Carte Blanche, by Jeffery Deaver

"Carte Blanche" represents the re-birth of British spy James Bond, 007.    Mr Deaver took Ian Flemming's iconic hero (and the hero of a dozen movies to date, another coming in 2012) and resurrected him as a current day spy in his mid-30s.

This is a good thing: the 007 concept is great for the spy genre, and Bond had might as well be remade as current; after all, that's what the movies do.

Now to this novel:  well, not so great.  As the first re-make of the Bond series, I was motivated to read it.  But it really wasn't compelling.   Maybe a C+ or perhaps B-.