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Comments
I loved all the stuff in Serbia at the beginning.
I do have to say that I think Deaver has got Bond's 'voice' spot-on, ie his thought processes.
And there are definitely little touches of Fleming in the book, for example describing Bond's Bentley: 'It had always been his goal to own one of the stately yet wickedly fast and clever vehicles'. When I read lines like that I just smile.
The book itself is very nicely presented. There is a nice glossy '007' embossed on the front cover and the dust-jacket has a pleasing satin finish.
Anyhoo, looking forward to getting down to it and reading it properly in a week or so... :)
With all due respect, why is Deaver describing a scene where Bond seems to be staking out some place, and then out of nowhere mentions his hairstyle and that he has a scar? I didn´t have negative thoughts about Deaver, but who writes like this? Is it going on like this? I´m sorry, but to me that was the worst expositional bit I ever read from anybody.
Anyway, I've finished off the novel and I thought I'd share a few things that came up. Please bear in mind that this will probably contain a few major spoilers. Consider yoruselves warned.
It feels like half a novel in some places. Deaver ties off all the loose ends, but at times he just glosses over content without really paying it the attention it deserves. There's more than one thing going on for most of the story, but things feel disjointed. I get that the theme was the over-reliance on electronic surveilance and the way intelligence can be mis-interpreted, but events later in the novel only have a loose connection to one another when things are implied to be stronger. The end result is that it feels a little like an episode of "Murder She Wrote" with Bond having to explain everything. While there are hints and clues scattered throughout the novel, there's never really anything to back them up. So you can read it a second time and everything will crystallise much earlier on than the first time through, but Deaver just doesn't throw us enough. Even then, key plot points simply happen. There's no foreshadowing, so it feels like they come out of nowhere and only happen because the overall plot needs to advance. The resolution of the "A" storyline gives way to the "B" storyline, but the pacing is all wrong - far too much time is spent on the A and not nearly enough on the B. Worse, still, is the tendency to break character. Severan Hydt is made out to be a sociopath who will kill thousands simply because it will bring him pleasure, but then he is revealed to be in it for the money. Bond does it, too; defending the son of a rich and flamboyant Islamic expatriate for no particular reason other than that he needs a favour later on - it reads as if Deaver realised he had to get Bond from point A to point B and had written himself into a corner. There's also a few other issues that plague the novel. For example, Felix Leiter. He shows up for no reason, does nothing (except get beaten up) and then disappears without word. It feels like fan service.
But perhaps the most alarming thing about the novel is that Bond's success is usually a direct result of someone else's incompetence. He does have the occasional moment of cleverness, but for the most part, he's surrounded by idiots - the two Serbian agents in the early chapters, the domestic operative he's forced to work with, an unreliable contact in Africa; they're all morons.
:!!
Many familiar characters make brief cameos, a fully limbed Felix even manages to pick up his almost traditional injury, and even Bonds first meeting with M is mentioned in a scene that echos Fleming's own very beginning in Navel Intelligence with his lunch meeting with Admiral Godfrey.
Deaver has clearly done his research and for the most Bond thinks and sounds like the 007 we know, even very subtle references to continuation authors Amis and Higson are made.
Deavers style is interesting and he obviously takes great delight in wrong footing the reader on a number of occasions and his multi stranded plots are something rather new to the Bond novel. His cast is large and well drawn and suggests that Deaver may have further ideas for Bond novels.
The main plot involves issues that are very topical and some of his ideas are very clever, though to be honest I did find the book overlong, though the final revelation in the last chapter is a humdinger!
The best way to treat this book is think of it like the rebooted CR film rather than a continuation novel. Yes it is very different in tone and style to what we have been used to, but this fresh approach works really well and I hope we see a few more Deaver Bond novels.
Oh and DathDimiCarte Blanche is a reference to Bonds role for acting outside the realms of law and the difficulties that inevitably entails.
It remains to be seen whether or not he lives up to the task. I've only just started the book, although it looks promising so far.
When I spoke to him at the signing last night, he told me that it was the fans of Fleming he was most nervous about pleasing. Just the fact that he's anxious to do justice to the character and to Fleming's legacy gives me a lot of hope.
If I have one complaint it's that there are not enough 'Fleming' style chapter titles. I can think of quite a few suitable ones. For example 'Carte Grise' pops up in Bond's thoughts a few times early in the book and I thought that would be a good candidate.