Devil May Care

By: Sebastian Faulks

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Bond is back. With a vengeance. Devil May Care is a masterful continuation of the James Bond legacy - an electrifying new chapter in the life of the most iconic spy of literature and film, written to celebrate the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth on May 28, 1908.

An Algerian drug runner is savagely executed in the desolate outskirts of Paris. This seemingly isolated event leads to the recall of Agent 007 from his sabbatical in Rome and his return to the world of intrigue and danger where he is most at home. The head of MI6, M, assigns him to shadow the mysterious Dr. Julius Gorner, a power-crazed pharmaceutical magnate, whose wealth is exceeded only by his greed.

Gorner has lately taken a disquieting interest in opiate derivatives, both legal and illegal, and this urgently bears looking into. Bond finds a willing accomplice in the shape of a glamorous Parisian named Scarlett Papava. He will need her help in a life-and-death struggle with his most dangerous adversary yet, as a chain of events threaten to lead to global catastrophe.

A British airliner goes missing over Iraq. The thunder of a coming war echoes in the Middle East. And a tide of lethal narcotics threatens to engulf a Great Britain in the throes of the social upheavals of the late 60s. Picking up where Fleming left off, Sebastian Faulks takes Bond back to the height of the Cold War in a story of almost unbearable pace and tension.

Devil May Care not only captures the very essence of Fleming’s original novels but also shows Bond facing dangers with a powerful relevance to our own times.

Shaken? Stirred? Check out 007's other assignments.

©2008 Sebastian Faulks (P)2008 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"With a delivery as cool and dry as a vodka martini, Tristan Layton brings numerous international locals and characters to life in Faulks' homage to Ian Fleming's greatest creation, James Bond." ( Publishers Weekly)

Exciting James Bond Adventure

The first and only James Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks. It’s a shame he didn’t do more and in interviews it seems like he felt this was beneath him. Unfortunate.

Overall the book has all the earmarks of a classic Ian Fleming story. If they did a period piece film I would like to see this adapted. Without spoilers I will say the book loses a little steam after the adventures on the plane. But a small criticism in an overall fun story. Well performed by the reader John Lee.

I just found it a bit slow

I’m a longtime lover of Bond, both on screen and in print. This novel just didn’t hold my attention. But to each their own.

I cringe to hear John Lee

Why oh why does John Lee continue to be employed to narrate? He clips off each word. His rhythm is like a wagon with square wheels. He isn’t smooth at all. He seldom can pull off characters. Absent any modality of voice, he makes me cringe. Yet this novel equates with his voice. It is a mundane patchwork of other Bond novels. Nothing new, just formulaic. Flat, trite, overused dialogue, just ridiculously and embarrassingly silly at times. Obtuse and lazy writing.

typical James bond

it was predictable, not the best bond book but adequate. okay to read for a filler.

Glad I Finished It

I previously left a less-than-favorable “halfway point” review, now having finished Devil May Care I’m leaving this one to say I’ve warmed up to the book, and John Lee’s reading of it. Lee does particularly well with character voices (the standouts being Felix Leiter and this story’s Iranian Kerim Bey equivalent), and he reads with real intensity when the material calls for it. What I previously mistook for lack of enthusiasm was more likely the combination of a restrained reading style with the numbingly regular rhythm of Faulks’ prose.

Faulks manages to work in a big twist and some pretty spectacular action sequences in the final act, and all are well-handled. That said, his commitment to emulating the blunt & punchy mode of Fleming’s prose feels simplistic—there are moments when the short, clear sentences lend the scenes a kind of brutal poetry, but just as many others where they feel dry & uninspired.

The villain has not one but two grand schemes, the first completely abandoned for no other reason than he (and the author, I guess) thought of something more interesting. The villains feel a bit like parodies of Bond nemeses, but they’re so grotesquely evil it’s hard not to find them compelling. However, in order to keep Bond alive and involved in the story, the villain has to repeatedly, knowingly choose to employ his worst enemy in key positions. Faulks probably thinks this silliness is the best Bond fans deserve.

The author introduces some rich locales and very cool, real-but-forgotten tech but then can’t be bothered to figure out how to use them to full effect (I doubt Fleming would have struggled with this).

The pacing really leaves a lot to be desired—Fleming knew how to end a chapter in a way that made you want to start the next one right away, and Faulks barely ever manages it. If the stories are true that Faulks felt this project was beneath him, well… it shows, and it’s a shame it wasn’t given to someone with more enthusiasm for the material. It’s that much more frustrating because there are moments when Faulks shows a real flair for clever plotting and visceral action — there’s probably a great Bond novel in him somewhere, but here we get only fragments of it.

Still, at the time it was published this book was presented as a rebirth of the literary 007, coming off of 6 years with no “main series” entries, and before that the tenure of the decidedly lowbrow Raymond Benson. Faulks’ book (which often *does* feel something like a lost Fleming novel) must have felt like a revelation at the time. It’s worth a read, but best if taken in its proper context. Bond has been done better since.

Bond at his most boring

I have read all of Ian Flemings books. This is not Ian. I have read all the other authors that attempted Bond. This is not that either. Just kinda boring. The few “action” sequences are quick and predictable. I found so many references to Bond movies that it was getting silly. But the worst part is that a character could not be introduced without a long drawn out back story. Too much caviar (read it and you will understand). And the bad guy is this big bad drug dealer, who in one paragraph decides he’s going to nuke a major city on the premise that it will start a war. And this is for revenge? And wait, he already has the nukes, stole a plane, built a boat, and is so easily defeated that it is simply mind boggling that anyone would find this a 5 star read. I give it two monkey hands (you would understand if you read it) and 3 stars for the valiant effort at narrating it.

Boring Bond

I listened to Ian Fleming's "Live and Let Die." This is a lot more boring than Fleming. I had two hours and forty minutes left before I viewed the reviews to see if others felt it was boring and when I saw plenty of complaints about this story I knew that it was time to end it and start another audiobook.