The Facts Of Death (1998)
Author: |
Raymond Benson |
Published: |
7th May 1998 |
MI6 Rating: |
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Data Stream
Villains: |
The Decada, Hera Voulopoulos, Konstantine Romanos,
Markos &: Ari, Vassilis Romanos, Manville Duncan
|
Plot: |
Starting a war between Cyprus and Greece through
biological terrorism. |
Bond Girls: |
Niki Mirakos, Dr. Ashley Anderson |
Allies: |
Felix Leiter, Manuela Montemayor |
Locations: |
Los Angeles, USA; Tokyo, Japan; Texas, USA; Cyprus;
London, UK; Greece
|
Highlights: |
Clinic break-in; cable-car fight; meeting with Sir
Miles. |
Capsule Synopsis
Using poisons and biological warfare, a sinister organisation
is carrying out a series of murders aimed at British and
Turkish personnel. When one of the victims is too close
to home, James Bond is ordered to investigate. |
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Above:: British 1st edition Hodder & Stoughton hardback
(UK). The Coronet UK paperback used the same artwork.
|
Official Blurb (British Hardback)
James Bond takes on a fanatic secret organisation whose objective
is mass murder in the thrilling new novel from the brilliant
Raymond Benson. Someone is poisoning British soldiers in Cyprus;
the same killer has murdered a British intelligence agent in
Athens. James Bond himself barely escapes with his life... But
the secrets behind these and other deaths first start to come
to light in Texas, where Bond goes in search of the assassin
of M's friend and lover. Fearful of an international scandal
that could engulf both his service and his country, he learns
instead of the existence of the Decada, Held together by an
archaic philosophy and their own bizarre rituals, the Decada's
fanatics have stockpiled a terrifying range of poisons and are
willing to use them to further their insane ambitions for power
and revenge. Aided by beautiful, brave Greek intelligence agent
Niki Mirakos, Bond puts himself into the firing line for a last-ditch
attempt to stop the Decada before they unleash a horrifying
weapon on their helpless prey. Packed with non-stop action and
brilliant storytelling, The Facts Of Death is an unputdownable
follow-up to Raymond Benson's scintillating debut as the chronicler
of James Bond.
Official Blurb (American Hardback)
Benson's 007 is a chip off the old block, said Kirkus Reviews
of the classic secret agent depicted in Zero Minus Ten, Raymond
Benson's first James Bond novel. Fast-paced, fun summer reading,
wrote The Boston Sunday Herald. Bond is still as irresistible
as ever. Now Benson takes Bond to the heart of a fanatical cult
whose sinister mission is wrapped in the teachings of the great
Greek mathematician Pythagoras. His cult is committed to following
their brilliant and mad leader on a series of assignments, each
one more diabolical and destructive than the last. When Alfred
Hutchinson, Great Britain's Goodwill Ambassador to the World,
is murdered by a stranger whose umbrella tip bears a tiny capsule
of ricin poison and who leaves behind a scrawled #4, Bond is
called upon to halt the escalating body count of the Number
Killer. His hunt will take him from the wild backroads of Texas
to the crumbling ruins of Greece, a trail that crisscrosses
the potentially explosive tinderbox of Cyprus. At every step
he must use both cunning and brute force to stay ahead of--or
even with--the grand plan of the Monad, the shadowy mastermind
behind the cult. Propelled by an extraordinary Jaguar XK8 coup
designed for this mission, challenged by life-threatening underwater
and aerial attacks, and seduced by a galaxy of beautiful and
destructive women, James Bond is once again the archetype action
hero--this time caught in a final countdown, where each heartbeat
could be his last.
- The Smell of Death
- A Day in the City
- An Evening in the Country
- Too Close to Home
- Rendezvous on Chios
- Tequila and Limes
- The Suppliers
- Mansion on the Hill
- The Sperm Bank
- Offensive Action
- The Next Three Strikes
- Hidden Agenda?
- The Greek Agent
- The New Pythagoreans
- BioLinks
- Romanos
- Queen of the Gods
- A Murderer's Tomb
- The Number Killer
- Gods Never Die
- By the Skin of the teeth
- Secrets of the Dead
- Independence Day
- Ghost Town
- The Face of Death
- The World is Not Enough
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Above: American 1st edition Putnam
hardback
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Official Blurb (American
Paperback)
They call him the Number Killer. A calculating assassin
who always leaves a numerical calling card. But now he's
picked the wrong victim - M's lover - and James Bond is
going to beat the odds to make things even.
From the desolate badlands of Texas to the crumbling
ruins of Greece, the danger multiplies as Bond tracks
his quarry to a sinister cult of fanatics shrouded in
the teachings of the Greek mathematician Pythagoras. With
a vicious cadre of killers trying to subtract him from
the equation, Bond must infiltrate the cult and stop their
chaotic computations - or the next number that comes up
may be his own...
Quote
Anderson: "So, this is goodbye, Mr Bond. Too bad.
You really were an excellent donor candidate"
Right: American 1st edition Jove
paperback.
