What do you think?
Rate this book
Forever and a Death
The Bond That Never WasTwo decades ago, the producers of the James Bond movies hired legendary crime novelist Donald E. Westlake to come up with a story for the next Bond film. The plot Westlake dreamed up – about a Western businessman seeking revenge after being kicked out of Hong Kong when the island was returned to Chinese rule – had all the elements of a classic Bond adventure, but political concerns kept it from being made. Never one to let a good story go to waste, Westlake wrote an original novel based on the premise instead – a novel he never published while he was alive.Now, nearly a decade after Westlake’s death, Hard Case Crime is proud to give that novel its first publication ever, together with a brand new afterword by one of the movie producers describing the project’s genesis, and to give fans their first taste of the Westlake-scripted Bond that might have been.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 13, 2017
165 people are currently reading
900 people want to read
About the author
Donald E. Westlake
434 books952 followersDonald E. Westlake (1933-2008) was one of the most prolific and talented authors of American crime fiction. He began his career in the late 1950's, churning out novels for pulp houses—often writing as many as four novels a year under various pseudonyms such as Richard Stark—but soon began publishing under his own name. His most well-known characters were John Dortmunder, an unlucky thief, and Parker, a ruthless criminal. His writing earned him three Edgar Awards: the 1968 Best Novel award for God Save the Mark; the 1990 Best Short Story award for "Too Many Crooks"; and the 1991 Best Motion Picture Screenplay award for The Grifters. In addition, Westlake also earned a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1993.
Westlake's cinematic prose and brisk dialogue made his novels attractive to Hollywood, and several motion pictures were made from his books, with stars such as Lee Marvin and Mel Gibson. Westlake wrote several screenplays himself, receiving an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of The Grifters, Jim Thompson's noir classic.
Some of the pseudonyms he used include
• Richard Stark
• Timothy J. Culver
• Tucker Coe
• Curt Clark
• J. Morgan Cunningham
• Judson Jack Carmichael
• D.E. Westlake
• Donald I. Vestlejk
• Don Westlake
Westlake's cinematic prose and brisk dialogue made his novels attractive to Hollywood, and several motion pictures were made from his books, with stars such as Lee Marvin and Mel Gibson. Westlake wrote several screenplays himself, receiving an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of The Grifters, Jim Thompson's noir classic.
Some of the pseudonyms he used include
• Richard Stark
• Timothy J. Culver
• Tucker Coe
• Curt Clark
• J. Morgan Cunningham
• Judson Jack Carmichael
• D.E. Westlake
• Donald I. Vestlejk
• Don Westlake
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
June 1, 2017
When engineer George Manville invented a way to create a soliton wave that would destroy buildings build atop landfill, Richard Curtis, his employer, was pleased beyond measure. However, a woman's near-death during the initial test and Curtis' reaction to it has put them at odds. Can Manville stop Curtis before he uses the process against its true target?
I've read 70-something books in the Hard Case Crime Series and I'm a fan of Donald Westlake so this one was an easy grab when the fine folks at Titan offered it to me.
Crafted from a rejected James Bond script Westlake wrote a few years before his death, Forever and a Death is a posthumous publication, what may be the last from Donald Westlake. It's also not a bad read.
The James Bond roots of Forever and a Death are fairly visible in the action, the international intrigue, and in the general plot. Isn't a billionaire with a doomsday device a Bond staple? The violence is Stark at times (get it?) and Westlake has always been able to weave a yarn together. The soliton wave is suitably Bond-esque without being completely ridiculous. Although I wonder why it took most of the characters so long to figure out where Curtis was planning to strike.
Richard Curtis, millionaire villain, was by far the most interesting character in the book. Therein lies my problem with the whole book. When you take James Bond out of the story, what do you have? George Manville is pretty good at dealing out violence for someone who is an engineer but he clearly lacks the charisma of 007. Manville gets lost in an ensemble cast of more interesting characters, like Jerry Diedrich, the environmentalist nursing a secret grudge against Curtis, or even Colin Bennett, Curtis' henchman carrying around secrets of his own.
Forever and a Death is my favorite posthumous Westlake so far and a fun read but I couldn't help wondering how it would have played as a James Bond film. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
I've read 70-something books in the Hard Case Crime Series and I'm a fan of Donald Westlake so this one was an easy grab when the fine folks at Titan offered it to me.
Crafted from a rejected James Bond script Westlake wrote a few years before his death, Forever and a Death is a posthumous publication, what may be the last from Donald Westlake. It's also not a bad read.
The James Bond roots of Forever and a Death are fairly visible in the action, the international intrigue, and in the general plot. Isn't a billionaire with a doomsday device a Bond staple? The violence is Stark at times (get it?) and Westlake has always been able to weave a yarn together. The soliton wave is suitably Bond-esque without being completely ridiculous. Although I wonder why it took most of the characters so long to figure out where Curtis was planning to strike.
Richard Curtis, millionaire villain, was by far the most interesting character in the book. Therein lies my problem with the whole book. When you take James Bond out of the story, what do you have? George Manville is pretty good at dealing out violence for someone who is an engineer but he clearly lacks the charisma of 007. Manville gets lost in an ensemble cast of more interesting characters, like Jerry Diedrich, the environmentalist nursing a secret grudge against Curtis, or even Colin Bennett, Curtis' henchman carrying around secrets of his own.
Forever and a Death is my favorite posthumous Westlake so far and a fun read but I couldn't help wondering how it would have played as a James Bond film. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
June 23, 2017
Back in the 1990s, Eon Productions worked with a number of writers to develop the story for the follow-up to Goldeneye. One of those writers was Donald Westlake, legendary author of over 100 crime novels, the perhaps most famous of which were the Parker books (under his pseudonym of Richard Stark).
In 1995, before Goldeneye was even released, Westlake turned into Eon two treatments for “Bond 18.” Both his treatments apparently used as their backdrop Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty to China. In one of the treatments, Westlake had 007 facing off against Gideon Goodbread, an American businessman who planned to level Hong Kong after robbing its banks – a revenge scheme for the death of his missionary parents at the hands of the Red Chinese. Westlake described his Bond villain as “John Goodman with a Southern accent”, and likened him to the lead character in Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me. Goodbread commanded an army of Amerasian orphans he called “the Children.”
Westlake floated the following titles for his Bond adventure: Dragonsteeth; Nobody Dies; Forever And A Death; Never Look Back; On Borrowed Time. That last title was prophetic; the time-sensitive nature of the Hong Kong chanegover backdrop was deemed unsuitable, we got Tomorrow Never Dies instead, and Westlake's script was shelved.
Now Hard Case Crime has resurrected this lost story, which at some point Westlake rewrote as a novel - Forever And A Death.
It’s no longer a James Bond story and the details described above may not be included, but the vestigial elements of the story seem to be in place.
As a bonus, the novel will contain an afterword by one of the Bond producers, describing the history of the project.
