This is the much hyped new James Bond adventure as authorised by Ian Fleming Publications. Written by Sebastian Faulks who is perhaps better known for more weighty writings it was interesting to see what he made of a character born from the mind of a hack writer like Fleming. Not that there is anything wrong with hack writers in my opinion, they provide what the public wants and we love them for it.
Faulks gets of to a good start the action takes place in the 1960s, around the time that Fleming's early death put an end to the Bond stories and Faulks evokes a good sense of the period. Now onto the villain, typical Bond villain a ruthless genius with a physical deformity just like Dr No or Scaramanga, a dangerous oriental sidekick who feels no pain, and a plot to flood the world with heroin and cause the cold war to heat up with a plan to crash a stolen BOAC airliner into a Russian nuclear facility. As to exotic locations much of the action takes place in Tehran, the Caspian coast of Iran and in Russia.
There is an Iranian section head of "Universal Exports" much like Kerim of From Russia with Love and the welcome return of Bond's CIA pal Felix Leiter, plus some exciting 1960s technology in the shape of an Ekranoplane and RAF Vulcan bombers for the gadget hungry.
Faulks ticks many of the required boxes for the bond spy thriller, its a good read with plenty of action and a bit of racy sex, even if its a bit Bond by numbers. If you take this novel as its intended, as a homage to Ian Fleming, the only thing that lets it down is the predictability of the twist in the end with the female character.
23/10/08 @ 19:03