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Ian Fleming Publications has chosen American thriller writer Jeffery Deaver to write a new James Bond book.
The novel, whose title hasn’t been revealed yet, will be published next May on what would have been Fleming’s birthday. Hodder & Stoughton, Deaver’s publishers in the UK, will publish domestically, alongside Simon & Schuster in the States.
Deaver has written 26 novels and sold more than 20 million books worldwide. He’s probably best known for The Bone Collector, which was made into a 1999 movie starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Seven years ago Deaver won the Crime Writers’ Association’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his book Garden of Beasts. Over here, he’s represented by Vivienne Schuster of Curtis Brown.
I can’t help but feel that an American just won’t get the idiom and nuances of the way an Englishman thinks. Imagine the furore if a British author was commissioned to write a new Dashiell Hammett novel. Couldn’t they have found a British author such as Tom Rob Smith (Child 44) or Peter James, creator of the Inspector Grace detective series? British thriller writing must be in pretty rackety state if Fleming’s executors have to reach out to the colonials.
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…lights blue touchpaper and steps back…
(a tad unnecessary on the colonial-baiting front, but yes, that’s about right)
I agree, Tim. Deaver is way too clever for the tired old Bond series.
I’m actually reading Sebastian Faulks’ Devil May Care right now, I’m enjoying it, and would like to see more from him on that front, but I can understand him not doing another one right away.
As for an American writing Bond, I think it’s possible if he does his research and allows the proverbial ‘voice’ of the character speak through him. What I’m concerned about is the choice of a full time ‘thriller’ writer doing it.
What made Fleming special was that he treated action-adventure as a form of journalism. I found that he dispensed with the hyperbole found in the pulp adventure fiction that came before him. Instead he reveled in carefully crafted detail, and precise, sometimes even clinical, language to give an air of reality to the most fantastical plots and characters.
I’d like to see some of Britain’s more ‘literary’ authors take a crack at writing a Bond story. It could prove to be beneficial to both sides of the deal.
As proud of an American as I am, Tim, I must agree with you.
Next they’ll have Brett Ratner direct the movie.
Funny they picked an American. I was pleasantly surprised by DEVIL MAY CARE, the last book commissioned by Fleming’s estate/publisher. Can’t think of the author’s name, but he did a very good job of writing like Fleming.
raymond benson handled the bond novel chores from ’97-’03, followed very faithfully in the footsteps of ian fleming and he’s american…a lot of hard-core literary bond fans preferred his stuff to brit john gardner’s novels
Raymond Benson’s books were highly enjoyable, even if they did veer into more American territory now and then. He definitely understood Fleming and the character.
On the other hand, I had very little use for Sebastian Faulks’s Devil May Care. It was leisurely paced, more of a travelogue than an adventure novel, and for the most part he seemed to be phoning it in. I got the impression that he felt this work was beneath him and he was just doing it on a whim, for the money, or both.
As for John Gardner — well, his books were mostly fun and readable, but they were more generic spy fiction than James Bond.
Jeffery Deaver’s talent is so huge that he can make anything better. If he wants to write the next James Bond book then it will be unique and amazingly readable for sure.
Benson was totally different than Fleming. He was like some fan ficiton garbage. He wrote more Brosnan movie scripts than Flemingesque 007 novels.
The original comments make little sense in this article. Raymond Benson did a fine job as the 007 continuation author – and he is American as the Statue of Liberty. Provided the author stays true to the character, and the setting isn’t too American, Deaver could do a great job. (Gardner was famous for setting books in American locales as he spent much or his later years there… Bond in Hawthorne, NJ? Hilton Head, SC? Can we get more exotic than that?) Also, Bond needs to be involved in a geopolitical situation that has broad interest to the UK, unlike some of the recent films.
That said, a taut thriller set in Brussels, Prague, Buenos Aires, and Singapore? Sign me up – I don’t care where the author is from.
Looking at that picture of Deaver, I just don’t think of James Bond.
Deaver is a pro, so he’ll probably pull this off with style. He’s no prose master, but he’s a brilliant plotter, although it must be said that he’s more of a serial killer kinda guy. He’s probably better suited to writing the next Hannibal Lecter novel—a franchise Deaver could revive with one hand behind his back. But hey, if this 007 novel works out, maybe the hapless Broccoli progeny can steal his ideas for their next fun-free Bond flick (speaking of moribund franchises…)
“I can’t help but feel that an American just won’t get the idiom and nuances of the way an Englishman thinks.”
Two points: 1) American Raymond Benson wrote half-way decent James Bond novels that were much better than Sebastian Faulk’s ridiculous attempt and 2) James Bond is not an Englishman, he is a Scot with a Swiss mother….
I haven’t read any of Ian Fleming’s books, but saw “The Bone Collector” and really enjoyed it. One author that I really like, whose writing and story plots remind me of the Jame Bond books is Laurence B. Brown. I just recently read his book titled, “The Eighth Scroll” a great action packed books with a story plot that centered around the Dead Sea scrolls. It was a good mix mix between a Dan Brown book and a James Bond novel… I absolutely loved it. Hopefully Ian Flemming’s books are just as good. Can’t wait for the next Bond book to come out.
Deaver can adapt to any language idiomatically. Read the 12th Card
in which he has adapted his writing to the harlem ghetto mentality and ebonic style w gang rap. He studies and immerses himself int he culture of which he writes and this combined with his fertile mystery imagination will produce a great Bond story.
Bond is NOT a Scot, his father was scottish and his mother was swiss. And they both died when he was very young. He studied at Eaton and grew up as an Englishman. Nurture vs Nature. He could have been born in China, but he would still speak like an English man, if that’s how he grew up.