The Hero: James Bond; The Villain: Tamil Rahani; The Bond Girls: Nanie Norwich, Sukie Tempesta; Supporting Characters: Heinrech Osten, Steve Quinn, Dr. Kirtchum, May, Moneypenny; Locations covered: France, Austria, Key West; First Published: 1986
Nobody Lives Forever picks up almost immediately where Role Of Honor left off. That makes Nobody Lives Forever a sequel of sorts. And like most sequels, it`s not quite as good as the original.
Nobody Lives Forever starts off with 007 on a month`s leave from the service. He`s on his way to Austria to pick up his housekeeper, May, who has been recovering at a convalescence home after a lengthy illness. It`s on the way from England to Austria that 007 begins to notice odd occurences. Strangers suddenly dying all around him. First, it was two men being chewed up in the rotors of a ferry. Then someone blows up a car right behind Bond`s. After that, a man Bond recognizes as a Mafia member is found dead, only yards from the hotel where Bond is staying.
Bond`s intuition tells him something is wrong. There have been too many incidents for it all to be just coincidence. Bond soon learns the horrifying truth: a contest has been created. The prize money is ten million Swiss francs for getting the head of 007 on a silver plate. Tamil Rahani, last seen plummeting from a zeppelin over Lake Geneva in Role Of Honor is on his deathbed. His last dying wish is to see Bond die before he does.
But the contest has several innocent participants in it as well. Miss Moneypenny and May. Both were kidnapped at the convalescence home in Austria, in an effort to limit Bond`s options. Also, there are two beautiful but mysterious women with whom Bond has been forced to join up with. The Principessa Sukie Tempesta and her childhood friend, Nannie Norrich, owner of an all female bodyguard service.
Nobody Lives Forever has it`s good moments. Page 57 makes a reference to Marc-Ange Draco, the father of Bond`s dead wife, Tracy.
Quinn:”…Also practically every known terrorist organization , from the old Red Bridage to the Puerto Rican FALN- the Armed Forces for National Liberation. With ten million Swiss francs as the star prize you`ve attracted a lot of attention.
This is going to mean not consuming ED medicine with alcohol and smoking as this will affect its performance. ong with cialis is among the most gratifying encounters a person can take pleasure in. The exotic flavors of kamagra oral jelly depends on the individual characteristics of a person. cialis samples http://deeprootsmag.org/2012/11/08/nasas-fermi-measures-cosmic-fog-produced-by-ancient-starlight/ Sildamax citrate has identical structure to cGMP and it acts as a potential binding agent of PDE5 in the carpous cavernosum that accelerates cGMP and enhanced erections. deeprootsmag.org pfizer viagra uk Laparoscopy is generally performed in women with unexplained infertility or signs and symptoms of endometriosis or in whom reversible adhesive tubal disease is suspected. Bond: You mentioned the underworld.
Quinn: Of course, British, French, German, at least three Mafia families and, I fear, the Union Corse. Since the demise of your ally, Marc-Ange Draco, they`ve been less than helpful…
Bond: All right!
Quinn hits a touchy subject when bringing up the memories of Bond`s past with Marc and Tracy. Unfortunately, there aren`t enough good, solid moments in Nobody Lives Forever to highly recommend it. The story seems to meander, and the Bond girls are the weakest that I can remember in a Bond novel. Much of the dialogue and interplay between Bond and the women is childish, immature and silly. An attempt to be witty that just went plain wrong. I just simply didn`t buy their inclusion in this story, and it would`ve really been better off had Bond had no women in this story at all.
Gardner puts Bond in the middle of all this action and mayhem, but he also becomes a side issue. With so much going on around him, Bond loses focus as the main character. Whatever the reason, Bond in Nobody Lives Forever just seems like a man called James Bond. This man called James is in trouble. He`s got to travel the world to save himself and two friends. You don`t really bond with the character of 007. You can barely recognize it if you`ve read other Bond novels. There just seems to a perpetual set of motions this character goes through, and Gardner leaves it at that.
There`s also the obligatory turncoat character that has become a staple of Gardner`s novels. The problem I have with all of these “twists and turns” is that the story isn`t that strong to begin with. Gardner doesn`t give you that much to go on where details are concerned. In this type of genre, I like to guess who is trying to do what to whom. I want the plot to be sophisticated enough for me to be able to not guess it all outright, yet when the traitor is revealed, I should be able to say “Why didn`t I suspect him/her?” So when Gardner pulls these little twists out of his bag of tricks, you almost feel duped. He`s given you nothing to go on here, and now he`s telling you that everything you felt you knew beforehand wasn`t real. To just forget it. He`s artificially trying to create a “twist” without having to earn it with good, solid writing.
Gardner has always been a good set up man. His premises have always been intriguing and original. What they`ve lacked is follow through.