Carte Blanche review

As mentioned in a previous post the new James Bond novel by Jeffery Deaver, Carte Blanche, was published on 26 May. I managed to find a hardback copy in my local branch of Tescos for £5.00, a price I was quite happy to pay. I read the novel of the weekend and here are my initial impressions.

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. At around 428 pages the novel is quite a bit longer than previous Bond novels.

The character of Bond has been moved to the present day. He is now a veteran of Afghanistan and works for an organisation called the ODG, which is attached to MI6. A lot of Bond characters make appearances such as M, Miss Moneypenny (albeit briefly), Mary Goodnight and Felix Leiter. Q Branch still exists although there is no Major Boothroyd.

The story concerns an intercepted message that suggests an attack on British interests will take place at the end of the week, resulting in the deaths of thousands. Bond has to investigate and find out who the players are and what the plot is.

There are four main settings: Serbia, the UK, Dubai and South Africa. I thought there was relatively little time spent in Dubai considering how the book was being trailed as being set there. I think I probably enjoyed the early UK-set parts of the book more than the latter parts, maybe because of the passages describing Bond's thoughts on his appealing colleague Philly. I do have to say that I think Deaver has got Bond's 'voice' spot-on.

And there are definitely little touches of Fleming in the book, for example when describing Bond's Bentley thus:

'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.

If I have any complaints they would relate to some of the slightly contrived misdirection and that there were not enough 'Fleming' style chapter titles. As I read the book I thought up quite a few suitable ones.
It must be noted that the American Deaver must have done a lot of research on British pop culture. Top Gear, The Two Ronnies and  ASDA all get a mention. The only 'mistake' I picked up was one reference to 'Dr Who' instead of 'Doctor Who'.

Overall it was a very enjoyable read and I would not object to seeing Mr Deaver's name on the next Bond novel, whenever that may be!

Carte Blanche for a fiver

Today Carte Blanche, the new James Bond novel by Jeffrey Deaver, is published. Some shops are selling it for half price, however I managed to buy a copy in my local Tescos for a mere £5.00, or 75% off the RRP.

Other new books out this week that caught my eye include the new Jason Bourne novel The Bourne Dominion by Eric Lustbader, the paperback of The Dealer and the Dead by Gerald Seymour and the paperback of Harbour by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

LUTHER: The Calling by Neil Cross

Last year a new detective show appeared on the BBC called Luther. I quite enjoyed it so it's interesting to see that the creator of the show has written a novel about the character. It's due for publication in the UK (in proper hardback!) on 4 August.

Meet Detective Chief Inspector John Luther. He's a murder detective. A near-genius. He's brilliant; he's intense; he's instinctive. He's obsessional. He's dangerous. DCI John Luther has an extraordinary clearance rate. He commands outstanding loyalty from friends and colleagues. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. And yet there are rumours that DCI Luther is bad - not corrupt, not on the take, but tormented. Luther seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness, making him do things he shouldn't; things way beyond the limits of the law. Luther: The Calling, the first in a new series of novels featuring DCI John Luther, takes us into Luther's past and into his mind. It is the story of the case that tore his personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice. Beyond fury, beyond vengeance. All the way to murder...