Bond is back. William Boyd has agreed to don the garb of Ian Fleming and write the latest tale in 007’s story.
Boyd will not be aping Fleming’s style. The recent franchise revivals by Sebastian Faulks and Jeffrey Deaver are singularly different to each other and the original canon, while remaining faithful to the (anti-)hero in some fundamental way. They match the Bond film series in that regard. Daniel Craig, Sean Connery and Roger Moore could not be more dissimilar in their depictions of the character, yet each is recognisably shaken not stirred.
Deaver and Faulks wrote slightly psychological Bond thrillers — I can’t really remember where they were set. William Boyd is, as Daisy Dunn wrote yesterday, a writer who generates suspense through atmosphere and place as much as in the minds of his characters.
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