Much as I enjoyed Carte Blanche, I thought He was being a litle too clever with all the twists.It did become slightly predictable. I do hope he gets another shot as I think it has more Good points than Bad.
Agree. Certainly enough good about it to justify a second shot at it, particularly if it stops Faulkes from doing another one.
I think Deaver will get a second Novel. DMC was IMHO ok, just not great and the last part of the Book set in russia I thought was to fill out the last few pages of the novel, Fleming used to finish the story pretty quickly after the big climax of the story. Once described as a three act novel.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Wow, having just finished Carte Blanche, I'm shocked by the overall positive consensus here.
I had avoided all reviews saving the book for my holiday and after just reading all the reviews, I wonder if I read the same book. With the exception of M, I hated everything about it.
It is not a James Bond novel, he could have been any secret agent. We learn nothing of the man, other than he likes low end mass volume slop (Crown Royal and Jim Bean...........Bond, Really???). A made up drink, no smoking, and very little of anything that makes the man unique and James Bond.
Deaver is pathetic, naming every local music artist per setting (of course Bond loves them all), the meals are nothing special, we hear nothing of the man's style (oh yeah, he wears a Lacoste shirt)!
Thankfully, I was able to read Casino Royale right after I finished Carte Blanche. If anyone thinks Ian Fleming would have enjoyed this pulp of garbage they should go back and read the great man's James Bond.................this Deaver book is not a James Bond novel.
My apologies if I offend anyone here who liked it, I was beyond dissappointed and actually a little angry at the liberties taken by Deaver in recreating his Bond.
This is where we leave you Mr. Bond. (Pilot, Apollo Airlines)
I've heard there's not much sex in it either, which fits as I don't think it's Deaver's forte (on the page I mean.) This is a perennial Bond continuation problem, certainly with Gardner. Woods was v good at it, Amis not bad though you only had one sex scene there.
I just got done reading Bensons " High time to Kill "and he has Jimbo getting busy with Dr Hope Kendall at 8000 ft in a beauvac sack, wearing Q designed hair masks , in a little tent near the top of the third tallest mountain on earth, during a blizzard no less, with 6 dead bodies scattered around em in the other tents on the mountain. Whatever Bensons faults are as a writer, he's got my vote for at least letting commander Bond " Keep the British end up " so to speak ) ) ) Looking forward to checking out Deaver's take when I am done with Benson's union trilogy. I have found as long as I don't read any of Flemings work before or after reading a non fleming book I enjoy them quite well.
I think Deaver will get a second Novel. DMC was IMHO ok, just not great and the last part of the Book set in russia I thought was to fill out the last few pages of the novel, Fleming used to finish the story pretty quickly after the big climax of the story. Once described as a three act novel.
TP, when I attended the book signing in Houston, he mentioned he is contractually obligated to write a book per year by his publisher and that he had to get an exemption in order to write Carte Blanche. He was not opposed to writing another book, but stated his availability for the project would be an issue. This is not to say he would not do another Bond novel, but that it doesn't appear he will be doing them very often.
Thanks for the Info, pyrat. I'd like to see him given another chance, for all its faults I did enjoy Carte Blanche. Perhaps even now another Writer is being lined up to do a follow on. )
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Finally got around to finishing Carte Blanche and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I don't know if it is the best Bond continuation novel I've read but it is definitely one of the top three. I hope he will write another.
"A blunt instrument wielded by a Government department. Hard, ruthless, sardonic, fatalistic. He likes gambling, golf, fast motor cars. All his movements are relaxed and economical". Ian Fleming
I have to agree with Polar Bear. This is the worst James Bond novel I have ever read. I am in the middle and I will finish it because I am compulsive. Oy vey is it bad.
One thing the book does miss out on badly is Fleming's depressive, bleak angle. That doesn't sound too enticing, but then his rejection of Philly out of gallantry isn't too unBondlike; you may as well argue that Bond being rejected by Gala Brand at the end of MR couldn't happen. But it has to have a bleakness, a fatalsim about it. And this Bond lacks all that, he seems like a boy scout grown up. Fleming's Bond does have a conscientous air, but also that Richard Burtonesque fatalism and depressive air.
Sir Miles and Thunderpussy you are right and I should have said, I have not read them all. But James Bond The Authorized Biography and Colonel Sun struck me as the best, and I LOVED the former.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,757Chief of Staff
Sir Miles and Thunderpussy you are right and I should have said, I have not read them all. But James Bond The Authorized Biography and Colonel Sun struck me as the best, and I LOVED the former.
Colonel Sun is my favourite continuation novel....try a few of the latter Gardner books or Never Dream Of Dying from Benson - my personal nadir of the series...
Sir Miles is definitely right, the last 3 Benson's are beyond bad.
