Jeffery Deaver

“Deaver’s infernal puzzle mysteries invariably inspire words like devious, diabolical, and devilish, all of which apply to XO. It’s Dance’s toughest case, and one of Deaver’s best books.”
— New York Times

“Deaver’s excellent third novel featuring Kathryn Dance…. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs, the leads of Deaver’s other series, make cameo appearances in a novel sure to please fans of both series.”
— Publishers Weekly, * Starred Review

“Fans of Deaver’s celebrated sleuthing marathons will wait with bated breath as this onion is peeled to disclose multiple layers of deception, betrayal and triple crosses.”
— Kirkus Reviews

“Written with Deaver’s usual keen eye for dialogue and character and featuring his customary right-angle plot twists, the novel will be a sure-fire hit with not only his legion of fans but also with readers who have yet to sample a Deaver novel. And Deaver fans who have felt that the Dance novels aren’t quite as sharp as his Lincoln Rhyme series might have to think again. This may be the most compelling of the Dance books.”
— Booklist

“Deaver is a master of manipulation. “XO” delivers more twists than a bag of pretzels, and just when readers believe they have everything figured out, another surprise awaits them. Fans of Deaver’s other series featuring paraplegic Lincoln Rhyme will be excited to see him make a cameo appearance.”
— Jeff Ayers, Associated Press

“In his new thriller, “XO,” Jeffery Deaver gives his readers triple or quadruple their money, with more twists, turns, and doglegs than an East Tennessee back road.”
— Knoxville News Sentinel

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Over 100 million Bond books have been sold and over half the world’s population has seen a Bond film!

Ian Fleming wrote 14 James Bond books: Casino Royale (1953); Live and Let Die (1954); Moonraker (1955); Diamonds Are Forever (1956); From Russia with Love (1957); Dr. No (1958); Goldfinger (1959);  For your Eyes Only (1960); Thunderball (1961); The Spy Who Loved Me (1962); On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963); You Only Live Twice (1964); The Man With The Golden Gun (1965) and Octopussy and the Living Daylights (1966)

Fleming’s other works include the children’s favourite, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1964), which was made into a film and stage musical, The Diamond Smugglers (1957) and a collection of travel writings called Thrilling Cities (1963)

The Ian Fleming centenary was celebrated on 28th May 2008 with the publication of Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks. This publication formed the centrepiece to a year of celebrations which included a star-studded gala at the London Palladium, a BBC documentary presented by Joanna Lumley, an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and a charity golf tournament held in aid of the British Heart Foundation

Charlie Higson is author of the Young Bond books which are published by Puffin

Samantha Weinberg, writing as Kate Westbrook, is the author of the Moneypenny Diaries

Other previous authors of official James Bond novels include Kingsley Amis, John Gardner and Raymond Benson

Read all about James Bond at IanFleming.com.

Sunday
The Red Danube

Chapter 1

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.

 

“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)

“Fleming was a master of succinct plotting and deft characterization, his books deceptively slim but containing so much. Deaver too is a genius and this publishing marriage was truly made in heaven. Bond fans will enjoy Deaver’s slightly mischievous take on Ian Fleming. Deaver fans will enjoy the taut plotting and the action scenes and, by the way, it is going to make a great movie.”
—The Sunday Express (London)

“There have been other Fleming impersonators, including Kingsley Amis and Sebastian Faulks, but the author of The Bone Collector is the biggest international name to take the job. He is also one of the world’s smoothest, most devious, thriller writers – a far better craftsman than Fleming, in fact. So could he assume Fleming’s identity rather than write another Jeffery Deaver novel only with a hero called Bond? And could he, for that matter, resist thriller publishing’s current obsession with relentless action inspired by the success of the Bourne movie franchise – and indeed Quantum Of Solace? The answers are emphatically “Yes.” Deaver preserves his book’s timeless feel by largely ignoring modern geopolitics and pitting Bond against a traditionally barking villain . . . [and] adds a series of twists that reveal a Bond with more Sherlockian intelligence than Fleming’s.”
—The Telegraph (London)

