James Bond was likely the most well-known spy of the 21st century; certainly he was one of the most well-known characters in literature.

Creator Ian Fleming wrote twelve novels and two collections of short stories about the British secret agent before his own death in 1964, at the age of 56. Had he lived, Fleming would have celebrated his 100th birthday in May of this year, and in his honor, his family and Ian Fleming Publications, Ltd. chose Sebastian Faulks, (famous for works like Birdsong, Charlotte Gray and On Green Dolphin Street), to write the Centenary novel.

Devil May Care is not the first Bond novel written by someone other than Fleming - there have been quite a few actually, making it the 36th in the series. But unlike many of the others, Faulks wrote his Bond intending that the reader feel as if Fleming himself had written it shortly after his final novel. It has all the key elements - exotic locations and glamorous cities, a sexy Bond girl, an evil villain who hates everything British and has two master plans for destruction, massive weapons, a return appearance by Bond’s retired CIA friend, Felix Leiter, who is missing a couple of limbs after having been tossed into a shark tank in a previous novel -- even Miss Moneypenny is present, still panting after James after all these years.

Devil May Care opens with a brutal murder on the outskirts of Paris, which sets in motion a plot aimed at global devastation through flooding Britain with lethal drugs, intended to drag the country into war. Bond fights his way through a series of perils; he’s thrown from a jeep, nearly drowns in a well, and he has a gunfight on a nuclear war plane. He’s captured (and there is the beautiful girl, of course), he escapes, and in the end, he saves the world (of course).

Faulks does a delightful job of keeping Devil May Care true to Fleming’s writing style, while penning a novel that could quite easily be translated to the big screen. A particularly nice touch is a map printed inside the front of the book which enables the reader to have a greater sense of place as the action moves around the globe. For the true fan of 007, or for anyone who enjoys a well-written spy thriller, Devil May Care delivers the goods.

This Reviewer's Rating: 4 / 5

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."