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|
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Excerpt
The woman began by lightly sliding the sharp point of the knife
over Bond's face. She took her time, slowly moving it along
the skin. Any more pressure and the knife would penetrate the
outer layer of tissue. Bond kept perfectly still.
She seems fascinated by his face, the way a young girl might
gaze upon a new doll. She traced the nose and around the nostrils
with the blade. She ran it along his lips and even placed it
gently in his mouth and twisted it. Bond wondered how long it
would take before she got rougher.
The woman ran the knife along his right cheek and finally asked,
"How did you get the scar, James? Shall I add a matching
one on the other side. I do like things to be symmetrical. I've
been studying your face. I think I know how I'm going to reshape
it
Trivia
The title of the final chapter of "The Facts Of Death",
Bond's family motto, would be used as the title for the next
feature film "The World Is Not Enough" a year later
in 1999.
Timeline
1998 |
May 7 - 1st edition Hodder & Stoughton hardback (UK)
June 1 - 1st edition Putnam hardback (USA)
November 5 - 1st edition Coronet paperback (UK) |
1999 |
August 1 - 1st edition Jove paperback (USA) |
Synopsis
Disease-caused deaths are starting around the world. Meanwhile
Bond is trying to catch up with the 'Number Killer', an assassin
leaving statues of Greek Gods and numbers at each killing: No1
was MI5 agent Whitten in Athens; 2 and 3 were attacks on the British
army in Cyprus; 4 was M's partner Alfred Hutchinson, Britain's
ambassador to the world who died in bed with Bond's boss; Meanwhile
on the Greek island of Chios the Decada, a group of Pythagoras
followers, celebrate.
Bond seeks out Hutchinson's son Charles in Texas and there teams
up with Felix. The discover a link between the infertility clinic
Charles worked for and a criminal group, The Suppliers, who provided
the poison used to kill Alfred. Bond pulls the clinic's boss Dr
Anderson and overpowers her as she blows up the clinic. She kills
herself, and Bond and Felix raid the Suppliers and dismantle their
organisation. Meanwhile killing no.5 occurs in a Turkish barracks
and the Number Killer then sprays food with lethal gas. But Charles
Hutchinson warns the authorities before being murdered for betraying
the Decada. Bond arrives there to work with Niki Mirakos, the
beautiful Greek agent he preciously slept with. They find Charles'
body (victim 7) and Bond angers Romanos, the suspected Decada
leader, at the casino which he leaves with beautiful redhead Hera
Volopoulos who drugs him after they survive a fight with Decada
henchmen.
M digs up a letter from the Decada, previously considered a hoax,
threatening to start war between Greece and Turkey. Bond escapes
his execution but is recaptured and brought before Romanos who
explains he wants war but knows nothing about the mysterious disease,
now spreading around the world. Bond jumps overboard to escape,
and he and Niki realise the next victim is the President of Northern
Cyprus. Manville Duncan, Alfred's replacement will carry out the
killing, but Bond arrives in time to shoot him. No10 will be the
firing of a missile stolen by a Greek officer working for the
Decada, but on Chios Bond and Niki track down the base, but Bond
is caught. Romanos leaves Bond a puzzle and a chance to escape,
but then Hera kills him and announces she is taking over the Decada.
She and two other members planned the Williams' disease and released
it through Charles Hutchinson. They know the antidote. Hera escapes,
but Bond solves the puzzle and disarms the missile. He is picked
up by a helicopter chasing the remaining Decada, including Hera.
Bond's lot are shot down, but just before the pilot ditches safely
in the sea Bond fires a handheld Stinger missile and shoots down
the Decada. He drowns Hera who somehow survived the fireball and
recovers the antidote from a briefcase.
"Benson gives readers a shaken, not
stirred, cigarette-smoking, gambling Bond that harkens back to
Ian Fleming's 1953 Casino Royale original" - Copley News
Service
Reviews
Publisher's Weekly - Led by a hypnotic, self-styled
Greek demigod, the villainous Decada cabal prove insanely worthy
adversaries for 007 as they plan chemical and biological revenge
against Turkey (and any country they perceive as its allies) in
the immortal SIS agent's new outing. Benson (Zero Minus Ten; The
James Bond Bedside Companion) cues off the latest Bond reels by
setting up his female "M" (head of SIS) with Alfred
Hutchinson, a suspicious politico linked to the Decada. When he
is murdered, Bond goes to Texas in search of Hutchinson's missing
son, reunites with American agent Felix Leiter (now confined to
a wheelchair), stumbles onto the source for the Decada's chemical
and biological weapons and follows the trail back to Greece. Sexual
subterfuge, ever Bond's betrayer and salvation, lands him in the
clutches of Konstantine Romanos, mad leader of the Decada, and
the result is several quintessential 007 escape/rescue scenes
(aided by a luscious Greek agent) before the final showdown under
a nuclear shadow on Cyprus. Edgar winner Benson pays homage to
Fleming's plots in an amusing inventory of Bond's scars; touchingly
ages Leiter, loyal Miss Moneypenny and long-suffering arms maven
Boothroyd; and imbues his Bond with enough honor, sexual prowess
and action-hero skills to please the purist and enthrall the novice.