Title: Carte Blanche
Author: Jeffrey Deaver
Review: I was excited to read the latest James Bond, especially since it was going to be a modern Bond, much like Daniel Craig portrays in the new movies. For me he has revitalized the series, moving away from the over the top cartoonish aspects of the previous few Bonds, and going more towards the hard hitting thriller agent a la Jason Bourne and the like. This really hit home when I read Devil May Care awhile back featuring a period Bond; a very boring book.
Jeffrey Deaver, an outstanding thrill writer, was commissioned to write the new books after he praised Ian Fleming in an award acceptance speech as a great influence. He has managed to bring the written Bond up to date with a believable plot, and realistic bad guys. The villains are a businessman willing to do some horrific things for money, and an idealist who has lost sight of what is right. The latter forgets the ends do not justify the means. Bond is outfitted with nifty gadgets and can actually communicate and travel with equipment more sophisticated then what we the general public gets. So no more pay phones for our hero.
The downside of the book, and thus the 3.5 star rating, is two fold. One I blame on circumstance and the other on the author. First, Deaver’s respect for Fleming and his writing style bleeds through every page, and that is not necessarily a good thing. Every conversation is laced with exhaustive product name dropping and over the top descriptive elements of every finer thing Bond enjoys. The food descriptions alone outnumber all other dining experiences in the last 100 books I have read and they all read like the menu romance copy found at a mid level restaurant chain. Not having read the original Fleming before I assume it was all there as an homage to his style; because I have read several of Deaver’s previous books and that was not to be found.
The second problem I had was the extremely stilted dialogue between Bond and every attractive female character in the book. For someone who is supposed to be the smooth ladies man Deaver totally missed the mark here. The conversations just seemed awkward and were all dependent on extremely obscure personal preferences they would both have in common. MS. Two Boobs Johnson (points for that reference) would make an whacky statement like she preferred Penguin cutlets that were prepared in Boolooroog New Zealand, but only if the penguin was left handed. And the Bond would smile knowingly, thinking this woman was amazing because everybody knows the right handed ones were total shyte. Once, maybe; but the book was full of this sort of thing.
At the end of the day it was a good book and the thriller portion was brought up to date. A must read for all Bond fans, especially the modern Bond. But for me to stick with the eventual series Deaver is going to need to move away from the Fleming style and more into his own ballpark, plus learn how to write a smooth ladies man in conversation.
Jeffrey Deaver, an outstanding thrill writer, was commissioned to write the new books after he praised Ian Fleming in an award acceptance speech as a great influence. He has managed to bring the written Bond up to date with a believable plot, and realistic bad guys. The villains are a businessman willing to do some horrific things for money, and an idealist who has lost sight of what is right. The latter forgets the ends do not justify the means. Bond is outfitted with nifty gadgets and can actually communicate and travel with equipment more sophisticated then what we the general public gets. So no more pay phones for our hero.
The downside of the book, and thus the 3.5 star rating, is two fold. One I blame on circumstance and the other on the author. First, Deaver’s respect for Fleming and his writing style bleeds through every page, and that is not necessarily a good thing. Every conversation is laced with exhaustive product name dropping and over the top descriptive elements of every finer thing Bond enjoys. The food descriptions alone outnumber all other dining experiences in the last 100 books I have read and they all read like the menu romance copy found at a mid level restaurant chain. Not having read the original Fleming before I assume it was all there as an homage to his style; because I have read several of Deaver’s previous books and that was not to be found.
The second problem I had was the extremely stilted dialogue between Bond and every attractive female character in the book. For someone who is supposed to be the smooth ladies man Deaver totally missed the mark here. The conversations just seemed awkward and were all dependent on extremely obscure personal preferences they would both have in common. MS. Two Boobs Johnson (points for that reference) would make an whacky statement like she preferred Penguin cutlets that were prepared in Boolooroog New Zealand, but only if the penguin was left handed. And the Bond would smile knowingly, thinking this woman was amazing because everybody knows the right handed ones were total shyte. Once, maybe; but the book was full of this sort of thing.
At the end of the day it was a good book and the thriller portion was brought up to date. A must read for all Bond fans, especially the modern Bond. But for me to stick with the eventual series Deaver is going to need to move away from the Fleming style and more into his own ballpark, plus learn how to write a smooth ladies man in conversation.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 404 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4516-2069-6
Quick Review: 3.5 Stars out of 5.
Why I Read it: Love the reboot of James Bond in the movies.
Where I Obtained the Book: At my local library.
Niall Dunne, the Irishman, is working alongside Severan Hydt – a man who is big in re-cycling. Who has made a worldwide business out of rubbish with his Green Way company and now has money to burn from the profits. Something Felicity Willing is happy to take from him as she grapples with the cause of hunger across the world.
Time for Bond to work alongside Percy Osborne-Smith, not from choice but because the trail led back to the UK and Bond has limited licence on home soil. Not a protocol he’ll necessarily follow – as with the assistance of Ophelia Maidenstone he pursues the web of connections to Dubai and into South Africa. Hungry for fresh profits, Severan has his sights set on ever more destruction and decay across the globe.
Author Biography: Jeffery Deaver was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1950. He received his journalism degree from the University of Missouri and his law degree from Fordham University. Before attending law school, Deaver worked as a business writer, writing poetry in his spare time, as well as songs, which he traveled around the country and performed. After law school, Deaver got a job with a Wall Street law firm practicing corporate law. He later quit practicing law, in 1990 to write full time. His first novel was entitled "Voodoo," a horror story, his first and only book of that kind. Deaver went on to write suspense novels, including "A Maiden's Grave," which was made into a film by HBO called "Dead Silence." His novel "The Bone Collector" was made into a feature film by Universal Pictures featuring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. He writes short stories for Ellery Queen Readers and Alfred Hitchcock magazines. He is the author of more than 25 novels and has written some of those stories under the pseudonym William Jeffries. He writes the Lincoln Rhyme series and the Kathryn Dance series. He received the Steel Dagger and Short Story Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association, the Ellery Queen Reader's Award for Best Short Story of the Year three times, and the British Thumping Good Read Award. He splits his time living between California and Virginia. (Bowker Author Biography) Jeffery Deaver, the author of eighteen other novels of suspense, has been nominated for three Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America & is a two-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Readers Award for Best Short Story of the Year. A lawyer who quit practicing to write full time, he lives in California & Virginia.Other Reviews:
The Review AE
Of Books and Reading
Reading With Mo
FYI:
I read all the Fleming books (which mostly I really liked) and a few of the ones that were published in the 90s. Those I didn't care for as much because, as you mentioned, it seems like they were written as drafts for movies.
ReplyDeleteI was looking forward to Carte Blanche though. Too bad it didn't meet yours (or from what I understand anyone's) expectations.
http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
For me, James Bond will always be Sean Connery...I never read the books, but have seen the movies that Connery has been in -- I just love him and will watch him in most anything.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the comments we will be stopping by to see your blog. Lisa
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