UPDATE: The North American Critics on Carte Blanche

Simon & Schuster (US) edition

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JUNE 18, UPDATED AUGUST 14

Carte Blanche, the new James Bond novel by American thriller writer Jeffery Deaver, launched last month in the UK and Europe to reasonably strong sales and mixed-to-positive reviews. Now it’s North America’s turn, as US publisher Simon & Schuster released the book on our shores June 14.
Let’s see what us colonials have to say about our homer‘s crack at the 007 saga…

• The Wall Street Journal‘s Michael C. Moynihan says, in You Only Live About 23 Times, that new 007 author Jeffery Deaver produces “a serviceable Bond film script but not a particularly good Bond novel.”
• Toronto’s June 17 Globe and Mail review is titled The unbreakable Bond. Critic Douglas Bell says the novel contains what “is surely the grist of a potential bestseller.” Not necessarily a good thing, apparently… he adds, “More’s the pity.” The paper also carries a pretty interesting article about the author Jeffery Deaver, the novel, and James Bond in general. Jeffery Deaver 007: he’s shaken, he stirred, but he drinks Crown Royal is worth your perusal.
• Matthew Dunn, a former MI6 field agent, writes in the June 17 Washington Post that Jeffery Deaver “brilliantly captures [Ian] Fleming’s bitten-off, occasionally distracted, Boy’s Own style.” There’s plenty more hosannas in the rest of his review, so go take a look.
• Our Bondian colleague, Dell Deaton, writes in Ann Arbor.com that Carte Blanche “is a fantastic book.” He also informs us that Ian Fleming’s stepdaughter Fionn, a friend of his, opines that Jeffery Deaver “got the [Fleming] style.” Read his entire 5/5 score review for more insights into the new 007 literary adventure.
• “Fleming purists will be delightfully surprised when they open [Carte Blanche]…. This Fleming enthusiast felt right at home from page one.” So says Cliff Bellamy in the August 14 Herald-Sun of Durham, North Carolina. Read his review,
  Fleming purists will be surprised by new Bond for more insights and praise for Deaver’s novel.

Watch this space for additional links to reviews as they appear, and for our own humble editor’s review of the whole shebang. For comparison’s sake, you can check out the UK critics’ reviews to see how Deaver’s Bond is going across the pond.

A bit of lagniappe: our good pals over at the always-excellent Illustrated 007 blog have an interesting look at Three variations of the UK Carte Blanche hardcover edition. Pretty interesting stuff, so go and have a look! And, just to thump our own tub a bit more, take a look at The HMSS Interview with Jeffery Deaver if you haven’t read it yet.