On the last day of 2008 Donald E Westlake passed away and he left us a large literary inheritance and some really great characters like Dortmunder or the infamous Parker, written as Richard Stark. Since he passed away two previous posthumous books have been published to the great pleasure of his fans. And with this book being the third he has catered for the fans of himself and those nutty basterds called James Bond fans, especially the ones who enjoy the books. It is this last group I admit being a member of.
As a fan of Richard Stark mostly enjoying his immense character and minimalistic writing style I found to my pleasure a book that is an excellent thriller that makes for comfortable reading and may I say it can be considered a brilliant beach-read of the like Robert Ludlum used to deliver. The book starts with a big building cooperation trying to reshape an island but in a brand new way. Of course the environmentalists pop up for a protest which ends in the death of one of the protesters. Only afterwards when the body is recovered of this diver that got caught in the explosions it turns out that her death was a wee bit too early decided upon. Kim Baldur is the lady in question and when the baddie Richard Curtis decides to make her published demise a permanent matter he finds that his main engineer George Manning has a more enlightened view of the worth of life.
This book is no great mystery thriller it is an adventurous thriller about a bad guy saving the world opposed by environmentalists and an engineer and lucky lady. Their adventures in trying to stop the bad guy from killing millions of people takes them from Australia, Singapore to Hing Kong. Forget about James Bond 007, this story is brilliantly reworked into a standalone thriller that more than satisfies and delivers the goods you'd expect.
Well worth your time as a thriller reader and the afterword is more about the writer Westlake and about the movie world. Less about the book but an nice extra for the reader and fans.
In 1995, before Goldeneye was even released, Westlake turned into Eon two treatments for “Bond 18.” Both his treatments apparently used as their backdrop Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty to China. In one of the treatments, Westlake had 007 facing off against Gideon Goodbread, an American businessman who planned to level Hong Kong after robbing its banks – a revenge scheme for the death of his missionary parents at the hands of the Red Chinese. Westlake described his Bond villain as “John Goodman with a Southern accent”, and likened him to the lead character in Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me. Goodbread commanded an army of Amerasian orphans he called “the Children.”
Westlake floated the following titles for his Bond adventure: Dragonsteeth; Nobody Dies; Forever And A Death; Never Look Back; On Borrowed Time. That last title was prophetic; the time-sensitive nature of the Hong Kong chanegover backdrop was deemed unsuitable, we got Tomorrow Never Dies instead, and Westlake's script was shelved.
Now Hard Case Crime has resurrected this lost story, which at some point Westlake rewrote as a novel - Forever And A Death.
It’s no longer a James Bond story and the details described above may not be included, but the vestigial elements of the story seem to be in place.
As a bonus, the novel will contain an afterword by one of the Bond producers, describing the history of the project.
On the last day of 2008 Donald E Westlake passed away and he left us a large literary inheritance and some really great characters like Dortmunder or the infamous Parker, written as Richard Stark. Since he passed away two previous posthumous books have been published to the great pleasure of his fans. And with this book being the third he has catered for the fans of himself and those nutty basterds called James Bond fans, especially the ones who enjoy the books. It is this last group I admit being a member of.
As a fan of Richard Stark mostly enjoying his immense character and minimalistic writing style I found to my pleasure a book that is an excellent thriller that makes for comfortable reading and may I say it can be considered a brilliant beach-read of the like Robert Ludlum used to deliver. The book starts with a big building cooperation trying to reshape an island but in a brand new way. Of course the environmentalists pop up for a protest which ends in the death of one of the protesters. Only afterwards when the body is recovered of this diver that got caught in the explosions it turns out that her death was a wee bit too early decided upon. Kim Baldur is the lady in question and when the baddie Richard Curtis decides to make her published demise a permanent matter he finds that his main engineer George Manning has a more enlightened view of the worth of life.
This book is no great mystery thriller it is an adventurous thriller about a bad guy saving the world opposed by environmentalists and an engineer and lucky lady. Their adventures in trying to stop the bad guy from killing millions of people takes them from Australia, Singapore to Hing Kong. Forget about James Bond 007, this story is brilliantly reworked into a standalone thriller that more than satisfies and delivers the goods you'd expect.
Well worth your time as a thriller reader and the afterword is more about the writer Westlake and about the movie world. Less about the book but an nice extra for the reader and fans.
June 19, 2017
It states on the copyright page that “Forever and A Death” is produced by “Windfall LLC”. A quick google search informs the searcher that Windfall LLC is actually “Charles Ardai's company named “Winterfall LLC”. We also find that Westlake wrote two story treatments for the James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies “in collaboration with Bond series writer-producer Michael G. Wilson. None of Westlake's ideas made it into the completed film, but in 1998 the author used the first treatment as the basis for a novel, “Fall of the City”. The existence of the novel (and its connection to the Bond treatments) was revealed in an article published in issue #32 of the magazine “MI6 Confidential”. The article also provides a detailed analysis of the two treatments. “Fall of the City” will be published under the title “Forever and a Death” in June 2017 by Hard Case Crime. And here it is.
From a long afterword in the book “Forever and a Death” which is written by Jeff Kleeman, we are informed that the first of the treatments was 35 some odd pages in length and the second was 9 pages long. I say all this due to the implication that this book is somehow linked to the James Bond series. Warning THIS IS NOT TRUE. There is no James Bond or any of his cohorts in this lengthy (over long in MHO) novel.
Donald Edwin Westlake (July 12, 1933 – December 31, 2008) was one of my favorite authors for many years. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction. Mr. Westlake also wrote under the names of Richard Stark, Alan Marshall (or Alan Marsh), James Blue, John Dexter, Andrew Shaw, Edwin West, John B. Allan, Don Holliday, Curt Clark, Barbara Wilson, Tucker Coe, P. N. Castor, Timothy J. Culver, J. Morgan Cunningham, Samuel Holt, and Judson Jack Carmichael. There might be more.
The book “Forever and A Death” is a thriller written in four parts. Throughout the book the POV character is not consistent, the voices keep changing. The book should have been better edited because in parts the narrative is rambling and overlong. I’m not sure if Mr. Westlake could not find a publisher or get the book published under a pseudo name for this work in his lifetime. That should tell you something.
Heads Up.
From a long afterword in the book “Forever and a Death” which is written by Jeff Kleeman, we are informed that the first of the treatments was 35 some odd pages in length and the second was 9 pages long. I say all this due to the implication that this book is somehow linked to the James Bond series. Warning THIS IS NOT TRUE. There is no James Bond or any of his cohorts in this lengthy (over long in MHO) novel.
Donald Edwin Westlake (July 12, 1933 – December 31, 2008) was one of my favorite authors for many years. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction. Mr. Westlake also wrote under the names of Richard Stark, Alan Marshall (or Alan Marsh), James Blue, John Dexter, Andrew Shaw, Edwin West, John B. Allan, Don Holliday, Curt Clark, Barbara Wilson, Tucker Coe, P. N. Castor, Timothy J. Culver, J. Morgan Cunningham, Samuel Holt, and Judson Jack Carmichael. There might be more.
