Customer Reviews
Too much Flemming and not enough Faulks - By: Phil, 09 Oct 2008 
It's my own fault that I really didn't enjoy this book. Faulks makes it clear that he is writing as Ian Flemming. Whether he achieves this I will leave to those more qualified than I. However from reading other reviews opinions seem to be mixed. I suppose I had hoped that he would inject a bit of the Faulks magic into Bond.
Devil May Care is almost completely devoid of insight or interesting observation, the plot is thin & unconvincing & place description so cursory you felt you could be virtually anywhere. The characters are superficial & the twist frankly risible.
One might feel that Faulks attempts to rehabilitate Bonds reputation as a sexual predator was worthy except for the wayin which he then associates this with a loss of secret agent prowess.
If you are already an Ian Flemming fan then this book might be worth a look otherwise I'd steer clear. Let's hope the fall from the superb Engelby does not do Faulks any permanent damage.
A GOOD READ - By: Ratboyslim32, 07 Oct 2008 
Try not to think too deeply who has written this book; let's face it, Sebastian Faulks is a very good author! This book is pretty close to the Ian Fleming originals & is a good read. It will be interesting how the film franchise adapts this story? A resurgent Iran, drugs from Afghanistan...very current affairs!
A quantum of (enjoyable) nonsense - By: Colin Mccartney, 24 Sep 2008 
Shall we call this a missed opportunity?
"Devil May Care" is a well paced thriller, that's about it.
I've never read Ian Fleming & I'm not a James Bond fan (anymore) but when I was younger I read James Bond & Moonraker (Film-Script Adaptation) & was fascinated (as a kid) by the character's stoic levels of endurance & impressed by the fact that whilst externally cool, internally 007 wasin turmoil most of the time. Who better to expand on this theme than Sebastian Faulks post-Birdsong?
Unfortunately the author never really seizes the opportunity although there's the odd moment that comes close (e.g. "the cigar tube"). Maybe he's trying too hard to write like Ian Fleming? If that's the case I wouldn't know (or really care for that matter).
Even more disappointingly the book has just about the same plot as all of the James Bond films: bad guy captures Bond/bad guy tells Bond his plans before killing him (...fatal mistake that - as JB is the most dangerous man on the planet as far as any international criminals are concerned, you'd think they'd take him out without further ado - rather than subject him to the usual contrived attempted execution)/Bond kills bad guy. Plus there's a plot twist at the end that's so obvious it's just not worth bothering with.
Although still flawed, the film "Casino Royale" was a more successful attempt at reinvigorating the James Bond character. This book is much less effectivein doing so. It still passes the time though - one for your next aeroplane journey but wait until it's going cheap.
Very fashionable - mostly boring - By: P. Verwey, 16 Sep 2008 
This is by far the most tedious book I have readin ages. Where is the action? The dramatic twists & turns? It seems like an ode to food, cocktails, fashion & exotic locations. Bond satin his room, ordered this drink, had that to eat, wore this & looked out over some or other supposedly amazing view.
It's boring.
And can someonein the literary world please stop this trend of throwing foreign phrases into English books? I do not have a French dictionary on hand to translate 'en fete'. It doesn't make it clever. It makes it incomprehensible.
As for the bad guy - a monkey's paw Mr Faulkner? Really.
I suppose it was the hype that did it in. If you really want the spirit of James Bond, may I suggest you try the Young Bond series by Charlie Higson. It's all action.
More parody than pastiche, Mr Bond - By: Mr. I. S. Fairholm, 15 Sep 2008 As someone who has recently read all of the Fleming Bond novels I feel I have a fairly good grasp of their style & tone. It seems Faulks does too but unfortunately although he may technically be a better writer than Fleming (something which is apparentin the early sections of the book particularly) that doesn't mean he's entirely comfortable with this genre or the type of stories Fleming wrote for Bond. This is all too obvious throughout much of 'Devil May Care'. Fleming's Bond stories were often preposterous & towards the end the author started to copy his older material even to the point of parody. Here Faulks does much the same thing, often painfully aping older Fleming characters or story elements, or intentionally imitating Fleming's decidedly un-PC stance to women & homosexuals. But often what Faulks seems to regard as playful homage feels more like clumsy parody.
The plot is patchy but again that's nothing new for a Bond novel, but this does feel like one of Fleming's later (or less successful) plots. All the classic characters are there & feel about right but it's almost like Faulks is ticking them off a checklist rather than doing them justice.
At least one of the plot twists (about two thirds of the way through) is completely pointless & feels like padding (it covers a couple of chapters). It's inconsistent, makes little sense & serves little purpose to the story. Surely someone as smart as Faulks realised this so is he being purposefully ironic or has he been reduced to writing the equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster - adding pointless set pieces to the plot just because that's what is required.
And the final key twist that is 'revealed' right near the end of the book is extremely predictable. Faulks hammers it home nearly every time a particular character appears so I'm fairly sure it would be obvious to anyone over the age of twelve. This particular twist is also odd given M's knowledge of Bond's character & private life. Overall, a pointless attempt to do something differentin a novel that is otherwise rather too safe.
I'll admit that at times I was very impressed & overall I did enjoy reading 'Devil May Care'. It was easy to read, it has some fine moments, & genuinely makes for a welcome addition to the list of Bond novels, but it's inferior to many of the Fleming originals (which it tries & often clumsily fails to be so loyal to) & hardly feels like the landmark eventin publishing that it's been heralded as.
I'm currently reading the late John Gardner's 'Licence Renewed' from 1981, the first major attempt to relaunch the Bond book franchise & although it's not standard Fleming fare I have to admit that I'm enjoying it more than 'Devil May Care' which sadly runs close at times to being more parody than pastiche.
