Carte Blanche

The New James Bond Novel

By: Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: Toby Stephens

Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

The face of war is changing. The other side doesn't play by the rules much anymore. There's thinking, in some circles,that we need to play by a different set of rules too....

Fresh from Afghanistan, James Bond has been recruited to a new agency. Conceived in the post-9/11 world, it operates independent of Five, Six and the MoD, its very existence deniable. Its aim: to protect the Realm, by any means necessary. The Night Action alert calls Bond from dinner with a beautiful woman. GCHQ has decrypted an electronic whisper about an attack scheduled for later in the week: casualties estimated in the thousands, British interests adversely affected.

And 007 has been given carte blanche to do whatever it takes to fulfill his mission.

©2011 Jeffrey Deaver (P)2011 Simon & Schuster Audio

Deaver doing Bomd

It was a good book and I quite enjoyed the plot and action however it did make me miss the classic Deaver characters and storyline. I recommend it :-)

Perfect narrator

This is a fun Bond story, not Ian Fleming's, but it does the job. I found it really interesting and amusing with good doses of suspense, action, and James Bond. But what makes this audiobook a winner is Toby Stephens' terrific performance. I will definitely listen to it again just for pleasure. Loved the special effect used for phone calls! This was for me the discovery of a narrator to follow. Great listen!

Deaver does an amazing job of updating Bond...

...Much like Benson & Gardner did. The action is intense, dialogue engaging, and story amazing. And unlike the lame Moore & Bronsnan films, no absurd useless campy humor. A treat for REAL Bond fans.

Low-energy narration, questionable pronunciation

The narrator is far more lethargic than would seem best for an action novel. Having heard all the Grey Man novels, I find the contrast marked and unfortunate, as the source material is stylish. This book's narrator is British, which is, of course, desirable, but may be the cause of at least one pronunciation that seems curious. I am only a novice with guns, but I've always heard .40 caliber (calibre in the book, naturally) simply pronounced "forty caliber" or "forty cal;" the narrator says "point-four-oh calibre." Maybe the narrator's pronunciation is the right one for England (I live in the USA), but if not it seems like a glaring error for a book where guns are so important as to almost be characters. This is especially true for the iconic Walthers, notwithstanding that in Carte Blanche, for the first time, Bond carries a .40 Walther PPS instead of the PPK helped to fame by its appearance in most of the Bond films.

Authentic performance

Toby Stephens puts forward a brilliant performance in this action filled Bond novel by Jeffrey Deaver. It is a tightly wrought novel with double crosses, plot within plot. A combustive story that is compulsive and consuming. The Audible performance gives real textual meaning if one reads the book simultaneously.

Pretty good, a bit weirdly paced

Another good Bond novel, performed very well! Toby did a great job. Story is a bit weirdly paced, but everything fits together fairly nicely. Good plot twist at the end.

Fast forwarded, a modern Bond

noticed some listeners didn't think this was in tune with Ian Fleming's Bond. if Bond (who is in reality a World War II timeframe hero) lived in the timeframe of the book I think it was perfectly well done and did the character justice for modern times. Truth is this IS of course a 'different' Bond and that's ok to suspend belief in a fictional story. Truth also is this was a good book, and the character showed depth and even a little sluth like deduction we don't usually see. He was still guns blazing when he had to be but didn't seem to get tricked or falling into elaborate traps as fast as he used to back in the day, even comes up with a few of his own. The performance of the voice actor was good but was a tad slow. I recommend setting the speed slightly higher than 1 if you agree so it does not take away from the story. Enjoy...

Bond, Bond, BOND! More Bond, please!

I love 007 in all his many guises and maybe that is why Deaver's new incarnation is as wonderful as Connery, Moore, Craig and all the others. I am used to "M" being male or female, Felix Leiter being white, black, alive, dead & alive again. I also love Deaver's style of writing & Toby Stephens telling of the tale. Stephens has a beautiful voice that is smooth as clotted cream, veddy, veddy upper crust Brit yet droll, stiff upper lip, as he recounts the gore & gristle. This book was even better than I already knew it would be. The story was gripping and just when I knew who the bad guy was...well just let me say, I was wrong. The bad guy was thoroughly creepy with a particular "love" that even I had not heard of. I also enjoyed the sub-plot of Jame's parents as it lays the framework for more books, I hope. I liked the descriptive detailing of the clothes, watches, tools, toys & guns. It added heft to the new creation of Bond. James is still very manly although more pc in his treatment & regard of women. He remains smart, sleek, tech savvy, sexy, a rogue and a pirate in Savile Row clothing. More, please.

An actual James Bond story

This audiobook has brought the espionage genre into real world, being spiced with all the important events which have impacted our existence as people of globalisation.
The most powerful impact on me it's given by the unique voice of Toby Stephens, such versatile and subtle, with so many inflexions and glow.

Great pacing, very entertaining!

suspenseful and well written.
better story than the past two Bond films. The voice talent was great except for the really, really bad impression of a Texan southern accent for Felix Leiter. The quality of accent was lacking and I wish the editors or director had the courage to change that portrayal or go with a different voice for Leiter; for those reasons I hope Leiter will be voiced without any accent or that he remain out of any future 007 novels. really enjoyed the use of alternating voices and authentic sound during phone or radio conversations -- which created more dramatic tension.