The book “Forever and A Death” is a thriller written in four parts. Throughout the book the POV character is not consistent, the voices keep changing. The book should have been better edited because in parts the narrative is rambling and overlong. I’m not sure if Mr. Westlake could not find a publisher or get the book published under a pseudo name for this work in his lifetime. That should tell you something.
Heads Up.
June 28, 2017
This novel answered a question I'm sure nobody ever asked themselves: would a James Bond novel be better if it didn't have James Bond in it. Of course it would! FOREVER AND A DEATH, one of Donald Westlake's "lost" novels was originally supposed to be a James Bond movie and when it fell through, he did what any great writer would've done: he wrote it anyway.
There is no James Bond in this book but it doesn't matter because there's a demented capitalist villain, a crazy international conspiracy, assassins, bulldozers and a lot more fun along the way. It's a 460 pages novel so it gets a little carried away at times, but it is so freakin' shamelessly over the top that it's still a whole lot of fun, like Robert Ludlum on Angel Dust.
There is no James Bond in this book but it doesn't matter because there's a demented capitalist villain, a crazy international conspiracy, assassins, bulldozers and a lot more fun along the way. It's a 460 pages novel so it gets a little carried away at times, but it is so freakin' shamelessly over the top that it's still a whole lot of fun, like Robert Ludlum on Angel Dust.
May 28, 2017
Really really enjoyed this. My full review can be found at my website: http://anthonycardno.com/2017/05/book...
(Full disclosure: I received an uncorrected proof Advance Reading Copy from the publisher several weeks ago, hence publishing this review before the book actually hits the stands.)
(Full disclosure: I received an uncorrected proof Advance Reading Copy from the publisher several weeks ago, hence publishing this review before the book actually hits the stands.)
August 24, 2017
Forever and a Death is an ok action book set in Australia, Singapore and Honk Kong that thematically resembles a plot lifted straight from James Bond, complete with Westalke’s own Bond Girl in the form of Kim, a fearless diver with ties to an environmental activist group.
Engineer George Manville is the hero and he largely plays the part but reads too clever and tough at times; easily dispatching bay guys without breaking much of a sweat.
The main element of the story is revolves around a business tycoon wanting to destroy a major city, but before that, steal as much gold as possible from banks using an underground tunnel network; it’s a pretty elaborate set-up but it sure entertains.
After starting off well, the book meandered a little before ramping up again towards the end. The cast of characters each added their own side story and I enjoyed some of the scheming, wheeling and dealing. The ending is pure Hollywood and befitting of a Bond script, which was originally.
My rating: 3/5 stars. Forever and a Death is a ‘safe’ read – it didn't blow me away nor did I walk away disappointed. The story was good and a couple of characters were particularly well written. On a personal note, I loved the Australian setting, being my home country.
http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
Engineer George Manville is the hero and he largely plays the part but reads too clever and tough at times; easily dispatching bay guys without breaking much of a sweat.
The main element of the story is revolves around a business tycoon wanting to destroy a major city, but before that, steal as much gold as possible from banks using an underground tunnel network; it’s a pretty elaborate set-up but it sure entertains.
After starting off well, the book meandered a little before ramping up again towards the end. The cast of characters each added their own side story and I enjoyed some of the scheming, wheeling and dealing. The ending is pure Hollywood and befitting of a Bond script, which was originally.
My rating: 3/5 stars. Forever and a Death is a ‘safe’ read – it didn't blow me away nor did I walk away disappointed. The story was good and a couple of characters were particularly well written. On a personal note, I loved the Australian setting, being my home country.
http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
June 19, 2017
So, what went wrong here ? It started (many years ago) with a screenplay for a James Bond film that the producers never used. Sensibly, Donald Westlake turned his unused script into a novel. Of course, without copyright to 007, he made the novel with his own characters. So far so good.
I am a huge James Bond fan & I've read & enjoyed some of Westlake's fast paced novels featuring professional thief & killer Parker, which he wrote under the pen name of Richard Stark. I was expecting something of a similar style from Forever & A Death, but how wrong I was about that.
First of all I freely admit I never finished the book. I read 23 chapters on my Kindle, which is 20% of the story, before giving up. It was so dull. Yes, the concept of the villain's "weapon" was interesting, but the story was full of lifeless characters & dull situations. Such a pity that one of my most anticipated books of the year proved to be such a disappointment.
I am a huge James Bond fan & I've read & enjoyed some of Westlake's fast paced novels featuring professional thief & killer Parker, which he wrote under the pen name of Richard Stark. I was expecting something of a similar style from Forever & A Death, but how wrong I was about that.
First of all I freely admit I never finished the book. I read 23 chapters on my Kindle, which is 20% of the story, before giving up. It was so dull. Yes, the concept of the villain's "weapon" was interesting, but the story was full of lifeless characters & dull situations. Such a pity that one of my most anticipated books of the year proved to be such a disappointment.
July 11, 2021
In a writers group I participate in via social media, someone asked the question a few months ago that if we could have three traits from authors, what would they be? I don’t remember my other two answers but the one I do remember is Donald Westlake’s versatility. The man wrote noir potboilers, political gags a la Ross Thomas, the sparse and sharp Parker series, the slyly comedic Dortmunder tales…he could do it all. He even had a hand at James Bond.
Forever and a Death, republished by the good folks at Hard Case Crime, is the result of that project. The producers of the Brosnan Bond series apparently rejected Westlake’s vision so he turned it into his own tale, a thriller set on the southwest Asian high seas with no real Bond-like character but plenty of Bond-like action and suspense.
The story is interesting and very Westlake-like because it does read like a page-turner but it also has deep, nuanced characters. The villain isn’t just a stock evil guy; he’s a rich evil guy who does evil guy things but he also walks you through the thought process and how he operates and that humanizes him enough to make him interesting. The heroes, a motley crew of scientists who keep running into problems and miscommunication, are not the mythic super-hero like 007. They’re just regular folks trying to stop an environmental catastrophe.
Also, I’m not sure if this was a nod to the misogyny of the Bond franchise or not but there’s a homosexual couple in the middle of things and Westlake writes them well.
I’m not sure where HCC got this in the editing process; that could have been more effective. But beyond that, this is a really fun book from the late, lamented genius.
Forever and a Death, republished by the good folks at Hard Case Crime, is the result of that project. The producers of the Brosnan Bond series apparently rejected Westlake’s vision so he turned it into his own tale, a thriller set on the southwest Asian high seas with no real Bond-like character but plenty of Bond-like action and suspense.
