It is now just three days until Penguin publishes Devil May Care, the new Bond novel authored by "Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming" to mark the centenary of the latter's birth.
I have been limbering up for the big event by reading Moonraker and currently, Diamonds Are Forever, both completely unrecognisable from the movies, which I watched years ago. The former particularly appeared to bear virtually no resemblance to the bizarre Roger Moore sci-fi flick. Both are first class thrillers full of terrific period detail and plenty of action and tension.
The media is in a positive frenzy of excitement about the book, not least The Times titles, which were awash with Bond over the weekend. To that point there had been a degree of security around the book that SMERSH might have approved of. The plot has been a closely guarded secret. But over the weekend the defences weakened.
First up on Saturday, Faulks introduced an exclusive extract from the book in The Times. A second extract was published today.
Then yesterday, the Sunday Times ran a long interview with Faulks, who explained what had eventually attracted him to the unusual project (a re-reading of the Fleming originals) and gave away some of the plot details: Devil May Care takes place in 1967 and focuses on the nascent drug industry.
While the vast majority of the coverage, which seems ubiquitous - Devil May Care is one of the 10 books for summer in Houston Chronicle; the Chicago Sun-Times is shaken and stirred - there is one small fly in the ointment. The Independent reports on the reopening of a row over a plagiarism case against Fleming in the 1960s.
As for Material Witness, I shall be looking to secure a copy of Devil May Care as quickly as possible and reviewing thereafter. But before that there will be a review of Hurricane Gold, Charlie Higson's fourth installment of the Young Bond series, which is being published in paperback on Wednesday.
