the fastest-selling fiction book after the Harry Potter titles.[21]Waterstones reported selling 19,000 in the first four days of sales.[22] The book was released in paperback version in the UK on 28 May 2009.[23]
On 27 May 2008, the day before Devil May Care was launched, the press party to publicise the launch of the book included Tuuli Shipster bringing copies up the Thames on a speedboat for a party on HMSExeter, while two Lynx helicopters circled the ship.[24] The ship, together with its 205-strong crew, had been loaned by the Royal Navy for the occasion.[17]
Reviews
Writing in The Times, Peter Millar thought that "This is vintage Bond, in a very real sense";[8] he went on to observe that the central figure was "Bond as Fleming abandoned him, shortly before his own death".[8] Millar summarised his critique by saying that the novel was a "ripping yarn, but don't take it seriously".[8]Sam Leith, reviewing the novel for The Daily Telegraph thought that Faulks managed to avoid pastiche in his writing of the book, but had some fun, with "crass stuff... being played, of course, for laughs".[25] Leith noted that aside from the more camp elements to the book—of which he approved—"when [Faulks] throttles down and lets the Bond schtick do its own work he soon hits a comfortable cruising speed. Plot Bristol fashion: violent pre-credit sequence; flirtatious exchange with Moneypenny; apprehension mid-snoop; transportation to secret base; villain confessing plans; thwarting of plans; coitus."[25]
Reviewing the novel for The Guardian, Mark Lawson wrote that Faulks had made a good job of imitating Fleming, as the plot "persistently picks up whispers from the books Fleming left behind",[3] and using a style and turn of phrase that "read as if they were directly borrowed from Fleming."[3] The main difference Lawson identified between Fleming and Faulks was that Faulks "misses the chilling indifference of tone which Bond's creator brought to both kissing and killing".[3] Overall, Lawson considered that Devil May Care "is a smart and enjoyable act of literary resurrection. Among the now 33 post-Fleming Bonds, this must surely compete only with Kingsley Amis's for the title of the best."[3] Nicola Barr, writing for The Guardian's Saturday edition, was broadly supportive of Faulks, commenting that "No one expects or wants subtlety from Bond, and Faulks delivers a thriller that manages to feel reassuringly familiar rather than predictable."[26]
Euan Ferguson, writing in The Guardian's sister paper, The Observer, stated that "It's good. Which is to say it's better than it could have been. It is not, however, that good."[27] He noted that Faulks "evokes scenes with deft skill: recreates a time and a world with great brio, and manages it with the block script of Fleming's journalistic nature rather than his own more cursive style."[27] Ferguson remained unsatisfied by the book, although he absolves the author of the blame, saying "the problem isn't Faulks, it's Bond. With Fleming's untimely death, the link was broken".[27] Ferguson is pessimistic about Bond's future and predicted that "Bond's tux now flaps in the wind and despite Faulks having made such a well-finessed fist of this, it is, I suspect, a last hurrah for 007, destined to die on the page, if not the screen".[27]
The critic for the London Evening Standard observed that "for once, the claim on the cover, Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming is more than just publishers effrontery, it's a genuine strategy".[28] The critic went on to note that Faulks had "not attempted to modernise Bond one whit" and that he had "delivered in convincing fashion too, in plain prose."[28] Writing in the Financial Times, Christopher Hitchens complained that although Faulks claimed to be writing "as Fleming", it fell short of doing so: "This pot-boiler takes several times as long as most Bond classics. There is almost no sex until the very last pages. There is almost no torture – an absolute staple of a Bond narrative – until the very last pages."[7] Hitchens admitted that Faulks had referred to elements of Fleming's novels, so that "those who have a canonical attitude to Fleming will be able to collect their share of in-jokes and cross-references";[7] similarly, "wispy fragments of Vesper Lynd and Honey Ryder drift in and out of shot and memory in much the same way".[7] Hitchens concluded his review of the novel by considering that Bond had been "cheapened" in the novel.[7]
Janet Maslin, reviewing Devil May Care for the International Herald Tribune, remarked that Faulks did not "tinker with the series' surefire recipe for success",[29] which resulted in "a serviceable madeleine for Bond nostalgists and a decent replica of past Bond escapades".[29] Patrick Anderson, writing in The Washington Post, admitted that he "was never a great fan of the Bond books"[10] and considered that "Devil May Care has its amusing and entertaining moments, but there were other moments when I thought it would never end".[10]
The New York Times critic, Charles McGrath, felt that Faulks "improbably injects new life into the formula",[30] which meant that Devil May Care was "a stronger novel than any that Fleming wrote".[30] Fritz Lanham, writing for the Houston Chronicle declared that "so satisfying was Sebastian Faulks' new James Bond novel that I felt obliged to celebrate by making myself a vodka martini, very dry, shaken, not stirred."[5] Lanham considered that Faulks had "produced a book true to the spirit of the originals",[5] whilst also producing a novel that "works as a thriller".[5]
The James Bond series focuses on the titular character, a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelisations: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd, and Anthony Horowitz. The latest novel is With a Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, published in May 2022. Additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny.
Dr. No is the sixth novel by the English author Ian Fleming to feature his British Secret Service agent James Bond. Fleming wrote the novel in early 1957 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 31 March 1958. The novel centres on Bond's investigation into the disappearance in Jamaica of two fellow MI6 operatives. He establishes that they had been investigating Doctor No, a Chinese operator of a guano mine on the fictional Caribbean island of Crab Key. Bond travels to the island and meets Honeychile Rider and later Doctor No.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.