The story is interesting and very Westlake-like because it does read like a page-turner but it also has deep, nuanced characters. The villain isn’t just a stock evil guy; he’s a rich evil guy who does evil guy things but he also walks you through the thought process and how he operates and that humanizes him enough to make him interesting. The heroes, a motley crew of scientists who keep running into problems and miscommunication, are not the mythic super-hero like 007. They’re just regular folks trying to stop an environmental catastrophe.
Also, I’m not sure if this was a nod to the misogyny of the Bond franchise or not but there’s a homosexual couple in the middle of things and Westlake writes them well.
I’m not sure where HCC got this in the editing process; that could have been more effective. But beyond that, this is a really fun book from the late, lamented genius.
October 2, 2017
A lot of time and effort goes into the average movie, but this is at least double in the case of Bond. Each one is part of a decade’s long institution and must excel. With this in mind there is a sea of discarded wannabe-Bond themes, wannabe-Bond stories and wannabe-Bond actors. For every successful ‘‘Garbage’’ Bond theme, there are numerous other indie bands that never made the cut. Donald E. Westlake was a successful thriller writer in his own right, but once he jumped aboard the good ship Bond his work never cut it. The result was this adaptation of his failed Bond script, but did Barbara Broccoli have justification for passing?
George Manville is a good engineer, but apart from that, a pretty ordinary bloke. He has been tasked by an eccentric businessman to destroy some reclaimed land so that it can be built up again. Unbeknownst to Manville, this businessman has a more sinister plan in mind should the pilot project work. Richard Curtis has a hatred of the Chinese after they chased him from Hong Kong and cost him his fortune. He wants revenge and if he makes money at the same time, so be it. As for the thousands of corpses he leaves behind; you can’t destroy an island without breaking a few people.
‘‘Forever and a Death’’ by Donald E. Westlake is not the strongest thriller in its own right without being compared to the James Bond cannon. In fact, if the publishers did not mention everywhere that it has some slim DNA with 007, you would never know. All that really comes out in the wash is that Curtis is a billionaire madman who will do whatever it takes for revenge. Keeping Bond in mind, this suggests that Manville is the super-agent, but nothing could be further from the case. He is a super engineer, but that is about it.
The books feels a little confused as when Westlake tries to move the story onwards, large parts of it concentrate on Curtis, the bad guy. He is by far the most interesting person and you get a clear image of why he wants revenge. Manville on the other hand is a thinly drawn mystery. He is a pretty bland bloke who likes to follow orders and is detail orientated, but in some sequences he suddenly becomes a super hero taking out several enemies with a cold disregard. Sound familiar? Manville is obviously crowbarred into replace Bond in the narrative, but whilst it makes sense for a secret agent to shoot a man in cold blood, the person you hire to assess your drains – not so much.
Hard Case Crime mention in the extras of the book that this manuscript was hidden in Westlake’s files, unpublished. After reading it, it is perhaps clearer why the author chose to do this. The action when it does occur is fun, it may be bizarre that an engineer can pull off all these things, but it is great whilst he is doing it. Unfortunately, a lot of the book is more about plodding mismanagement. Curtis in particular is meant to have once been a successful businessman, but here he compounds his own mistakes one after the other. He would have achieved more by doing nothing.
‘‘Forever’’ is a curio novel for fans of Westlake who want a little more from the author, but be aware that it is not his strongest work. Bond fans should bypass it entirely as there is little here that feels like the classic themes of Bond; be it the early Fleming books or the later more bombastic films. This is the type of book you can read quickly and enjoy to an extent, but will soon forget. Original review on thebookbag.co.uk
George Manville is a good engineer, but apart from that, a pretty ordinary bloke. He has been tasked by an eccentric businessman to destroy some reclaimed land so that it can be built up again. Unbeknownst to Manville, this businessman has a more sinister plan in mind should the pilot project work. Richard Curtis has a hatred of the Chinese after they chased him from Hong Kong and cost him his fortune. He wants revenge and if he makes money at the same time, so be it. As for the thousands of corpses he leaves behind; you can’t destroy an island without breaking a few people.
‘‘Forever and a Death’’ by Donald E. Westlake is not the strongest thriller in its own right without being compared to the James Bond cannon. In fact, if the publishers did not mention everywhere that it has some slim DNA with 007, you would never know. All that really comes out in the wash is that Curtis is a billionaire madman who will do whatever it takes for revenge. Keeping Bond in mind, this suggests that Manville is the super-agent, but nothing could be further from the case. He is a super engineer, but that is about it.
The books feels a little confused as when Westlake tries to move the story onwards, large parts of it concentrate on Curtis, the bad guy. He is by far the most interesting person and you get a clear image of why he wants revenge. Manville on the other hand is a thinly drawn mystery. He is a pretty bland bloke who likes to follow orders and is detail orientated, but in some sequences he suddenly becomes a super hero taking out several enemies with a cold disregard. Sound familiar? Manville is obviously crowbarred into replace Bond in the narrative, but whilst it makes sense for a secret agent to shoot a man in cold blood, the person you hire to assess your drains – not so much.
Hard Case Crime mention in the extras of the book that this manuscript was hidden in Westlake’s files, unpublished. After reading it, it is perhaps clearer why the author chose to do this. The action when it does occur is fun, it may be bizarre that an engineer can pull off all these things, but it is great whilst he is doing it. Unfortunately, a lot of the book is more about plodding mismanagement. Curtis in particular is meant to have once been a successful businessman, but here he compounds his own mistakes one after the other. He would have achieved more by doing nothing.
‘‘Forever’’ is a curio novel for fans of Westlake who want a little more from the author, but be aware that it is not his strongest work. Bond fans should bypass it entirely as there is little here that feels like the classic themes of Bond; be it the early Fleming books or the later more bombastic films. This is the type of book you can read quickly and enjoy to an extent, but will soon forget. Original review on thebookbag.co.uk
December 9, 2019
Business tycoon Richard Curtis, alongside engineer George Manville, develops a new and efficient process of demolition. Using a deserted island as a test subject, complications arise when a diver from a rival environmentalist organization attempting to stop the process is believed to be killed during the explosions. Her body eventually lands on Curtis’ boat, barely clinging to life. Believing that she will cause more trouble than she’s worth should she awake, Curtis orders her to be killed. Manville doesn’t agree with this and the rift between the two sets off a chain reaction that threatens Curtis’ goals of using his new destructive invention for profit and revenge.
In the 1990s, author Donald Westlake was hired by the producers of the James Bond franchise to write a script for the follow-up to the 1995 entry Goldeneye (great N64 game, by the way). Ultimately, the producers decided to go in another direction and rather than let the idea find the bottom of a trash can, Westlake altered it enough so that it would resemble an original story. For whatever reason, Westlake decided not to publish it during his lifetime. About a decade after his death, acclaimed publisher Hard Case Crime unearthed the novel and released it into the wild.
