Devil May Care
Sebastian Faulks
Penguin
2008
320
£18.99
9780718153762
Sebastian Faulks is reported to have agreed to write Devil May Care over lunch and a fabulous Burgundy. Very Bond, who consumes heroic quantities of Dom Perignon, Stolichnaya, and Chateau Batailley, as well as martinis by the jugful. Most of the other Bond essentials are woven into this ripping yarn — the gorgeous girl who is not quite what she seems, the psychopathic baddie bent on world domination or destruction, the miraculous escapes from death and mutilation.
In the new Bond, however, the bad guys have nearly all the toys and James is notably underdressed, as well as underpowered (the Walther PPK is now regarded as a hairdresser's gun, the firearms equivalent of a BMW Z3). Q doesn't make an appearance, but M and Moneypenny are there, dependable as ever.
Faulks has set Devil May Care in the Middle East during the Cold War and captures both Fleming's journalist's prose style and the period milieu beautifully.
The disaffected lunatic at the centre of the plot disparages Britain's imperial adventures and at one point deprives Bond of food because of the Irish potato famine. The 100th anniversary of Fleming's birth (1908–1964) has generated a number of analyses of Bond's character — filling the void after a war which we won but come out second-best, reconnecting with Empire — and there are elements of the Great Game between the British and the Russian Empire in Devil May Care, as well as telling echoes and parallels with present day concerns, including urban alienation, opiate addiction and the special relationship between Britain and the US.
Faulks' carefully structured plot and expert writing rarely falter, although there are a few Google moments where a plane or a car has been over-researched. There are some truly memorable scenes and terrific locations. Faulks also does a nice line in torture. The book gathers pace effortlessly and the last 100 pages are a real roller coaster. Great days.
- © British Journal of General Practice, 2008.