Customer Reviews

Carte Blanche: The New James Bond Novel (007 James Bond)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

Jeffery Deaver is a great writer.

CARTE BLANCHE is a fairly good adventure story (if you are careful to keep track of the long list of organizations and surplus of numerous characters}

The problem ?

It's not really James Bond.

Of course the cover says it is James Bond, and we are told this is a James Bond story.

But if I were to "search and replace" all references to the use of the name James Bond in this novel and substitute another name -------- you would never recognize this was supposed to be a James Bond story.

Yes, there is the attempt to capture the "Fleming Flair" by identifying by specific brand wines, clothes, watches, etc...
But unlike Fleming who was able to make it flow naturally and interestingly; here it feels forced and stiff.

Ian Fleming was once quoted as saying he realized he was not writing great literature but he was writing stories that interested people. He said the secret to a good story is "it keeps the reader turning the page".
Nothing should distract, annoy or hinder the reader from simply flying thru the book effortlessly and enjoyably.
So while Fleming's stories sometimes really stretched the realism and Bond got into some sticky situations that a skilled spy would have easily avoided; the stories were still tons of fun.

I confess, it took some work to get thru CARTE BLANCHE.
It was not a book that grabbed you and made you feel like you could not put it down until you finished.
I said at the beginning, it was a fairly good adventure story, and it was ....... but in a kind of stiff & clinical way.

It may be that Deaver is a good writer (and he is as evidenced by other books of his) ... but James Bond is not the right subject to come naturally for him.

Much like a hard rock musician may be great at what he does -- but would be weak at classical or country music.

In CARTE BLANCHE we are told what Bond does, but not so much what he thinks.
For example,

Deaver may write that ..
"Bond tried to make his way thru the crowded street filled with locals and tourists"

By comparison, Fleming may have written that same scene .....
" Bond navigated the slow moving mass of casually clad sunburned bodies thinking how odd it was in America that nobody seemed to work on Fridays. The resulting traffic and crowds were always worse on this final day of the supposed work week. "

In CARTE BLANCE, few of Bond's personality traits exists .
Instead we have a watered down, politically correct, neutered centrist who could be anybody.

Bond had strong views. Some were abrasive.
He had a bit of a snooty, persnickety attitude, he had vices.
He was flawed but still effective.

This Bond is some sterilized, bland and weaker redefining of the character.

Heck, both James Bond and Dirty Harry Callahan back in the 50s-70s were in their own ways warning us of the dangers of too much political correctness, going soft on evil criminals, union labor and abuse of social programs, etc..etc..

I am still surprised when I re-listen to Fleming's Bond books (read by Simon Vance) how often Ian Fleming throws in a sly criticism of trends he saw developing in UK and US back in the 50s and 60's that have become major problems for us today.

To summarize,
A nice, well written adventure book.
But it is NOT James Bond.



UPDATE (August 4, 2011)
This past week I had to take a long road trip so I listened to Sebastion Faulk's "Devil May Care" in the car.
While listening to this story which I liked better than Carte Blanche, a thought came to me regarding my original review above.

I must give some consideration to the fact that Deaver was given the difficult task of modernizing Bond with this novel.
When one thinks about it, this in itself goes a long way towards defeating the feel all of us long time Bond fans have for the character.
After all, once you remove an iconic figure from their original environment, you really change the character.

By comparison, imagine trying to bring Clint Eastwood's "Man With No Name" western figure into modern times.
Imagine a modern day Tarzan.
Imagine John Wayne's character of Rooster Cogburn in the modern day West.

I feel this modernization in itself where we remove Bond from the world that Ian Fleming lived and wrote in (1950-1960's) ... does much to make this story not feel like a true James Bond story as many of us expected.

By comparison, I feel "Devil May Care", being set in Fleming's universe just months following the battle with Scaramanga better felt like the Bond many of us "old-timers' feel a literary connection with.


OVERALL SUMMARY --
Deaver obviously spent much time and effort to write this book.

The plot is pretty involved and intertwined.
Carte Blanche is actually a good spy story, and on its own I would rate it 4.0-4.5 stars.

But if you are expecting to recapture the "Fleming Feel" of Bond, then it is not really in this story.

Maybe it is the attempt to remove Bond from his original time period, maybe it is the attempt to reboot the series, maybe it is the different writing style of each author.
Maybe it is a combination of all three factors.

Whatever the reason, this does not feel like Fleming's character of James Bond.
Thus as a continuation of the James Bond universe, I rate it as 3 stars.

But ... if you approach the book with an open mind and no expectations of experiencing "Ian Fleming MKII", you will find the story entertaining.

Bond is back,again,and he is very good.

This new Bond novel written by Jeffery Deaver is a modern Bond,contemporary and functioning in a post Iraq invasion world.

There is a very nasty villian, which Deaver does well anyway, but this one would have done Fleming proud.

This is much better than Sebastian Faulks book of a few years back, and as a American author he is very good writing in Flemings style.