If you didn’t tell me this was a Bond script, I wouldn’t have known. Is that a good thing? I guess so. At least in terms of Hard Case releasing this without studio interference, anyway. For the most part, I found this book painfully dull. I didn’t find any of the characters the slightest bit memorable or interesting as they all seemingly served as exposition to move the plot forward. Speaking of the plot, it definitely fits within a Bond film. I liked Curtis’ evil plan and the way in which he intended to execute it. It’s too bad I didn’t really find him that interesting as a villain.
The novel’s saving grace was the last fifty pages when the action threatens to boil over a simmering pot. I honestly couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. It reads like a pure popcorn action flick featuring gun battles and a race against time. However, it’s hard to recommend a four-hundred plus page book if I’m only going to hype the last fifty pages.
I’ve read my fair share of Hard Case books and this is the one I’ve enjoyed the least, I believe. It is surprising considering I enjoy Westlake’s work as Richard Stark quite a bit through his Parker novels. I think if this had been shorter, it might have scored more points with me. Those first hundred pages were a real slog to get through. They can’t all be winners though.
In the 1990s, author Donald Westlake was hired by the producers of the James Bond franchise to write a script for the follow-up to the 1995 entry Goldeneye (great N64 game, by the way). Ultimately, the producers decided to go in another direction and rather than let the idea find the bottom of a trash can, Westlake altered it enough so that it would resemble an original story. For whatever reason, Westlake decided not to publish it during his lifetime. About a decade after his death, acclaimed publisher Hard Case Crime unearthed the novel and released it into the wild.
If you didn’t tell me this was a Bond script, I wouldn’t have known. Is that a good thing? I guess so. At least in terms of Hard Case releasing this without studio interference, anyway. For the most part, I found this book painfully dull. I didn’t find any of the characters the slightest bit memorable or interesting as they all seemingly served as exposition to move the plot forward. Speaking of the plot, it definitely fits within a Bond film. I liked Curtis’ evil plan and the way in which he intended to execute it. It’s too bad I didn’t really find him that interesting as a villain.
The novel’s saving grace was the last fifty pages when the action threatens to boil over a simmering pot. I honestly couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. It reads like a pure popcorn action flick featuring gun battles and a race against time. However, it’s hard to recommend a four-hundred plus page book if I’m only going to hype the last fifty pages.
I’ve read my fair share of Hard Case books and this is the one I’ve enjoyed the least, I believe. It is surprising considering I enjoy Westlake’s work as Richard Stark quite a bit through his Parker novels. I think if this had been shorter, it might have scored more points with me. Those first hundred pages were a real slog to get through. They can’t all be winners though.
June 15, 2017
Westlake Writes Bond -Sort Of
Forever and a Death was originally a treatment by Westlake for a new Bond movie in the mid 90's to follow Goldeneye. Although the movie was not made, Westlake turned the treatment into a novelization. Now finally Hard Case Crime has posthumously published Westlake's novel as one of its infamous lost novels.
Westlake put a lot of different elements into this story starting with a Bond-type mega-villain who runs a corporate empire and has hundreds of guys working to bring his mad schemes to fruition. It is probably a bit light on the Bond girls with the only female character being a young environmentalist and diver, Kim. There's mad scientist schemes, revenge schemes, man on the run themes, a sardonic sense of humor, and a race against time to the climax at the end.
It is quite readable although it suffers from unnecessary length. A shorter, more terse, compact story would probably have been more satisfying. Part of the length though is the circumstances of it having been developed out of a movie treatment rather than having been conceived as a novel in the first place.
Forever and a Death was originally a treatment by Westlake for a new Bond movie in the mid 90's to follow Goldeneye. Although the movie was not made, Westlake turned the treatment into a novelization. Now finally Hard Case Crime has posthumously published Westlake's novel as one of its infamous lost novels.
Westlake put a lot of different elements into this story starting with a Bond-type mega-villain who runs a corporate empire and has hundreds of guys working to bring his mad schemes to fruition. It is probably a bit light on the Bond girls with the only female character being a young environmentalist and diver, Kim. There's mad scientist schemes, revenge schemes, man on the run themes, a sardonic sense of humor, and a race against time to the climax at the end.
It is quite readable although it suffers from unnecessary length. A shorter, more terse, compact story would probably have been more satisfying. Part of the length though is the circumstances of it having been developed out of a movie treatment rather than having been conceived as a novel in the first place.
October 18, 2017
Donald Westlake has been one of my literary lodestars for decades, so it bothers me to say I didn't much care for this one, the latest in a series of posthumous publications from Hard Case Crime. The result of a stab at writing a James Bond film, which fell through, the novel has little in common with Bond besides the villain's spectacular nefarious plot to destroy Hong Kong.
But while it lacks anything of Ian Fleming, there isn't much of the Donald Westlake of legend. It feels mechanical and uninspired and lacks his piercing eye and sleek wit.
But while it lacks anything of Ian Fleming, there isn't much of the Donald Westlake of legend. It feels mechanical and uninspired and lacks his piercing eye and sleek wit.
July 16, 2017
Nearly a decade after his death, Donald E. Westlake, has a new book on the shelves. FOREVER AND A DEATH was released on June 13th by Hard Case Crime. The story was at one point almost BOND 18. Westlake was hired by EON to write the new James Bond film. Westlake’s idea was to have the story center around Britain returning Hong Kong to China in 1997, which at the time, was still two years away. The studio thought that it may be to explosive a topic since no one knew if returning Hong Kong to China would be an extremely violent and chaotic event. In the end, The studio passed on Westlake’s script and now we have it, in all it’s nearly 500 page glory.
FOREVER AND A DEATH opens up on the ocean, where the extremely wealthy and revenge filled, Richard Curtis, is testing out a new method of streamlining construction of his new resort island by detonating bombs underneath the water in succession that lays waste to everything on the island. During this experiment, the conservationist vessel, Planetwatch III, shows up to try to stop him. Thinking that if someone was in the water they would have to call off the experiment, Planetwatch diver, Kim Balder, jumps into the ocean and swims toward the island. After finding out that there is no way to stop the explosions, the test goes as planned and decimates every structure on the island, turning the land into a murky soup. Sadly, Kim is left for dead. But is she?
Westlake crafts a story full of suspense and action. The pacing is so swift, you fly through the pages (watch out of paper cuts). The book is told in four parts, with very short chapters, some of which are only a page or two.
The best characters in the book are the characters that are either morally grey or just downright evil. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who has read a Westlake book, or any of the Parker books he wrote as Richard Stark. The “bad guys” are flushed out extremely well, where are the “good guys” are a little stagnate. In fact, Kim is the most boring and borderline annoying character in the book. She is used more a plot device than an actual person, which may make some of today’s readers and SJW warriors a little upset.
Our hero is an engineer named George Manville. He is the one who created the device that is used on the island. When things go awry with him and his boss, Richard Curtis, he takes the responsibility of trying to take Curtis down. Manville, was a great character in the beginning of the book. He didn’t know who’s side he was on. He didn’t know what his fate may be. Once he kicks into high gear, his character does tend to fall a little flat. He has some great moments (garage door is your only hint) but those are few. In fact there is a huge chunk of the book which has our hero Missing In Action.
