- Death Is Forever
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Death Is Forever
Coronet Books British paperback edition.Author(s) John Gardner Country United Kingdom Language English Series James Bond Genre(s) Spy novel Publisher Hodder & Stoughton Publication date 1992 Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback) Pages 224 pp (first edition, hardback) ISBN ISBN 0-340-54816-9 (first edition, hardback) OCLC Number 26721121 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.
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 intelligence 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.
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
James Bond novels and short stories James Bond series 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)Colonel Sun (1968)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) · Brokenclaw (1990) · The Man from Barbarossa (1991) · Death Is Forever (1992) · Never Send Flowers (1993) · SeaFire (1994) · COLD (1996)Zero Minus Ten (1997) · The Facts of Death (1998) · High Time to Kill (1999) · DoubleShot (2000) · Never Dream of Dying (2001) · The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002)Devil May Care (2008)Carte Blanche (2011)Young Bond series SilverFin (2005) · Blood Fever (2006) · Double or Die (2007) · Hurricane Gold (2007) · By Royal Command (2008)Novelisations James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) · James Bond and Moonraker (1979)Licence to Kill (1989) · GoldenEye (1995)Spin-off novels R. D. Mascott003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior (1967)James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 (1973)The Moneypenny Diaries Guardian Angel (2005) · Secret Servant (2006) · Final Fling (2008)Short stories "For Your Eyes Only, James" (2006) · "Moneypenny's First Date With Bond" (2006)"A Hard Man to Kill" (2009)Unofficial works "Some Are Born Great" (1959) · Alligator (1962) · "Bond Strikes Camp" (1963) · The Killing Zone (1985) · "Licence to Hug" (1995) · "Your Deal, Mr. Bond" (1997)Unpublished works Per Fine Ounce (1966) · "The Heart of Erzulie" (2002)Related works The James Bond Dossier (1965) · The Book of Bond (1965) · The James Bond Bedside Companion (1984) · Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier (2009)Categories:- 1992 novels
- James Bond books
- Novels by John Gardner (British writer)
- Spy novel stubs
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