He is a very clean Bond, no smoking - he still has a drink but nothing excessive. He doesn't bowl over as many women as he has in the past either or perhaps he doesn't make the most of his opportunities, this is according to me anyway.

I am a fan of James Bond novels, love them and I have read most efforts by other guest authors and I can honestly say there is only daylight between this book and the next written post Ian Fleming's passing.

Great,great fun.

I read all of the Ian Fleming James Bond novels while I was in high school, 35 years ago. At the time they were a bit dated: now of course they're almost antiques. Ian Fleming's estate keeps the character alive, hiring various authors to write new versions of the character, with new plots. Apparently, Jeffrey Deaver is the 5th author to take up the charge, and he's decided on a total reboot of the series. What you get, then, is pretty similar to the new Sherlock series that was on the BBC this year; just as that was Sherlock Holmes reimagined in modern London, this is James Bond, the womanizing spy from the '50s and '60s, reimagined as a 21st century, iPhone-carrying, sort-of-spy. He doesn't work for MI6 anymore, instead being employed by a supersecret agency that works to disrupt terrorist organizations and bad actors "by any means neccessary."

Things start out with Bond surveilling bad guys at a restaurant in Serbia, trying to figure out how they're related to a series of messages that Britain's codebreakers have partially deciphered. The bad guys try to derail a train carrying toxic gas, but Bond thwarts them, and the principal bad guy vanishes. Bond pursues him back to London, and of course things begin to get complicated. There is a full cast of characters (or at least their names) from previous Bond books, M, Moneypenny, Felix Leiter, etc., and the action moves along at a very good clip. I read this book cover to cover in about 6-7 hours. There is a twist at the end, though it wasn't that surprising (at least compared with the endings I remember from some of Deaver's other books). Still, the story was satisfying and the "solution" to what the terrorists were after was interesting and believable.

I have enjoyed the few Jeffrey Deaver novels I've read. For what ever reason, the idea of the Lincoln Rhyme series never appealed to me. This new book is a welcome addition to the James Bond library, however, and I look forward to seeing where Deaver will take the series from here.

I knew that Jeffery Deaver was an amazing writer of thrillers and crime novels, but I wasn't sure how an American would fare with the ultimate British Spy. Color me relieved, surprised and elated! Not only is "Carte Blanche" the best paced and best written of all the post-Fleming Bond novels, but Deaver is astounding in his utter anglo-mannerisms and global grasp. There was never a moment that I thought the writer was anything other than a lifelong, born & bred, generations of legacy Brit, and that is saying something. I read this hefty tome in 2 days. Deaver reintroduces Bond with all of the habits and traits intact, and even quotes Fleming's original physical description verbatum. Absolutely wonderful.

I must admit that I have never read any of Jeffery Deaver's books before buying "Carte Blanche", but after reading it I am of the opinion that Mr. Deaver is an exceptional writer of crime fiction. It needs to be stressed, though, that crime fiction is definitely NOT espionage fiction! This book's hero happens to be named James Bond, but is he, truly, 007? No. He is not. Ian Fleming's Bond was a lone wolf that was unleashed whenever the Realm was threatened and M was never concerned about the body count. Unfortunately, modern writers are now guided by the poofterising PC attitudes of Eon Productions and are turning 007 into a neutered shell of his former self.

Under Fleming's guidance, Bond would disappear into the mists of the mission and M would complain that 007 hardly ever reported in. With Deaver, Bond, like a beaten schoolboy, is always fiddling with his mobile phone. It wouldn't be surprising if future books turned Bond into a mindless cyborg that is controlled by M via PS3 controller! He's certainly not far from that now. Fleming always stated that Bond had ongoing relationships, off duty, with bored married women ... Deaver's Bond probably wouldn't even dream of doing such a wicked thing.

The Bond books had always been formulaic and this was the secret of his success. Eon Productions were the ones to change the formula, to cater to the low-brow action-junkie. The Bond books had always been reserved for the people who could actually think ... and use their imagination. Now even that is gone. The literary James Bond is becoming weaker and more dependent upon technology. Fleming introduced the first, and only, fantastic gadget in "Goldfinger" and that was the tracking device in the Aston Martin DB-III. Deaver has Bond continually phoning "Q" for a gadget that "Q" doesn't even build. Instead they're bought from security stores wherever in the world Bond happens to be. So "Q" is now Q, Inc., is he?

Even the major villain doesn't know how to be nasty. This is the first Bond book where the privileged henchman is actually more intelligent than the villain and gives his boss orders, disguised as advice. Please, if the villain is too stupid to think then how the hell can he be a threat? This villain is no Blofeld, Scaramanga, Mr. Big or Goldfinger and that is a disappointment.

Despite these pointers, the craftsmanship of the writing is superb and Mr. Deaver is an interesting storyteller. He simply needs to stick to writing about his own characters and leave other people's characters alone.