Richard Curtis on the other hand is an amazing character with a very well plotted arc that takes him from not wanting to really hurt people, to being completely fine with mass murder by the end. The great thing about it is, every decision he makes, backs him into a corner, where he has to make a choice to either stop what he’s doing or do something he had never even thought of doing before, blurring the line of his own ethics to get what he wants.
There are other great characters in this story that don’t seem to be very important at first and then something will hit you like a sack of bricks and that characters importance shines through.
When I first started reading this, I was almost jarred by how often the point of view changes. Every couple of pages, you’re seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. I thought this would put me off but Westlake is a master of digging into each character’s backstory and motivations in a quick, concise and entertaining way.
I think the thing that confused me about the story at first, was the books biggest selling point. This book was supposed to be a James Bond film. With that in mind, I kept waiting for a CIA agent or a double 0 something, to show up and start making things right. I didn’t even know who the protagonist / hero was until the 25th chapter which starts around the 100 page mark. Once I realized that there was no Secret Agent Man coming, the book really worked for me.
A lot of readers will be able to pick up on the foreshadowing pretty early on as to what Richard Curtis’s master plan is, but that doesn’t detract at all from it. It is nail biting and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. If you like fast paced action told by a master of the craft, you will absolutely love FOREVER AND A DEATH.
FOREVER AND A DEATH opens up on the ocean, where the extremely wealthy and revenge filled, Richard Curtis, is testing out a new method of streamlining construction of his new resort island by detonating bombs underneath the water in succession that lays waste to everything on the island. During this experiment, the conservationist vessel, Planetwatch III, shows up to try to stop him. Thinking that if someone was in the water they would have to call off the experiment, Planetwatch diver, Kim Balder, jumps into the ocean and swims toward the island. After finding out that there is no way to stop the explosions, the test goes as planned and decimates every structure on the island, turning the land into a murky soup. Sadly, Kim is left for dead. But is she?
Westlake crafts a story full of suspense and action. The pacing is so swift, you fly through the pages (watch out of paper cuts). The book is told in four parts, with very short chapters, some of which are only a page or two.
The best characters in the book are the characters that are either morally grey or just downright evil. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who has read a Westlake book, or any of the Parker books he wrote as Richard Stark. The “bad guys” are flushed out extremely well, where are the “good guys” are a little stagnate. In fact, Kim is the most boring and borderline annoying character in the book. She is used more a plot device than an actual person, which may make some of today’s readers and SJW warriors a little upset.
Our hero is an engineer named George Manville. He is the one who created the device that is used on the island. When things go awry with him and his boss, Richard Curtis, he takes the responsibility of trying to take Curtis down. Manville, was a great character in the beginning of the book. He didn’t know who’s side he was on. He didn’t know what his fate may be. Once he kicks into high gear, his character does tend to fall a little flat. He has some great moments (garage door is your only hint) but those are few. In fact there is a huge chunk of the book which has our hero Missing In Action.
Richard Curtis on the other hand is an amazing character with a very well plotted arc that takes him from not wanting to really hurt people, to being completely fine with mass murder by the end. The great thing about it is, every decision he makes, backs him into a corner, where he has to make a choice to either stop what he’s doing or do something he had never even thought of doing before, blurring the line of his own ethics to get what he wants.
There are other great characters in this story that don’t seem to be very important at first and then something will hit you like a sack of bricks and that characters importance shines through.
When I first started reading this, I was almost jarred by how often the point of view changes. Every couple of pages, you’re seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. I thought this would put me off but Westlake is a master of digging into each character’s backstory and motivations in a quick, concise and entertaining way.
I think the thing that confused me about the story at first, was the books biggest selling point. This book was supposed to be a James Bond film. With that in mind, I kept waiting for a CIA agent or a double 0 something, to show up and start making things right. I didn’t even know who the protagonist / hero was until the 25th chapter which starts around the 100 page mark. Once I realized that there was no Secret Agent Man coming, the book really worked for me.
A lot of readers will be able to pick up on the foreshadowing pretty early on as to what Richard Curtis’s master plan is, but that doesn’t detract at all from it. It is nail biting and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. If you like fast paced action told by a master of the craft, you will absolutely love FOREVER AND A DEATH.
November 15, 2017
3 1/2 stars. Nice solid work from Westlake. With it being a Hard Case Crime collection I had to read it as I'm a die hard HCC fan.
May 13, 2021
The backstory to this one was pretty wild. Apparently James Bond producers wanted Donald Westlake to adapt a Bond script to follow up the success of Goldeneye with. However, Westlake worked too slow for their liking, and they moved on. Westlake then made it an adventure novel with his own new characters. The only thing that Tomorrow Never Dies and Forever and a Death have in common is the villain's anxiety over the Hong Kong handover in 1997.
However, the bad guy, Richard Curtis's play is very Bond villain-esque. Outraged over how his company was treated during the Hong Kong handover, he decides to enlist an unwitting engineer to devise a device that can topple the reclaimed (from an engineering perspective, like land fill/coffer dam) land of Hong Kong. They test it out on an abandoned island, and while it works, an innocent diver gets caught up in the waves and barely survives. This leads to Manville and Curtis less-than-amicably parting ways, and the basis for the rest of the book.
What I really enjoyed about this is the depth of the side characters. About halfway through we meet a henchman of Curtis's, who out of desperation and an eagerness to please does some incredibly appalling things, but we understand why he acts the way he does. Westlake takes care to give his characters very grounded motivations. Curtis at first seems like a reasonable person, but then as we get more of his backstory, he seems so manically motivated by vengeance. As a boss, he's rather Hank Scorpio-ish.
However, there seems to be almost too many characters, and so many get side chapters that it distracts from the story. We don't need to know about a very late character's history of industrial espionage to justify why he's in the story. Things like that make it seem like ADD storytelling. The other real issue is, with so many characters, little focus is on Manville, the protagonist. Here he's basically your stoic man of action, but we don't find out more about him or what makes him tick. Still, this was a fun book, that definitely would have been a fun mid 90's thriller starring Keanu or Tom Berenger as the hero, and Michael Douglas as the villain
However, the bad guy, Richard Curtis's play is very Bond villain-esque. Outraged over how his company was treated during the Hong Kong handover, he decides to enlist an unwitting engineer to devise a device that can topple the reclaimed (from an engineering perspective, like land fill/coffer dam) land of Hong Kong. They test it out on an abandoned island, and while it works, an innocent diver gets caught up in the waves and barely survives. This leads to Manville and Curtis less-than-amicably parting ways, and the basis for the rest of the book.
What I really enjoyed about this is the depth of the side characters. About halfway through we meet a henchman of Curtis's, who out of desperation and an eagerness to please does some incredibly appalling things, but we understand why he acts the way he does. Westlake takes care to give his characters very grounded motivations. Curtis at first seems like a reasonable person, but then as we get more of his backstory, he seems so manically motivated by vengeance. As a boss, he's rather Hank Scorpio-ish.
However, there seems to be almost too many characters, and so many get side chapters that it distracts from the story. We don't need to know about a very late character's history of industrial espionage to justify why he's in the story. Things like that make it seem like ADD storytelling. The other real issue is, with so many characters, little focus is on Manville, the protagonist. Here he's basically your stoic man of action, but we don't find out more about him or what makes him tick. Still, this was a fun book, that definitely would have been a fun mid 90's thriller starring Keanu or Tom Berenger as the hero, and Michael Douglas as the villain
August 21, 2024
Repurposed from an unused treatment for a Bond film (it would have followed ‘Goldeneye’ and arguably have been a whole lot better than the dour, uninspired POS that actually did follow ‘Goldeneye’j, Westlake’s novel is an ingenious and often subversive thriller that globetrots between Australia and Hong Kong and features a high-stakes heist that even Parker might have thought a tad outlandish. Terrific entertainment.
August 16, 2017
Like so many great novels, there is a story behind Forever and a Death by Donald E. Westlake that rivals the suspense of the fictional prose itself.
It was with that as background that United Artists Studio in Hollywood commissioned Donald Westlake to write an original screenplay for an upcoming James Bond movie. What Westlake eventually produced for them was a thrilling tale of a businessman who seeks revenge against the entire island nation of Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, the studio was nervous about the political implications of his story. They stuck his screenplay on a shelf and largely forgot about it.
Not wanting to waste what he thought was an exceptionally good story, Westlake converted this tale into a novel with a protagonist other than James Bond. The result of that was this novel, Forever and a Death.
Unfortunately, Donald E. Westlake died on December 31, 2008, before this book could be published. After two decades of delay, this story is finally available for readers to savor - complete with an afterword by Jeff Kleeman, one of the producers who helped to connect Westlake with the James Bond project in the first place.
One of the things that impressed me about this novel is that, even though Westlake wrote it decades ago, time did not dull its heart-pounding edge. The reader will no doubt notice something that places it as having happened in the not too distant past - with its references to pay phones, fax machines, and other things that have largely disappeared from everyday life - but there is still a thrilling quality to Westlake's writing that is as timeless as ever.
The characters are vivid. The dialogue is sharp. The way police inspectors are skeptical at first but eventually swayed into action by the evidence of our villain's plot rings amazingly true.
I highly recommend Forever and a Death by Donald E. Westlake for any reader who enjoys James Bond stories, devours the original works of Tom Clancy, or simply loves a good thriller.
It was with that as background that United Artists Studio in Hollywood commissioned Donald Westlake to write an original screenplay for an upcoming James Bond movie. What Westlake eventually produced for them was a thrilling tale of a businessman who seeks revenge against the entire island nation of Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, the studio was nervous about the political implications of his story. They stuck his screenplay on a shelf and largely forgot about it.
Not wanting to waste what he thought was an exceptionally good story, Westlake converted this tale into a novel with a protagonist other than James Bond. The result of that was this novel, Forever and a Death.
Unfortunately, Donald E. Westlake died on December 31, 2008, before this book could be published. After two decades of delay, this story is finally available for readers to savor - complete with an afterword by Jeff Kleeman, one of the producers who helped to connect Westlake with the James Bond project in the first place.
One of the things that impressed me about this novel is that, even though Westlake wrote it decades ago, time did not dull its heart-pounding edge. The reader will no doubt notice something that places it as having happened in the not too distant past - with its references to pay phones, fax machines, and other things that have largely disappeared from everyday life - but there is still a thrilling quality to Westlake's writing that is as timeless as ever.
The characters are vivid. The dialogue is sharp. The way police inspectors are skeptical at first but eventually swayed into action by the evidence of our villain's plot rings amazingly true.
I highly recommend Forever and a Death by Donald E. Westlake for any reader who enjoys James Bond stories, devours the original works of Tom Clancy, or simply loves a good thriller.
January 30, 2023
In my opinion it was a bit meh. I was not satisfied. Good book but not great.
July 20, 2017
Westlake's known for writing without an outline and seeing where the story takes him, and FOREVER AND A DEATH feels like one of those exploratory drafts. In a thriller-writer of his calibre even a raw, unrefined, story is going to be entertaining and not without merit. But don't expect it to compare to his earlier efforts. FOREVER AND A DEATH lacks the lean, brutal focus of the Parker novels, for instance.
The loose connection to 007 is another comparison that might harm your enjoyment. I wouldn't go into this book expecting an adventure befitting of either Brosnan-era Bond (for whom the doomsday plot was originally pitched) or Ian Fleming. It's far too uneventful for the noisy 90s Bond, and too meandering for literary 007 - the protagonists swap about from chapter to chapter and it goes on a bit too long, if I'm honest.
Nevertheless, it's an interesting footnote for both 007 and Westlake fans, and a half-decent thriller in its own right.
The loose connection to 007 is another comparison that might harm your enjoyment. I wouldn't go into this book expecting an adventure befitting of either Brosnan-era Bond (for whom the doomsday plot was originally pitched) or Ian Fleming. It's far too uneventful for the noisy 90s Bond, and too meandering for literary 007 - the protagonists swap about from chapter to chapter and it goes on a bit too long, if I'm honest.
Nevertheless, it's an interesting footnote for both 007 and Westlake fans, and a half-decent thriller in its own right.
August 8, 2019
Forever and a Death is basically if Donald Westlake wrote a Bond film but with a little harder edge. All the archetypes of classic Bond films are there. The Hero, the Bond Girl, the Villian with the Master Plan, and the Muscle. The difference between this novel and the films that Westlake doesn't give only one character the lead, each character gets his or her due, fleshing out the motivations of all involved which makes it a more satisfying read.
July 23, 2017
I miss Donald Westlake (and Dortmunder, et al). This book does not read like one of his and will not satisfy your Westlake craving.
July 30, 2017
Very run of the mill thriller. Nowhere near as good as the Parker og Dortmunder novels
June 23, 2020
3.6/5
Westlake's rejected Bond concept-turned-novel-with-a-bad-title is pretty decent. It reminded me of another Westlake novel, his true last, The Comedy is Finished, although this is less well-done than that is.
The plot mainly follows our villain, Richard Curtis, as he seeks revenge against Hong Kong banks and businessmen for screwing him over in a plot that is actually quite complex and cleverly planned as well as executed in the final act.
We also follow a few cardboard individuals who are trying to stop him and can't seem to put two and two together until it's almost too late. They're supposed to be our protagonists, but they lack the wit, intelligence, and personality that Curtis has. It's clear right down to the final chapter that this is Curtis's story, and everything around him is more or less window dressing to keep the plot going. George Manville is dull and uninteresting, and his love interest Kim is dull and uninteresting and kind of stupid--the kind of stupid whose stupidity literally drives the plot for the entire first half of the novel before Westlake finally gets down to business and pushes the main point of focus where it should've been the entire time.