“Crucially, the novel proves itself worthy of the 007 logo on its spine by presenting us with one of the most bone-chillingly creepy bad guys in history. …Deaver’s immaculate sense of pace comes into its own. While giving Bond fans enough of the trinkets they deserve in an official novel, he also keeps the narrative pacey throughout and still allows our hero a few crucial moments of modern self-reflection. …It’s hard to imagine anyone not being impressed by this novel…”
—The Independent (UK)

“After 28 suspense novels, there is no doubt that Deaver knows his way around a thriller plot, and Bond fans should be satisfied with the rollicking pace of 007’s new adventure…. Deaver is a master of the twist in the tale and he deploys it here with cinematic verve, keeping the reader biting their nails until the last minute…. But the author’s affection for Bond and for all the tropes that surround him is abundantly clear, so that Carte Blanche reads like a lovingly crafted homage rather than deliberate pastiche. Deaver’s Bond is quite recognisably Bond, but a new, streamlined incarnation for a new generation of global fears.”
—The Guardian (UK)

“It’s a tightrope walk, balancing the tradition with the requirements of contemporary life, and Deaver handles it with panache. …But what the Fleming aficionado will inevitably notice here are the differences, which turn this latest escapade into what feels, and should feel, like one of those things that are very popular these days: a reboot.”
— Olen Steinhauer, author of The Tourist, The Nearest Exit, The Bridge of Sighs, and Victory Square

“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, 10 Must-Read Summer Books

“Deaver’s enthusiasm for Bond comes through on every page and he puts the gift for plotting that has garnered him such massive popularity to superb use here. So Carte Blanche is excellent fun, a great read and Jeffrey Deaver has breathed new life into an old favourite.”
— Angela Mcgee, Sunday Express UK

“The story’s a corker: Bond must find out who’s planning to murder thousands of British citizens, and why, before time runs out. Deaver never tries to imitate the style used by Bond creator Ian Fleming but despite the book’s modern setting and paraphernalia (Bond still carries a Walther pistol, but he also carries a cellphone), it feels just right.”
—  David Pitt, The Chronicle Herald (Canada)

“What follows is a magnificently manic, impeccably researched and at times gory plot, with Deaver’s trademark misdirection and twists flying.”
— Matthew Dunn, Washington Post

“Carte Blanche is a fantastic book. It happens to feature the world’s most famous gentleman agent as protagonist, but doesn’t depend on that.”
— Dell Deaton, AnnArbor.com

Growing up, I had two passions: words and music. I read everything I could get my hands on, and — with the hubris of youth — wrote fiction and poetry nonstop. As for music, I listened to every genre and decided, also at a young age, to become a singer-songwriter, following in the footsteps of my idols, like  Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Paul Simon (did I mention hubris?).
     My goal was not to be a superstar but to be a working singer-songwriter. Alas, it was not to be — because, of course, it’s not enough to be a good wordsmith; one must be a stellar performer to succeed in the business. And the phrase singer-songwriter carries two indispensable components. The second part — writing — I was pretty good at. The former, not so much.
     When I began writing novels, years ago, I was always looking for the opportunity to incorporate lyrics of mine into a thriller. I experimented with this in a short story called The Fan six or seven years ago, and then went all out and wrote a number of original country-western/pop songs for my book XO, or updated some of my early songs. Some of the songs simply add flavor to the novel (about a stalker of an attractive and popular country singer); others contain actual clues to help the reader figure out who the villain is.
     I wanted to hire musicians to create the music to one song — Your Shadow, which I wrote in the spirit of Every Breath Your Take, which could be a love song, could be a stalker song. I was then going to have someone record it and I’d offer it free as a download or for streaming, accompanying the book. I was surprised, to say the least, when Clay Stafford, the head of the great production company I hired, American Blackguard in Nashville, suggested setting all of my lyrics to music and releasing them as an album.
     I debated five seconds and said, You bet!
     The album of these songs — lyrics by me, music by Clay and Ken Landers, sung by the brilliant Treva Blomquist — has now being released.
     Thinking back all those years to my early days as a musician, I can’t help but hear echoes of one of my favorite songs from back then: Will the Circle Be Unbroken.
— Jeffery Deaver

Visit the official XO Album web site to hear samples of all the music, download a free song, and more!