Steven Poole is not much impressed by the latest James Bond novel, Carte Blanche. Now that these novels are no longer the work of Ian Fleming, but products from "©Ian Fleming Publications Limited", any author could now – theoretically, anyway – take up 007's licence to kill. But Jeffery Deaver has been selected to succeed Sebastian Faulks as the 'official' Bond novelist, so it's perhaps not altogether surprising that the resulting book is a rather perfunctory action adventure.
Which has set us wondering here whether the Fleming estate could not have made a more imaginative choice of author.
In the movie franchise, Daniel Craig has won much praise for portraying the character's cold-hearted murderousness, but imagine what Cormac McCarthy could do with him. ("Bond resumed his shooting bathing his arms in scarlet torrents of exsanguinations, boiling brains in their skulls. Q was pleased and gave him a special new bridle.") Or consider how Philip Roth in introspective mood might meditate over James Bond's name.
Who would you like to see taking over the Bond franchise? Give us a short stretch of how you think they might reinvigorate the prose. There'll be a modest prize, which we promise will not be Jeffery Deaver's book
