Death is Forever
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 Coronet Books British paperback edition. |
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| Author | John Gardner |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | James Bond |
| Genre(s) | Spy novel |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Released | 1992 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 224 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-340-54816-9 (first edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | The Man from Barbarossa |
| Followed by | Never Send Flowers |
Death is Forever, first published in 1992, was the twelfth novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond (including Gardner's novelization of Licence to Kill). Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam.
Death is Forever is significant as the first James Bond novel to be published after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, two elements that were part and parcel of Bond's creation 40 years earlier.
[edit] Plot summary
The aftermath of the Cold War provides the setting for the plot of Death is Forever. After two British agents working in Germany die under mysterious and surprisingly old-fashioned circumstances, James Bond and CIA agent Elizabeth Zara ("Easy") St. John are assigned to track down the surviving members of "Cabal", a Cold War-era intellgience network that received a mysterious and unauthorized signal to disband. Soon, Bond finds himself playing a life-or-death game of "Who do You Trust?" as he and Easy work to track down the power responsible for killing off Cabal's members one by one.
More than most other Gardner novels, Death is Forever is grounded in current events, with the fallout from the end of the Cold War and the failed 1991 Russian coup being important backdrops to the story. The Eurotunnel connecting England and France, which was still under construction at the time the book was written, also serves as a major setting.
[edit] Publication history
- UK first hardback edition: July 1992 Hodder & Stoughton
- U.S. first hardback edition: June 1992 Putnam
- UK first paperback edition: July 1993 Coronet Books
- U.S. first paperback edition: August 1993 Berkley Books
Ian Fleming
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) • Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)
R.D. Mascott
003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior (1967)
Kingsley Amis (writing as Robert Markham)
Colonel Sun (1968)
John Pearson
James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 (1973)
Christopher Wood (novelisations)
James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) • James Bond and Moonraker (1979)
John Gardner
Licence Renewed (1981) • For Special Services (1982) • Icebreaker (1983) • Role of Honour (1984) • Nobody Lives For Ever (1986) • No Deals, Mr. Bond (1987) • Scorpius (1988) • Win, Lose or Die (1989) • Licence to Kill (1989) • Brokenclaw (1990) • The Man from Barbarossa (1991) • Death is Forever (1992) • Never Send Flowers (1993) • SeaFire (1994) • GoldenEye (1995) • COLD (a.k.a. Cold Fall) (1996)
Raymond Benson
"Blast From the Past" (1997) • Zero Minus Ten (1997) • Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) • The Facts of Death (1998) • "Midsummer Night's Doom" (1999) • High Time to Kill (1999) • The World is Not Enough (1999) • "Live at Five" (1999) • Doubleshot (2000) • Never Dream of Dying (2001) • The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002) • Die Another Day (2002)
Charlie Higson (Young Bond series)
SilverFin (2005) • Blood Fever (2006) • Double or Die (2007) • Young Bond Book 4 (2008) • Young Bond Book 5 (2009)
Samantha Weinberg (writing as Kate Westbrook) (The Moneypenny Diaries series)
The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel (2005) • "For Your Eyes Only, James" (2006) • Secret Servant: The Moneypenny Diaries (2006) • "Moneypenny's First Date With Bond" (2006) • The Moneypenny Diaries Book 3 (2008)
Unofficial/Unpublished
Per Fine Ounce (1966) • The Killing Zone (1985) • "The Heart of Erzulie" (2001-02)
Related works
The James Bond Dossier (1965) The Book of Bond (1965) The James Bond Bedside Companion (1984)
