Published on 28 May 2008, the hundredth anniversary of Ian Fleming’s birth, Devil May Care was written by Sebastian Faulks and carries the credit “writing as Ian Fleming” on the jacket. It is set in the 1960s at the height of the Cold War, and it picks up some time after the point where Fleming’s last book left Bond.
In the books
This is a continuation novel, published in the UK by Penguin. An Algerian drug runner is executed on the edge of Paris, and Bond is recalled from a sabbatical in Rome. M sends him to shadow Dr Julius Gorner, a pharmaceutical magnate, in a London flooded with narcotics. The Guardian’s reviewer picked out the scene in the villain’s crimson lair as the moment the book catches Fleming’s manner, and January Magazine called it a crisp locomotive of a thriller.
Reading it now
We would choose it for a reader who wants Fleming’s furniture: the overdecorated lair and a villain with a gloved hand. Amazon UK lists the Penguin edition, which our link goes to, and first editions are also traded as collectables.
Specifications
| Author | Sebastian Faulks, writing as Ian Fleming |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Penguin (UK) |
| Published | 28 May 2008 |
| Setting | 1960s; Paris, Rome and London |
| Series | Continuation novel; marks Fleming’s centenary |
More novels, games and collectables are in Books & Media; the screen Bonds are on the Bonds page, and every title is listed under Films.