From Russia, with Love is the fifth novel by the English author Ian Fleming to feature his fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond. Fleming wrote the story in early 1956 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica; at the time he thought it might be his final Bond book. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 8 April 1957.
Goldfinger is the seventh novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Written in January and February 1958, it was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 23 March 1959. The story centres on the investigation by the British Secret Service operative James Bond into the gold-smuggling activities of Auric Goldfinger, who is also suspected by MI6 of being connected to SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence organisation. As well as establishing the background to the smuggling operation, Bond uncovers a much larger plot: Goldfinger plans to steal the gold reserves of the United States from Fort Knox.
Moonraker is the third novel by the British author Ian Fleming to feature his fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond. It was published by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1955 and featured a cover design conceived by Fleming. The plot is derived from a Fleming screenplay that was too short for a full novel, so he added the passage of the bridge game between Bond and the industrialist Hugo Drax. In the latter half of the novel, Bond is seconded to Drax's staff as the businessman builds the Moonraker, a prototype missile designed to defend England. Unknown to Bond, Drax is German, an ex-Nazi now working for the Soviets; his plan is to build the rocket, arm it with a nuclear warhead, and fire it at London. Uniquely for a Bond novel, Moonraker is set entirely in Britain, which raised comments from some readers, complaining about the lack of exotic locations.
The Man with the Golden Gun is the twelfth and final novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series and thirteenth Bond book overall. It was first published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on 1 April 1965, eight months after the author's death. The novel was not as detailed or polished as the others in the series, leading to poor but polite reviews. Despite that, the book was a best-seller.
Felix Leiter is a fictional character created by Ian Fleming in the James Bond books, films and other media. The character is an operative for the CIA and Bond's friend. After losing a leg and his hand to a shark attack, Leiter joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The name "Felix" comes from the middle name of Fleming's friend Ivar Bryce, while the name "Leiter" was the surname of Fleming's friend Marion Oates Leiter Charles, the then wife of Thomas Leiter.
Ian Fleming Publications is the production company formerly known as both Glidrose Productions Limited and Glidrose Publications Limited, named after its founders John Gliddon and Norman Rose. In 1952, author Ian Fleming bought it after completing his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale; he assigned most of his rights in Casino Royale, and the works which followed it to Glidrose.
Sebastian Charles Faulks is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France – The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong and Charlotte Gray. He has also published novels with a contemporary setting, most recently A Week in December (2009) and Paris Echo, (2018) and a James Bond continuation novel, Devil May Care (2008), as well as a continuation of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves series, Jeeves and the Wedding Bells (2013). He was a team captain on BBC Radio 4 literary quiz The Write Stuff.
Per Fine Ounce is the title of an unpublished novel by Geoffrey Jenkins featuring Ian Fleming's James Bond. It was completed c.1966 and is considered a "lost" novel by fans of James Bond because it was actually commissioned by Glidrose Productions, the official publishers of James Bond. It was rejected for publication, however, missing the opportunity to become the first continuation James Bond novel. The Adventures of James Bond Junior 003½, a novel written by the pseudonymous R. D. Mascott, was later published in 1967 featuring James Bond's nephew; Colonel Sun written by Kingsley Amis under the pseudonym Robert Markham was published in 1968 as the first adult continuation novel following Ian Fleming's The Man with the Golden Gun (1965).
For Special Services, first published in 1982, was the second novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape and in the United States by Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. Cover designed by Bill Botten.
The Man with the Red Tattoo, first published in 2002, was the sixth and final original novel by Raymond Benson featuring Ian Fleming's character James Bond. Carrying the Ian Fleming Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam. It was later published in Japan in 2003. The novel's working title was Red Widow Dawn.
Pussy Galore is a fictional character in the 1959 Ian Fleming James Bond novel Goldfinger and the 1964 film of the same name. In the film, she is played by Honor Blackman. The character returns in the 2015 Bond continuation novel Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, set in the 1950s, two weeks after the events of Goldfinger.
Casino Royale is the first novel by the British author Ian Fleming. Published in 1953, it is the first James Bond book, and it paved the way for a further eleven novels and two short story collections by Fleming, followed by numerous continuation Bond novels by other authors.
Diamonds Are Forever is the fourth novel by the British author Ian Fleming to feature his fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond. Fleming wrote the story at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, inspired by a Sunday Times article on diamond smuggling. The book was first published by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom on 26 March 1956.
Live and Let Die is the second novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series of stories. Set in London, the United States and Jamaica, it was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1954. Fleming wrote the novel at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica before his first book, Casino Royale, was published; much of the background came from Fleming's travel in the US and knowledge of Jamaica.
Commander James Bond is a character created by the British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games. Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections. His final two books—The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) and Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)—were published posthumously.
Solo is a James Bond continuation novel written by William Boyd. It was published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 26 September 2013 in hardback, e-book and audio editions, and in the US by HarperCollins on 8 October 2013.
↑ Segal, Victoria (3 June 2008). "Faulks's Bond is devilish fun; The Big Read". London Lite. London. p.22.
1 2 3 4 Lanham, Fritz (1 June 2008). "Older Bond still entertaining; Sebastian Faulks captures the spirit of Ian Fleming's original 007 novels". Houston Chronicle. Houston. p.15.
↑ Barr, Nicola (27 June 2009). "Saturday Review: Paperbacks: Fiction: Devil May Care, by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming (Penguin, £7.99)". The Guardian. London. p.19.
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