1. Carte Blanche (Jeffery Deaver)
If filmmakers were to turn to Bond novels for their next movie, Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver would be the place to look. Probably the best Bond novel since the Fleming books to date, Deaver weaves a plot of old fashioned Bondisms with the twentieth century seamlessly. What makes Carte Blanche so cool is that when reading it you feel like Bond is still in the cold war era 60s, but then he pulls out a smart phone and reminds you that he too has modernized. The story follows Bond as he tracks a psycho Irishmen, Niall Dunne, from a Serbian train wreck to a demolition site in London where Bond almost becomes a permanent part of the rubble. From there the reader is introduced to a waste disposal tycoon named Severen Hydt, who like any good Bond villain is incredibly creepy and has a dead people fetish. The story leads Bond to South Africa, a show down, and a twist that is all completely unprecedented. Deaver spends a lot of time inside Bond's head revealing the mind behind the calm, but ruthless personality shown in the films. Even if Carte Blanche doesn't fit in with the vision of Bond 24, it'll probably still get adapted eventually. It's just that good.