- Devil May Care (novel)
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Devil May Care
First Edition UK HardcoverAuthor(s) Sebastian Faulks Cover artist Photography: Kevin Summers; Design: The Partners Country United Kingdom Language English Series James Bond Subject(s) James Bond, MI6, heroin, Iran, Ekranoplan, Cold War, Deuxieme Bureau Genre(s) Spy novel Publisher Penguin 007 Publication date 28 May 2008 Media type Print (Hardcover) Pages 295 ISBN 978-0-718-15376-2 OCLC Number 192027506 Preceded by Die Another Day Followed by Carte Blanche Devil May Care is the thirty-sixth original James Bond novel. Written by Sebastian Faulks ("writing as Ian Fleming"), it was published on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ian Fleming, creator of Bond.[1]
Contents
Background
Faulks, famous for Charlotte Gray and Birdsong, was selected by the estate of the late 007-author, in 2006, to write the follow-up Bond novel as Ian Fleming. Faulks' name was not revealed to the public until July 2007, when a publishing date for the work was officially announced, along with its title. Online and print sources erroneously stated that Devil May Care would be the first new James Bond novel published since 1966. In fact, dozens of full-length Bond novels had been published officially, between 1968 and 2002 by the authors Kingsley Amis (as "Robert Markham"), John Pearson, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, and Raymond Benson. In addition, Charlie Higson and Samantha Weinberg (as "Kate Westbrook") have been publishing Bond-related novels since 2005. Faulks' book is, however, the first novel to focus on the adult James Bond, as conceived by Fleming, since 2002's The Man with the Red Tattoo. It takes place in the time-frame of Fleming's original novels, the first such book since Amis' Colonel Sun (discounting the spin-off Young Bond and The Moneypenny Diaries lines). Devil May Care is also the first Bond novel to have a theme song - "Devil May Care" by SAL, which was released by way of a music video,[2] as well as on the audio book version of the novel.
The jacket artwork features the model Tuuli Shipster, muse of the British photographer, Rankin. Tuuli said: "I was thrilled that Penguin chose me to be their Bond girl. It’s fantastic to be involved with something so iconic."[3] She was also involved in the book's launch on board HMS Exeter on 27 May 2008.[4] The cover photograph was taken by British photographer and commercials director, Kevin Summers. The jacket image was created by the design agency The Partners.[3]
Devil May Care has been published in hardback by Penguin Books in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Europe and in Ireland. In the US it has been published by Doubleday. Many of the publishers will be using this jacket. Penguin is launching a brand new imprint – Penguin 007 – under which it will publish all its Bond titles, including Devil May Care.[3] Devil May Care became Penguin UK's fastest selling hardback novel as of 2008, with 44,093 copies sold in its first four days.[5]
Plot
Set in the 1960s, a ritual execution in the outskirts of Paris starts a chain of events designed to lead to global catastrophe. A narcotics tide threatens to lethally engulf Britain, a British airliner disappears in Iraqi airspace, and the thunder of war echoes throughout the Middle East. Bond is requested by M to investigate a man named Gorner and his bodyguard, Chagrin. Bond is warned that his performance will be monitored and that a new double-oh 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 both the stolen British airliner and an ekranoplan. During Bond's adventure he is assisted 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. Bond is recaptured and returned to his cell. 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 airliner and crashes it into a mountainside while 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, who Bond finally kills on a train. Later Gorner meets him on a boat and tries to shoot him, but Bond pushes him off, where he is torn to pieces by a propeller. With the subsequent elimination of both Chagrin & Gorner, Bond considers his mission a success, and on condition that the agent M has waiting in the wings won't 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 double-oh agent, he wouldn't have worked with her.
The book ends with Bond returning to active duty, and Scarlett moving off to her own operations as a full 00 agent.
References
- ^ "Faulks pens new James Bond novel". BBC News. 2007-07-11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6289186.stm.
- ^ "SAL's 'Devil May Care' Music Video Online". CommanderBond.net. http://commanderbond.net/article/5277. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ a b c "Devil May Care Cover Revealed". MI6 - The Home Of James Bond. 2007-12-03. http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/articles/literary_devil_may_care_cover.php3.
- ^ "New Bond novel launched in style". BBC News. 27 May 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7420894.stm. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
- ^ Dammann, Guy (4 June 2008). "James Bond smashes sales figures". London: Guardian.co.uk. http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2283691,00.html. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
External links
- Penguin007.com - Official website for Devil May Care.
- The Digested Read John Crace, The Guardian
- Devil May Care World Premiere Media Coverage
- SAL - Official website of the band who wrote the Devil May Care theme song for the audio book.
Reviews
- Summary of reviews The Bookseller
- Article about negative fan base reaction - The Times
- Christopher Hitchens, Financial Times
- Jeffrey Westhoff, Chicago Sun Times
- Euan Ferguson, The Observer
- Sam Leith, The Telegraph
- Janet Maslin, New York Times
James Bond novels and short stories James Bond series Casino Royale (1953) · Live and Let Die (1954) · Moonraker (1955) · Diamonds Are Forever (1956) · From Russia, with Love (1957) · Dr. No (1958) · Goldfinger (1959) · For Your Eyes Only (1960) · Thunderball (1961) · The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) · On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963) · You Only Live Twice (1964) · The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) · Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)Colonel Sun (1968)Licence Renewed (1981) · For Special Services (1982) · Icebreaker (1983) · Role of Honour (1984) · Nobody Lives for Ever (1986) · No Deals, Mr. Bond (1987) · Scorpius (1988) · Win, Lose or Die (1989) · Brokenclaw (1990) · The Man from Barbarossa (1991) · Death Is Forever (1992) · Never Send Flowers (1993) · SeaFire (1994) · COLD (1996)Zero Minus Ten (1997) · The Facts of Death (1998) · High Time to Kill (1999) · DoubleShot (2000) · Never Dream of Dying (2001) · The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002)Devil May Care (2008)Carte Blanche (2011)Young Bond series SilverFin (2005) · Blood Fever (2006) · Double or Die (2007) · Hurricane Gold (2007) · By Royal Command (2008)Novelisations Spin-off novels R. D. Mascott003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior (1967)James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 (1973)The Moneypenny Diaries Guardian Angel (2005) · Secret Servant (2006) · Final Fling (2008)Short stories "A Hard Man to Kill" (2009)Unofficial works "Some Are Born Great" (1959) · Alligator (1962) · "Bond Strikes Camp" (1963) · The Killing Zone (1985) · "Licence to Hug" (1995) · "Your Deal, Mr. Bond" (1997)Unpublished works Per Fine Ounce (1966) · "The Heart of Erzulie" (2002)Related works The James Bond Dossier (1965) · The Book of Bond (1965) · The James Bond Bedside Companion (1984) · Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier (2009)Works by Sebastian Faulks Novels A Trick of the Light (1984) · The Girl at the Lion d'Or (1989) · A Fool's Alphabet (1992) · Birdsong (1993) · Charlotte Gray (1998) · On Green Dolphin Street (2001) · Human Traces (2005) · Engleby (2007) · Devil May Care (2008) · A Week in December (2009)
Non-fiction The Fatal Englishman (1996) · Pistache (2006) · Faulks on Fiction: The Secret Life of the Novel (2011)
Categories:- 2008 novels
- James Bond books
- Novels by Sebastian Faulks
- Cold War spy novels
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