Jeffery Deaver's Carte Blanche (US Paperback)

By: FSWL team

Published:
2011-10-12

Publication of the American paperback version of Carte Blanche, Jeffery Deaver's first James Bond novel originally published in May 2011.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
From Sweden with Love was invited to the UK launch of 'Carte Blanche' at St. Pancras International in London on 25th May 2011. Read our report from the launch.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

His hand on the dead-man throttle, the driver of the Serbian Rail diesel felt the thrill he always did on this particular stretch of railway, heading north from Belgrade and approaching Novi Sad.

This was the route of the famed Arlberg Orient Express, which ran from Greece through Belgrade and points north from the 1930s until the 1960s. Of course, he was not piloting a glistening Pacific 231 steam locomotive towing elegant mahogany-and-brass dining cars, suites and sleepers, where passengers floated upon vapors of luxury and anticipation. He commanded a battered old thing from America that tugged behind it a string of more or less dependable rolling stock packed snugly with mundane cargo.

But still he felt the thrill of history in every vista that the journey offered, especially as they approached the river, his river.

And yet he was ill at ease.

Among the wagons bound for Budapest, containing coal, scrap metal, consumer products and timber, there was one that worried him greatly. It was loaded with drums of MIC — methyl isocyanate — to be used in Hungary in the manufacture of rubber.

The driver — a round, balding man in a well-worn cap and stained overalls — had been briefed at length about this deadly chemical by his supervisor and some idiot from the Serbian Safety and Well-being Transportation Oversight Ministry. Some years ago this substance had killed eight thousand people in Bhopal, India, within a few days of leaking from a manufacturing plant there.

He'd acknowledged the danger his cargo presented but, a veteran railway man and union member, he'd asked, "What does that mean for the journey to Budapest . . . specifically?"

The boss and the bureaucrat had regarded each other with the eyes of officialdom and, after a pause, settled for "Just be very careful."

The lights of Novi Sad, Serbia's second-largest city, began to coalesce in the distance, and ahead in the encroaching evening the Danube appeared as a pale stripe. In history and in music the river was celebrated. In reality it was brown, undramatic and home to barges and tankers, not candlelit vessels filled with lovers and Viennese orchestras — or not here, at least. Still, it was the Danube, an icon of Balkan pride, and the railway man's chest always swelled as he took his train over the bridge.

His river . . .

He peered through the speckled windscreen and inspected the track before him in the headlight of the General Electric diesel. Nothing to be concerned about.

There were eight notch positions on the throttle, number one being the lowest. He was presently at five and he eased back to three to slow the train as it entered a series of turns. The 4,000-horsepower engine grew softer as it cut back the voltage to the traction motors.

As the cars entered the straight section to the bridge the driver shifted up to notch five again and then six. The engine pulsed louder and faster and there came a series of sharp clangs from behind. The sound was, the driver knew, simply the couplings between wagons protesting at the change in speed, a minor cacophony he'd heard a thousand times in his job. But his imagination told him the noise was the metal containers of the deadly chemical in car number three, jostling against one another, at risk of spewing forth their poison.

Nonsense, he told himself and concentrated on keeping the speed steady. Then, for no reason at all, except that it made him feel better, he tugged at the air horn.

Book details:
Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Pocket Star
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1451629354
ISBN-13: 978-1451629354

Reviews:
"A magnificently manic, impeccably researched and at times gory plot, with Deaver’s trademark misdirection and twists flying." - The Washington Post

"His creator may be long gone, but James Bond (with his gadgets, women, and suave lines) lives on in the skillful hands of a suspense superstar." - Malcolm Jones, Newsweek Magazine

"Ian Fleming’s estate tapped American novelist Deaver to pen a new James Bond thriller, and the pairing is as smooth as vodka and vermouth. Yes, the villains are creepy and the women brainy and beautiful, but in a clever reboot, this 007 (who served in Afghanistan) comes armed with a tricked-out cell phone and an appealing sense of empathy." - Parade

"Ian Fleming's estate made a superb choice when it turned to thriller writer Jeffery Deaver for this summer's James Bond reboot Carte Blanche. . . . Familiar touches about, from M and Moneypenny to exotic locales. Then, too, Deaver adds a knowing wink . . . A spry spy bash not to be missed.” - Christian Science Monitor

“Carte Blanche is a fantastic book. . . . Deaver knows psychology and it shines here. Moreover, he knows human relationships . . . as [Ian Fleming’s stepdaughter] best summarized it, Jeffery Deaver truly got it.” - Ann Arbor News

“A page-turning, action packed rip-roaring novel with plenty of twists and surprises.” - Durham Herald-Sun

“Deaver, if anything, has written a 007 thriller that is superior to the best of Fleming.” - San Jose Mercury News

“Jeffery Deaver accepted one of the greatest literary challenges of the new millennium when he agreed to write a new James Bond novel. . . . With Carte Blanche, [he] somehow manages to spin a top-notch 21st-century spy thriller while both respecting Bond and reinventing him.” - Washington Independent Review of Books

“This terrific new pastiche will amply reward Bond fans and possibly bring new readers into the fold. Deaver (Edge), an avowed fan of the Fleming canon, has set the novel in the post-9/11 present, and Bond, that icon of the 1960s, handles the transition perfectly. . . . The plot is predictable in a purely Bond-ian way (credibly incredible), but also intricate and inventive, surprising and satisfying—a testament to Deaver’s skill as a storyteller. . . . Fleming purists may balk at the hint of a New Age sensitivity in Deaver's Bond, but they will recognize one of the world's most enduring fictional characters: competent, courageous, charming, and cool.” - Publishers Weekly

“Deaver, as fans of his Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance thrillers would expect, has clearly done his homework. . . . the most impressive feature of Carte Blanche is the ingenuity of the breathless, blood-thirsty plot. A master of misdirection, Deaver manufactures more surprises than anyone flogging an old warhorse can be expected to produce. . . . Kingsley Amis, John Gardner and Sebastian Faulks are among those who have tried to bring Bond back to life. Deaver, though, is in a class of his own: nobody's done it better.” - The Evening Standard (London)

Order the paperback edition of Jeffery Deaver's first James Bond novel, Carte Blanche, from Amazon US:

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451629354/fromswedenwit-20/

Tags:

#jeffery_deaver_novels

Tag Cloud

Jeffery Deaver's Carte Blanche (US Paperback)

Tag Cloud