It was fortunate that I read the novel before reading any reviews because many of the reviews are filled with spoilers. I agree with some other reviewers that the book falls short of the mark. The plot was reasonably good, but the writing fell short and did not really hold my attention all the time. Part of the problem was digressions and too much detail on trivia. It would undoubtedly do better as a motion picture where the trivia is self descriptive, and some of the digressions could be edited out. It is the usual 007 performing amazing feats as he jumps from one peril to the next. Some of the perils were loosely connected and probably could have been deleted with no great loss. I doubt that I would consider buying another book in the series. James Bond has run his course and should be put to rest.

The last James Bond novel was 2008's Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks. A celebration of the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth, Faulks elected to write the novel as a grand pastiche, imitating Ian Flemings style and structure, and even going as far as placing on the title page that he was "writing as Ian Fleming." While this could be seen a tribute (and I thoroughly enjoyed the novel for what it was), one could not escape the feeling that Faulks treated the assignment as beneath him -- that James Bond was not worthy of being a true "Sebastian Faulks Novel".

Happily, this is NOT the case with Jeffery Deaver's Carte Blanche. Deaver, an international bestselling thriller author, has embraced the assignment full throttle and delivered a terrific James Bond novel that respects all the franchise elements (girls, guns, cars, locales), but is also very much "a Jeffrey Deaver novel." The mix works like a well shaken martini (sorry, couldn't resist). Deaver has not only created a book that, literally, moves James Bond into the 21st century (although it is not as radical a reboot as some expected), but he's also produced a thoroughly modern thriller that I think would sit comfortably among his other bestsellers even if the main character wasn't named James Bond.

Deaver's pacing is superb (I love the short chapters), his choice of locations are original and all new to the Bond universe (hard to believe it took Bond this long to make it to South Africa), and his action set-pieces have just the right Bondian flair without going overboard (the books have always managed this far better than the films). But what makes Carte Blanche so strong apart from the pacing and evocative prose, is Deaver's pantheon of fully developed supporting characters. His three Bond Girls are each unique, compelling and sexy without being clichés. Bond's dinner with Ophelia Maidinstone (great name) I found to be particularly enjoyable, with an edge of melancholy that recalls Fleming's Bond, who didn't always get the girl. Likewise, Bond's various partners in the intelligence agencies all have shading, complexities and subplots. And his main villain, Severan Hydt, is top notch and very much in the Bondian tradition of a bizarre obsessive. I've always felt the best Bond books (and films) are those in which 007 is increasingly immersed in the villain's world - a Heart of Darkness journey into danger, violence, and perverse revelations. This is very much the case in Carte Blanche.

My only complaint is that the Dubai section -- which features Bond's traditional ally Felix Leiter -- seems to miss somewhat. This despite the freshness of the location (another first for Bond) and some real tension whether Deaver is going to "reboot" Felix's tragic injuries. Deaver seems to overplay his hand here, mentioned the ticking clock threat so many times that it starts to become obvious that it will be anything except what he is saying. But this is the only time one of Deaver's famous twists didn't utterly surprise me. These twists, by the way, multiply exponentially as the book races toward it's climax, making this, this longest James Bond novel yet written, a real page-turner.

Conceptually, Carte Blanche reminds me most of the very first James Bond continuation novel, Colonel Sun, by Kingsley Amis. It's James Bond in the hands and voice of a major writer at the top of his game. But the plot reads most like a John Gardner Bond novel, with an emphasis on real-world spycraft and threats of double-cross. Crafting a reality-based spy novel while still delivering a James Bond adventure, with all it's formula conventions and expectations, is a not an easy thing to pull off. (Faulks stuck rigidly to the formula.)

With Carte Blanche, Jeffery Deaver has delivered what I feel is certainly one of the strongest James Bond continuation novels yet written. Yes, there will always be Fleming purists who will not accept any book by another author (just as there are movie fans who only accept Sean Connery in the role), and there is a contingent who bitterly resent an American taking over the Bond mantle (some cloak their prejudice behind snarky one-star reviews). But for those of who are happy to read a new James Bond adventure from a top writer, Carte Blanche is a delight.

It's my hope that, like 007, "Jeffery Deaver Will Return."

I iwllbe very brief. I am not a big fan of Deaver's James Bond. I am used to the bigger than life super cool secret agent. Deaver's 007 is rather ordinary and boring. He is more of a government bureaucrat with a gun than the Bond I used to remember. Also, I've never seen so many useless extra (characters)handlers who add nothing to the story other than getting in the way of 007 doing his thing. I am use to 007 getting his instructions from M, getting his gear from Q and going off to fight the bad guys for the next 300 pages. The central antagonist was rather ordinary and unexciting too. I was hoping for someone more evil. Way too much time was devoted to the Irish guy.

I looked forward to this book but found it utterly boring without any ring of truth, shallow characters and none of the style of Ian Fleming. I stopped reading after about 50 pages hoping for at least some redemption as I read but none was forth coming. The 'One Star' reviews are correct.

Boring and tiresome, slow and unrecognizable to any Bond read.

Kept thinking "should I finish this? ...am I wasting my time? ...How much time have I already wasted?"

Please read the other one star reviews.