Devil May Care, a James Bond Novel

Devil May Care is the thirty-sixth James Bond novel. Written by Sebastian Faulks ("writing as Ian Fleming"), it was published on 28 May 2008, the 100th anniversary of Bond creator Ian Fleming's birth.[1][update needed]

The popular novelist, famous for Charlotte Gray and Birdsong, was selected by the estate of the late 007-author in 2006, though his identity was not revealed to the public until July 2007 when a publishing date for the work was officially announced along with its title.

The novel is set in the Cold War in 1967 (and in Ian Fleming's original continuity, following The Man With The Golden Gun) and the action is played out "across two continents, exotic locations and some of the world's most thrilling cities".[2] U.S. publisher Doubleday confirmed one of the locations will be Paris. [3]

Many online and print sources (for example, AOL Entertainment [4]) erroneously stated that Devil May Care will be the first new James Bond novel published since 1966. In fact, dozens of full-length Bond novels were published, officially, between 1968 and 2002 by the authors Kingsley Amis (as "Robert Markham"), John Pearson, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, and Raymond Benson. In addition, Charlie Higson and Samantha Weinberg (as "Kate Westbrook") have been publishing Bond-related novels since 2005. Faulks' book is, however, the first novel to focus on the adult James Bond, as conceived by Fleming, since 2002 and, as noted above, it takes place in the time-frame of Fleming's original novels, the first such book since Amis' Colonel Sun (discounting the spin-off Young Bond and The Moneypenny Diaries lines).

The jacket artwork features the model Tuuli Shipster, muse of the British photographer, Rankin. Tuuli said: "I was thrilled that Penguin chose me to be their Bond girl. It’s fantastic to be involved with something so iconic."[5] She was also involved in the book's launch on board HMS Exeter on 27 May 2008.[6]

The cover photograph was taken by British photographer and commercials director, Kevin Summers. The jacket image was created by the design agency The Partners.[5]

Devil May Care has been published in hardback by Penguin Books in the UK and its territories (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and Europe) and in Ireland. In the US it has been published by Doubleday. Many of the publishers will be using this jacket. Penguin are launching a brand new imprint – Penguin 007 – under which they will publish all their Bond titles, including Devil May Care.[5]

From Wiki
Preorder at Amazon.com
Official Ian Fleming Website.
Penguin Website