Like battistini, my primary problem with Deaver is that C.B. is not a Bond novel. You can also sense Deaver is a politically correct left wing nut, I'm sure Fleming wouldn't approve of what Deaver turns Bond into.
I really hope Deaver doesn't go anywhere near Bond again. I also hope the new books return
to Bonds era and the Bond of Ian Fleming.
This is where we leave you Mr. Bond. (Pilot, Apollo Airlines)
Sir Miles is definitely right, the last 3 Benson's are beyond bad.
Like battistini, my primary problem with Deaver is that C.B. is not a Bond novel. You can also sense Deaver is a politically correct left wing nut, I'm sure Fleming wouldn't approve of what Deaver turns Bond into.
I really hope Deaver doesn't go anywhere near Bond again. I also hope the new books return
to Bonds era and the Bond of Ian Fleming.
I'm not sure what you mean by "politically correct left wing nut" and how it shows up in CB. Bond seems to disapprove of apartheid and the use of the term "colored," but that doesn't strike me as PC as much as it strikes me as sensible. I'm a huge fan of Fleming's novels, but I'm glad to see that racism and homophobia are no longer part of Bond's personality.
—Le Samourai
A Gent in Training.... A blog about my continuing efforts to be improve myself, be a better person, and lead a good life. It incorporates such far flung topics as fitness, self defense, music, style, food and drink, and personal philosophy. Agent In Training
That's the point I'm making- Deaver takes liberties on Bond's "political outlook".
I am not trying to cause pointless trouble, but I always laugh when I read how happy and glad people are that Bond is not the person Fleming invented him to be! Proves the point I am making (rightly or wrongly) that this is not Bond! Probably also explains why they are so afraid to let someone freely write a new novel in the Fleming era and give a writer the freedom to write unabashed like Fleming! Don't dare offend anyone, the politically correct Gestapo will hunt you down. No, instead we get this bland drivel as Bond.
This is where we leave you Mr. Bond. (Pilot, Apollo Airlines)
That's the point I'm making- Deaver takes liberties on Bond's "political outlook".
I am not trying to cause pointless trouble, but I always laugh when I read how happy and glad people are that Bond is not the person Fleming invented him to be! Proves the point I am making (rightly or wrongly) that this is not Bond! Probably also explains why they are so afraid to let someone freely write a new novel in the Fleming era and give a writer the freedom to write unabashed like Fleming! Don't dare offend anyone, the politically correct Gestapo will hunt you down. No, instead we get this bland drivel as Bond.
So you think being racist was a fundamental part of the make-up of Fleming's Bond? I always found it rather incidental, and in jettisoning it, nothing of the character really changes. Do we really want a 21st century Bond commenting about how Koreans are sub-human?
—Le Samourai
A Gent in Training.... A blog about my continuing efforts to be improve myself, be a better person, and lead a good life. It incorporates such far flung topics as fitness, self defense, music, style, food and drink, and personal philosophy. Agent In Training
YOU are the one talking about racism, not me. It just proves my point.
Don't accuse Fleming of being a racist, he was a man of his time. According to you, we should simply leave Fleming's Bond (warts and all) in the past. So be it, but don't call this Deaver book a Bond book.
This is where we leave you Mr. Bond. (Pilot, Apollo Airlines)
YOU are the one talking about racism, not me. It just proves my point.
Don't accuse Fleming of being a racist, he was a man of his time. According to you, we should simply leave Fleming's Bond (warts and all) in the past. So be it, but don't call this Deaver book a Bond book.
What point did I prove?
I'm sorry, I'm really not trying to be argumentative, just to understand your initial argument. What exactly was so PC about Deaver's version of Bond? That seems to be an issue with you, and I'd like to hear some concrete examples. All I could think of was his dislike of apartheid and the term 'colored.'
As for "According to you, we should simply leave Fleming's Bond (warts and all) in the past," please don't attribute things to me I never said. I believe Bond's racism should be left in the past, as it does nothing to improve the character and is rather incidental to his personality. I have no problem with Bond's other myriad of flaws--borderline alcoholism, bouts of depression, etc--still being part of his make-up. And I would agree with that Deaver's Bond should have had some more of these darker traits.
And I don't accept the "man of his time" excuse for Fleming. Many of his contemporaries in the thriller and mystery genres managed to create characters who didn't express racist views ala Bond in the novel GF.
—Le Samourai
A Gent in Training.... A blog about my continuing efforts to be improve myself, be a better person, and lead a good life. It incorporates such far flung topics as fitness, self defense, music, style, food and drink, and personal philosophy. Agent In Training
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Having picked up a copy of this novel for £2.00 from a charity shop -I am now at long last reading it. So far I quite like it. But then again any new Bond story always reinvigorates my interest in the literary 007. Hydt's character is creepy and horrible so far - as his taste for the dead is revolting. Maybe not a typical Bond Master Criminal -but one who ticks boxes with his depraved tastes and his lust for success and power. Whether the tale continues in a satisfactory way I will have to see. As for Deaver's style and prose -maybe it lacks some of Fleming's panache but it does give us a tale that is more suited to todays audiences . For me so far it is an interesting addition to the Bond cannon, and definitely not the worst I have read. -{
Having watched the watchable but rather insipid Alex Ryder movie on telly, I was annoyed to see Deaver's whole 'what happened to my father, how did he die?' angle was ripped off that, not impressed.
Just finished Carte Blanche and yet again I am disappointed with a continuation novel. Suppose I always will be as no one can touch Fleming's unuque style.
Most of the points of why CB doesn't work have been covered, but for me:
1. Why the change of Bond's organisation from MI6 to ODG. This story would have worded exactly the same with the 00 Section being part of SIS.
2. No real main Bond girl in the traditional sense.
3. Hydt an ineffectual villian. He had the required foibles that any Bond vilian should have, but he reminds me of Dominic Greene in QOS, too lightweight. Seems to rely too much on Dunne who seems superior rather than a subordinate.
4. Naill Dunne is a Grant clone but without the menace. Just how do you pronounce his surname - is it done as in finished, or dune as in sand.
5. No real major plot as in robbing Fort Knox or nuclear blackmail, but a number of small one's none of which make much sense or add up to much.
6. To many subplots. Fleming didn't do subplots, these were an irritation that was introduced by John Gardiner.
7. Re writing the Bond family history, what was the point of that.
Basically no real sense that you were reading a Bond novel, rather than just a standard thriller where the hero could have been called anything.
Some reviewer once said 'If Ian Fleming was the Savoy Grill then John Gardiner is MacDonald's. Enjoyable enough when you are consuming it but instantly forgettable afterwards' Thats exactly how I feel about this book.
In one of my post in another forum, I wrote:
If you have not read any of James Bond, is a very good book, but if you read the books Fleming, Gardner .....no, do not look like the Fleming books, and the writer takes many licenses, such as changing the lives of parents of Bond, change the name to Q
Although I enjoyed the mystery weaving/storytelling of carte blanche, Weaver failed to evoke the thing/experience that is most important about James Bond (in my opinion). "that" in spite the danger "all men want to be James Bond and all women want to be with him" (not speaking for all men of course, hoping you get my drift/) In other words Deaver's rebooted Bond failed to deliver the "STEELY CHARISMA" of the original.. book, film or otherwise. and as far as the updated parent story, Deaver's suggested spin (not to spoil) has been done all over TV and the movies in recent years..
4. Naill Dunne is a Grant clone but without the menace. Just how do you pronounce his surname - is it done as in finished, or dune as in sand.
Some reviewer once said 'If Ian Fleming was the Savoy Grill then John Gardiner is MacDonald's. Enjoyable enough when you are consuming it but instantly forgettable afterwards'
Dunne as in Done.
Nice quote, and to finish it I would add "...and Jeffrey Deaver is a TV Dinner: fills a hole but leaves you unsatisfied."
Comments
Agree. Certainly enough good about it to justify a second shot at it, particularly if it stops Faulkes from doing another one.
I had avoided all reviews saving the book for my holiday and after just reading all the reviews, I wonder if I read the same book. With the exception of M, I hated everything about it.
It is not a James Bond novel, he could have been any secret agent. We learn nothing of the man, other than he likes low end mass volume slop (Crown Royal and Jim Bean...........Bond, Really???). A made up drink, no smoking, and very little of anything that makes the man unique and James Bond.
Deaver is pathetic, naming every local music artist per setting (of course Bond loves them all), the meals are nothing special, we hear nothing of the man's style (oh yeah, he wears a Lacoste shirt)!
Thankfully, I was able to read Casino Royale right after I finished Carte Blanche. If anyone thinks Ian Fleming would have enjoyed this pulp of garbage they should go back and read the great man's James Bond.................this Deaver book is not a James Bond novel.
My apologies if I offend anyone here who liked it, I was beyond dissappointed and actually a little angry at the liberties taken by Deaver in recreating his Bond.
TP, when I attended the book signing in Houston, he mentioned he is contractually obligated to write a book per year by his publisher and that he had to get an exemption in order to write Carte Blanche. He was not opposed to writing another book, but stated his availability for the project would be an issue. This is not to say he would not do another Bond novel, but that it doesn't appear he will be doing them very often.
Reflections in a double bourbon...
http://www.tjbd.co.uk/james-bond-books/carte-blanche-reviewed.htm
The James Bond Dossier | SPECTRE | Q-Branch James Bond Podcast
Have you read all the continuation Bond novels ? This isn't the worst....
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Colonel Sun is my favourite continuation novel....try a few of the latter Gardner books or Never Dream Of Dying from Benson - my personal nadir of the series...
Christopher Wood's book of the films TSWLM and MR are very enjoyable. Flavour of Fleming.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Even when pissed..they are still crap !
And it's NDOD that's my personal nadir...
Like battistini, my primary problem with Deaver is that C.B. is not a Bond novel. You can also sense Deaver is a politically correct left wing nut, I'm sure Fleming wouldn't approve of what Deaver turns Bond into.
I really hope Deaver doesn't go anywhere near Bond again. I also hope the new books return
to Bonds era and the Bond of Ian Fleming.
I'm not sure what you mean by "politically correct left wing nut" and how it shows up in CB. Bond seems to disapprove of apartheid and the use of the term "colored," but that doesn't strike me as PC as much as it strikes me as sensible. I'm a huge fan of Fleming's novels, but I'm glad to see that racism and homophobia are no longer part of Bond's personality.
A Gent in Training.... A blog about my continuing efforts to be improve myself, be a better person, and lead a good life. It incorporates such far flung topics as fitness, self defense, music, style, food and drink, and personal philosophy.
Agent In Training
I am not trying to cause pointless trouble, but I always laugh when I read how happy and glad people are that Bond is not the person Fleming invented him to be! Proves the point I am making (rightly or wrongly) that this is not Bond! Probably also explains why they are so afraid to let someone freely write a new novel in the Fleming era and give a writer the freedom to write unabashed like Fleming! Don't dare offend anyone, the politically correct Gestapo will hunt you down. No, instead we get this bland drivel as Bond.
So you think being racist was a fundamental part of the make-up of Fleming's Bond? I always found it rather incidental, and in jettisoning it, nothing of the character really changes. Do we really want a 21st century Bond commenting about how Koreans are sub-human?
A Gent in Training.... A blog about my continuing efforts to be improve myself, be a better person, and lead a good life. It incorporates such far flung topics as fitness, self defense, music, style, food and drink, and personal philosophy.
Agent In Training
Don't accuse Fleming of being a racist, he was a man of his time. According to you, we should simply leave Fleming's Bond (warts and all) in the past. So be it, but don't call this Deaver book a Bond book.
What point did I prove?
I'm sorry, I'm really not trying to be argumentative, just to understand your initial argument. What exactly was so PC about Deaver's version of Bond? That seems to be an issue with you, and I'd like to hear some concrete examples. All I could think of was his dislike of apartheid and the term 'colored.'
As for "According to you, we should simply leave Fleming's Bond (warts and all) in the past," please don't attribute things to me I never said. I believe Bond's racism should be left in the past, as it does nothing to improve the character and is rather incidental to his personality. I have no problem with Bond's other myriad of flaws--borderline alcoholism, bouts of depression, etc--still being part of his make-up. And I would agree with that Deaver's Bond should have had some more of these darker traits.
And I don't accept the "man of his time" excuse for Fleming. Many of his contemporaries in the thriller and mystery genres managed to create characters who didn't express racist views ala Bond in the novel GF.
A Gent in Training.... A blog about my continuing efforts to be improve myself, be a better person, and lead a good life. It incorporates such far flung topics as fitness, self defense, music, style, food and drink, and personal philosophy.
Agent In Training
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Most of the points of why CB doesn't work have been covered, but for me:
1. Why the change of Bond's organisation from MI6 to ODG. This story would have worded exactly the same with the 00 Section being part of SIS.
2. No real main Bond girl in the traditional sense.
3. Hydt an ineffectual villian. He had the required foibles that any Bond vilian should have, but he reminds me of Dominic Greene in QOS, too lightweight. Seems to rely too much on Dunne who seems superior rather than a subordinate.
4. Naill Dunne is a Grant clone but without the menace. Just how do you pronounce his surname - is it done as in finished, or dune as in sand.
5. No real major plot as in robbing Fort Knox or nuclear blackmail, but a number of small one's none of which make much sense or add up to much.
6. To many subplots. Fleming didn't do subplots, these were an irritation that was introduced by John Gardiner.
7. Re writing the Bond family history, what was the point of that.
Basically no real sense that you were reading a Bond novel, rather than just a standard thriller where the hero could have been called anything.
Some reviewer once said 'If Ian Fleming was the Savoy Grill then John Gardiner is MacDonald's. Enjoyable enough when you are consuming it but instantly forgettable afterwards' Thats exactly how I feel about this book.
If you have not read any of James Bond, is a very good book, but if you read the books Fleming, Gardner .....no, do not look like the Fleming books, and the writer takes many licenses, such as changing the lives of parents of Bond, change the name to Q
Dunne as in Done.
Nice quote, and to finish it I would add "...and Jeffrey Deaver is a TV Dinner: fills a hole but leaves you unsatisfied."
Roger Moore 1927-2017