No Mr Bond, I Expect You to Die (Devil May Care (James Bond) - Sebastian Faulks)

Name: mynameisrui

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Product:	Devil May Care (James Bond) - Sebastian Faulks
Date:	08/07/08 (153 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Its Bond!!

Disadvantages: A bit short Maybe

I'll be the first to admit that I've never been a massive Bond fan until I saw Casino Royale. I personally thought that this film was much better than the rest of them and when I saw the new book come out I thought I would give it a try.

The interesting thing about the book is that it is the first Bond book not written by Ian Fleming. Instead, Sebastian Faulks has written it. However, Mr Faulks did apparently read all of the other Bond books written by Ian Fleming in order to get an idea of how he wrote the books so as to try and repeat it. I never read Ian Fleming's books so I can't really say how well it's written compared to the others.

The book itself is set in 1967 and Bond has been on holiday for a while as ordered by M due to his recent encounter with Scaramanga (from 'The Man with the Golden Gun). Bond being Bond he can't sit and do nothing for too long but he needs to make a career decision. M has offered him a desk job and he is supposed to be using the time to decide what he wants. He is then given a mission where he needs to go and investigate a certain Mr Julius Gorner. Needless to say he is not the nicest of characters and, without giving the plot away, you will soon find Bond up to his usual antics of car chases, fights and the love affair with the Bond girl which Bond himself admits is his one weakness.

The James Bond you read in the book is very different compared to the one you see in the films. Where as the film one is very charming and can get himself out of most situations, the book Bond is more wise in his ways and has learnt when to keep his mouth shut. The book Bond also has a more gritty feel to him; he gets hurt, he breaks bones and he will feel these effects for some time to come. I'm not saying one is better than the other, but they are both different Bonds.

The one thing I really liked about this book was all the historical references. I know this makes me sound like a complete loser but Fleming has clearly gone to a lot of trouble to make sure it is all accurate. A the book is set during the Cold War, Fleming makes a number of references to various countries and how these are having an effect on what is happening.

I must say that I was a bit indifferent to it all. One hand I liked it because, lets face it, Bond is cool! On the other hand however, I found it hard to believe some of the events and found myself drifting in and out at parts of the book. Overall, I think that it was a good book though. I wouldn't normally go for this type of book so maybe didn't enjoy it as much as some but I was certainly able to appreciate how well written it was. I'd say that if you're a fan of Bond, you should definitely give this book a read.

Summary: Well worth a read