Devil May Care

I read the latest James Bond novel last week called Devil May Care. Every time I've seen the byline for the book it's always the same: "Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming." And he does a pretty good job of imitating the style.

I thought it was a good read--just as much fun as any other 007 novel, although the two "surprises" I could see coming a long long way off. But they were still good fun. The villains were classic Bond villains, the girls classic Bond girls ... really, what's not to like?

There have been plenty of James Bond novels since Ian Fleming died, but this is the first novel written that is part of the continuity established by Fleming. It takes place immediately after The Man with the Golden Gun. Part of the fun of that, of course, is that it's set in the 1960s rather than today.

Penguin, which published Devil May Care, now has all the classic Bond novels under their imprint. They've been re-designed with some spiffy new covers that feature the Bond girls. They have also numbered them, so that a reader can read them in order. (You wouldn't think that would be a big deal, except some of them end with cliff-hangers that aren't addressed until the next book.)

Here's all the covers.

And one of the more interesting ones: