Death is Forever
John Gardner
Language: English
Pages: 198
ISBN: B00AA2NNFW
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
As the Berlin Wall comes crashing down, one Cold Warrior refuses to lay down his guns and sets out to assassinate members of the British-American intelligence network, CABAL. Reprint. PW. K.
From Publishers Weekly
Readers fond of Bond should not miss Gardner's latest 007 adventure, his 11th since he took over the series after the 1964 death of Ian Fleming, Bond's creator. Updated to the '90s, Bond now practices safe sex and seems to have given up both smoking and his obsession with powerful customized sports cars. In this action-packed bloodbath, the required, consummate villain is Wolfgang Weisen, aka "the Poison Dwarf," an East German spy master who as "a child at Joseph Stalin's court" watched Tarzan and Chaplin movies with "Uncle Joe." Weisen has been directing the systematic assassination of members of Cabal, the West's premier spy network in Germany, and M assigns Bond and the CIA's Eazy stet St. John to stop him. Bond is at first put off by Eazy's feminism but is quick to accept her invitation to share her berth on the Ost-West Express. Weisen, tracked to Venice, turns out to be a Pickwickian character: rotund, bald and baby-faced but determined to force Europe to its knees and restore Stalinism. Suspense builds as Bond races to Calais on the day the cross-channel tunnel is to open. Eazy is unable to make the trip, having suffered the fate of all women who get too close to Bond's heart. Amusing, clever stuff.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Of course, it isn't really forever; it's just business as usual for James bond, still gamely tackling would-be world dominators--this time, Wolfgang Weisen, the Poison Dwarf of East German intelligence--in his 11th outing under Gardner's flag. Whatever Weisen's plan is--and just what he has in mind is a surprise Gardner saves until the very end--it involves penetrating CABAL (a NATO network of spies working in East Germany, all but outmoded by unification), issuing a bogus order to disband, and then picking off the agents one by one. When Bond and American Eazy St. John are packed off to Berlin to replace their latest fallen comrades, you can bet that they'll be trailed by homicidal enemy agents, fed a million lies by their supposed contacts, and be left guessing as to which of the surviving Cabalists can still be trusted--and you can bet too that Bond will bring snooty Eazy to heel by showing up her gutless tradecraft and sweeping her off her feet. The trail of double-crosses that leads from Berlin to Paris to Venice strains belief, but it's all lightly likable. Once Bond and Co. reach Venice, though, the story slips into a distinctly stodgy groove (``His smile was so evil that the hairs on the back of Bon's neck stiffened''), with Bond, Eazy, and trustworthy Gus Wimper going up against the Poison Dwarf, his kinky bedmate Monika Haardt (you have to take the kinkiness on faith--she doesn't do anything but try to kill our hero), and the staff of executioners, torturers, etc. Bond, who seems to be having more trouble adjusting to the new world order than his younger brethren, doesn't exactly shine, but Gardner's fans won't be disappointed either. Ian Fleming's fans need not apply. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
conversation again. ‘Orphan, Praxi? Kapitan August Wimper of the Volkspolizei?’ ‘He was one of the five who could monitor important signals. He could have as easily received the Nacht und Nebel signal as I. And followed up the checks. I didn’t even get to tell him the order had been received.’ ‘Any clues as to why?’ ‘None, except that he had a lady friend, an Italian girl he used to see regularly. Sometimes he took a weekend leave specially to meet her. He used to travel a long way just to
Amber, Bond would not be surprised if his tall grey chum was dead. They began with Ritter. ‘Those of us with a way into information at Karlshorst, knew Ritter as one of Weisen’s agents,’ Praxi told them. ‘Axel was forever in and out of the Poison Dwarf’s office. He often used to eat in the canteen with Monika Haardt as well. Eventually we realised that Weisen was attempting to use him as a penetration agent, and the target was Cabal. He didn’t make it, of course. Weisen suspected several
the whole was secured by bolts below, and inside, the house. The three hinges on one of the longer sides were in good condition, and well oiled. They would be the only way in, so he began to work on the screws, and had one hinge free by the time Wimper was on the roof, beside him. The screws came out easily once they were loosened, and together they tested the framework when all the hinges were free. The heavy skylight moved in their hands. They got it up to almost a 45 degree angle, and Bond
it won’t hurt. Just give me a hint.’ ‘One tiny hint, then. By tomorrow night, Europe will be rocked on its heels. The Stock Markets of the European Community – and heaven knows they’re in difficulties as a Community already – will cry havoc. Destabilisation will sweep across Europe like the Black Death. There, that’s all. Now, I think, it’s my turn to ask the questions.’ He sounded very firm. The only thing to be done was effect some kind of escape, then drive Weisen to reveal what he was up
when Veron and Bond reached the helicopter pad. Veron led him to the first vehicle, opened the rear hatch, and told the men inside to look at Bond. ‘He is with us. Remember him.’ He asked for a spare radio which Bond clipped onto his belt, running the earpiece up the inside of his blazer and into his ear. Deafening static blasted into his ear as soon as he turned it on, and he saw Veron give a supercilious little smile as he twisted the squelch to reduce the noise. They went to the back of the