{"id":217245,"date":"2025-06-27T00:38:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T00:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/217245\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T00:38:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T00:38:16","slug":"the-names-deaver-jeffery-deaver-how-007-kick-started-jeffery-deavers-reading-and-writing-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/217245\/","title":{"rendered":"The name’s Deaver, Jeffery Deaver: How 007 kick started Jeffery Deaver’s reading…and writing career"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JEFFERY DEAVER <\/p>\n

Published: 19:01 EDT, 26 June 2025 | Updated: 19:01 EDT, 26 June 2025 <\/p>\n

What Book… \"Mystery <\/p>\n

Mystery and crime writer, Jeffery Deaver<\/p>\n

… are you reading now?<\/p>\n

The Next Civil War: Dispatches From The American Future, by Stephen Marche. It articulately and troublingly describes the titular event, which need not be a revisiting of the 1860s horror; there are a number of ways nations can fracture into division and debilitating conflict.<\/p>\n

Actually, this is one of several well-done books on my shelf about the present state of my country.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ll add Twilight Of Democracy: The Seductive Lure Of Authoritarianism, by Anne Applebaum. Written five years ago, but talk about prescient . . .<\/p>\n

… would you take to a desert island?<\/p>\n

How To Build A Successful A.I. Data Farm On A Desert Island by\u2026 Wait. No. Do over. The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare.<\/p>\n

An island inhabitant would never grow bored with the vast landscape of characters and stories the Bard created. Drama, history, humour, and, damn it, he did the whole thing in verse. Maybe I could learn something from Prospero\u2019s magic to help me escape.<\/p>\n

… first gave you the reading bug? \"License <\/p>\n

License to Thrill: Fleming’s 007 books kick started Deaver’s reading…and writing career<\/p>\n

Two answers: One, the entire contents of the Glen Ellyn Public Library in Illinois<\/a>. I\u2019ll explain. I was a nerd as a boy (in the true sense, not like now, when nerds are billionaires). With no talent for sports \u2013 or interest therein \u2013 I sought and found solace in the library. Books saved me from adolescent demons.<\/p>\n

The second answer: From Russia With Love, by Ian Fleming. Having read that (then the rest of the series as they came out), it was off to the reading races for me. Writing too.<\/p>\n

I was 12 at the time, and a day or two after finishing it, I sat down and wrote my first novel (OK, short story, though it comprised three whole chapters). My tale was, wait for it, about a spy.<\/p>\n

… left you cold?<\/p>\n

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I\u2019ll concede its breathtaking prose and conceptual brilliance.<\/p>\n

Yet trying to follow the plot(s) was like grabbing eels in a tank (I\u2019m speaking figuratively; I\u2019ve never tried). Too experimental and self-indulgent.<\/p>\n

But then, I\u2019ll pick Beethoven over John Cage any day. The novel was, of course, put on some best books of the year lists and widely praised. So there you go.<\/p>\n

\"South <\/p>\n

South Of Nowhere by Jeffery Deaver (HarperCollins, \u00a322) is available now from the Mail Bookshop<\/a><\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n The name’s Deaver, Jeffery Deaver: How 007 kick started Jeffery Deaver’s reading…and writing career<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JEFFERY DEAVER Published: 19:01 EDT, 26 June 2025 | Updated: 19:01 EDT, 26 June 2025 What Book……\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[86067,3444,92,77,1444,83419,2305,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-217245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-bard","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-home","13":"tag-ian-fleming","14":"tag-illinois","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114752540743642048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}