Whilst this is not strictly Bond 23 news, 007 fans will no doubt be pleased to note that they have a new continuation James Bond novel to look forward to. Project X is expected on 28th May 2011 – one year from today.

Press Release

Ian Fleming Publications Ltd has chosen international bestselling thriller writer, Jeffery Deaver, to write a new James Bond book. The novel, currently known as Project X, will be published one year from today for Ian Fleming’s birthday – May 28, 2011. It will be published by Jeffery Deaver’s publishers Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Simon & Schuster in the US.

Jeffery Deaver has written 26 novels and sold more than 20 million books worldwide. His books have topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and he has been described as ‘the most creative, skilled and intriguing thriller writer in the world’ (Daily Telegraph) and ‘the master of ticking-bomb suspense’ (People magazine). In 2004, Deaver won the Crime Writers’ Association’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his book Garden of Beasts. In his acceptance speech he talked about his life-long admiration of Fleming’s writing.

007 came to life fully-formed in 1952 when Ian Fleming wrote Casino Royale. Since then over 100 million James Bond books have sold worldwide.

Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, was in the audience. She explains, ‘I’d always enjoyed Jeffery Deaver’s thrillers, but I particularly liked Garden of Beasts: it demonstrated that he was not only a master of the contemporary American thriller but could also write compelling novels of period suspense within a European setting. I didn’t know anything about the author himself and expected a fairly low key response from him when he received our award. ‘I was surprised and delighted when he spoke very fondly of Ian and about the influence that the Bond books had had on his own writing career. It was at that point that I first thought that James Bond could have an interesting adventure in Jeffery Deaver’s hands.’

Deaver comments, ‘I can’t describe the thrill I felt when first approached by Ian Fleming’s estate to ask if I’d be interested in writing the next book in the James Bond series. I began reading them when I was about nine or ten, ignorant of the Cold War politics they explored but enthralled by their sense of adventure and derring-do. I continued to read and reread them, which was fortunate because as a teen and adult I found, of course, nuances, that were invisible to a child.’

He continues, ‘The Bond books were important parts of my life – both literarily and personally. They appealed to me as wonderful stories but they also stood as singular examples of a thriller writer’s craft. I learned, through osmosis as well as design, much technique from Mr. Fleming’s work; compactness, attention to detail, heroic though flawed characters, fast-pacing, concrete imagery and straight-forward prose.’

Unlike Sebastian Faulks’ centenary novel, Devil May Care, Project X will be set in the present day. Jeffery Deaver has started work on the book and his title is yet to be revealed.

David Rosenthal, Executive vice-president and Publisher of Simon & Schuster, comments, “For Simon & Schuster, Deaver and Bond are a peerless combination: clever, suspenseful and sophisticated. Jeff Deaver will produce a popular entertainment of the highest order.”

Project X by Jeffery Deaver will be published on May 28, 2011 by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and by Simon & Schuster in the US. All Jeffery Deaver’s books have been published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton and in the US by Simon & Schuster and Penguin. In the US, Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, publishes the paperback editions of Jeffrey Deaver’s books and will also publish Project X in paperback.

Tags: Jeffery Deaver, new Bond novel, new James Bond novel