Devil may care by Sebastian Faulks,for me hands down best continuation novel,almost more Fleming than Fleming.
Wished since it came out,that would be a film
Nice to read somebody being positive about the book, while it is not my favorite of the celebrity trilogy it is a fairly decent book and it reminded me of The David Niven spy movie about his Doctor Lovejoy. And as always it is easier to criticize somebody or something than looking for the good bits.
Ian Fleming is dead and we get at least new books and some are better than others. This one was enjoyable.
There was a rumor for a while that Devil May Care and/or Carte Blanche was going to be originally what Skyfall became. I would like to see more of the books get adapted instead of original screenplays as they have been more miss than hit right now. As I’ve said before and I’ll keep fighting for it, Bond does not have to always be solo. Other characters could work well in the spotlight (M in Skyfall). Bond always has allies, we should see their support and side of things. This can give the series new life in different ways. These two books could be a great place to start.
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Having re-read this book for the first time since 2008 upon its release I find that this particular books does go through the notions of the 007 book formula but never really finds it footing and feeling like 007 book like other writers certainly did. It is easily the weakest of the continuation series, Faulks is a decent writer but this book is certainly more of miss than a hit.
I do hope he did earn some decent money with the job, re-reading the book it failed to entertain me as most 007 books from other authors really do.
I found the setting in Iran really interesting but the baddie was so poor and the execution of his plans so dreadful bad. Fleming might have gotten away with this in the sixties but for a modern writer Faulks should have known better.
Saintmark.
Thought the complete opposite to you.IMO Faulks had Fleming off to a tee,his writing seemed effortless,with all the usual Bond features,have read it at least three times,easily the best continuation book.
Really hoped Barbara B would pick it up for EON.
Just goes to show.
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One of the great wasted opportunities in DMC:
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Agreed. The climax should have been aboard the ekranoplan, as we’d already seen an airborne climax of that ilk in Goldfinger. Storming around this craft as it skims out of control across the Caspian - with an atomic bomb aboard- would have really been something.
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Exactly. The other great missed opportunity is the fact that he has Bond crash land a plane in the middle of the Soviet Union of 1967 (!) and has him make his almost effortless way through the country and escape within some two dozen pages. A situation that would have been good for a whole new book…
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…like the one that could have come between YOLT and TMWTGG?
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