The pacing suffers a bit whenever we're stuck with Manville for more than two chapters at a time after the first act. It seems like Westlake had an idea of what to do with him, because the first part is where Manville shines, and after that, minus a clever scene involving a Honda in the third part (I think) Manville really doesn't do much. It's obvious he was meant to be the Bond stand-in, and hell, let's be real, if this were a Bond movie, it wouldn't be any worse than Goldfinger when you consider how little Bond actually did in that film compared to this novel.
This is not Westlake's best, but it's not his worst. If I were to go back and reread some of his work in the future, I would have at least two other options published by Hard Case Crime before I would ever want to revisit this one. In short: fun, though a little plodding, with a compelling villain and villainous plot, surrounded by a dull cast of characters that all come together in a decently executed final sixty pages. Recommended for fans of Westlake and curious Bond fans, but don't expect to be blown away.
Westlake's rejected Bond concept-turned-novel-with-a-bad-title is pretty decent. It reminded me of another Westlake novel, his true last, The Comedy is Finished, although this is less well-done than that is.
The plot mainly follows our villain, Richard Curtis, as he seeks revenge against Hong Kong banks and businessmen for screwing him over in a plot that is actually quite complex and cleverly planned as well as executed in the final act.
We also follow a few cardboard individuals who are trying to stop him and can't seem to put two and two together until it's almost too late. They're supposed to be our protagonists, but they lack the wit, intelligence, and personality that Curtis has. It's clear right down to the final chapter that this is Curtis's story, and everything around him is more or less window dressing to keep the plot going. George Manville is dull and uninteresting, and his love interest Kim is dull and uninteresting and kind of stupid--the kind of stupid whose stupidity literally drives the plot for the entire first half of the novel before Westlake finally gets down to business and pushes the main point of focus where it should've been the entire time.
The pacing suffers a bit whenever we're stuck with Manville for more than two chapters at a time after the first act. It seems like Westlake had an idea of what to do with him, because the first part is where Manville shines, and after that, minus a clever scene involving a Honda in the third part (I think) Manville really doesn't do much. It's obvious he was meant to be the Bond stand-in, and hell, let's be real, if this were a Bond movie, it wouldn't be any worse than Goldfinger when you consider how little Bond actually did in that film compared to this novel.
This is not Westlake's best, but it's not his worst. If I were to go back and reread some of his work in the future, I would have at least two other options published by Hard Case Crime before I would ever want to revisit this one. In short: fun, though a little plodding, with a compelling villain and villainous plot, surrounded by a dull cast of characters that all come together in a decently executed final sixty pages. Recommended for fans of Westlake and curious Bond fans, but don't expect to be blown away.
February 5, 2022
This posthumous novel is a novelty item in that its genesis involved Westlake being hired in 1995 to write a draft screenplay for the next James Bond film due in 1997 to follow up Goldeneye. He wrote two treatments, both revolving around the idea of a supervillain plotting to steal gold from Hong Kong and destroy the city to cover his tracks. Westlake reportedly liked the idea of a Bond movie set amidst the Hong Kong handover from the UK to China coming out the same year the event happened in real life. The problem was that, at the time, some people were predicting the handover would involve PLA tanks rolling through the streets killing whatever resistance might manifest. Consequently, the Bond producers didn't want to release an expensive blockbuster franchise film set during a real, contemporary event that might turn bloody and horrifying. (They also didn’t want to make another Bond film that China would ban, which happened with Goldeneye.) Westlake ran with the idea and reworked it into this novel, although it should be stated up front this not a Bond novel, or even a spy-action-hero novel.
The central plot involves Richard Curtis, an American property developer who made a fortune in Hong Kong until he was kicked out by mainland authorities after the handover, and is now planning his revenge (see above). So far so Bond, but Westlake elected to replace the Bond figure with a group of normal non-action people: Jerry Dietrich, an environmental activist with a personal vendetta against Curtis; Kim Baldur, another environmental activist who Curtis wants killed in a way that pins it on Dietrich; and George Manville, his lead engineer who unwittingly designed the technology central to Curtis’ revenge plan and discovers the plot to kill Baldur. Things escalate from there as Manville, Baldur and Dietrich try to figure out what Curtis is up to and stop him.
It mostly works, although the lack of a central protagonist puts Curtis at the center of the novel. That said, this also results in (1) an overlong narrative that rambles at times, and (2) a whole lot of character exposition bunched up at the start rather than spread more evenly as Westlake typically does, so it takes a while for the story to kick into gear. Also, the HK parts haven't aged well in terms of historical accuracy. And as someone who has lived in HK for 25 years (and has made dozens of trips to Singapore during that time), it’s pretty obvious to me that Westlake had never been to either Hong Kong or Singapore, though he did do quite a bit of research. All of which may be why Westlake never had it published – perhaps he wasn’t happy with the results or thought it needed more work. Anyway, it’s a decent story, but at the end of the day I found it more of a curiosity than an essential read.
The central plot involves Richard Curtis, an American property developer who made a fortune in Hong Kong until he was kicked out by mainland authorities after the handover, and is now planning his revenge (see above). So far so Bond, but Westlake elected to replace the Bond figure with a group of normal non-action people: Jerry Dietrich, an environmental activist with a personal vendetta against Curtis; Kim Baldur, another environmental activist who Curtis wants killed in a way that pins it on Dietrich; and George Manville, his lead engineer who unwittingly designed the technology central to Curtis’ revenge plan and discovers the plot to kill Baldur. Things escalate from there as Manville, Baldur and Dietrich try to figure out what Curtis is up to and stop him.
It mostly works, although the lack of a central protagonist puts Curtis at the center of the novel. That said, this also results in (1) an overlong narrative that rambles at times, and (2) a whole lot of character exposition bunched up at the start rather than spread more evenly as Westlake typically does, so it takes a while for the story to kick into gear. Also, the HK parts haven't aged well in terms of historical accuracy. And as someone who has lived in HK for 25 years (and has made dozens of trips to Singapore during that time), it’s pretty obvious to me that Westlake had never been to either Hong Kong or Singapore, though he did do quite a bit of research. All of which may be why Westlake never had it published – perhaps he wasn’t happy with the results or thought it needed more work. Anyway, it’s a decent story, but at the end of the day I found it more of a curiosity than an essential read.
July 14, 2017
‘Bond’-worthy!
Richard Curtis is a global businessman, having created both Curtis Construction Company and R C Structural. His wealth was made in Hong Kong, but when this once-British colony was handed back to the Chinese in 1997, Curtis, along with many others, was thrown out and moved to Singapore.
He has, however, never forgiven nor forgotten the ignominy of that time, and vowed to get even, and richer.
The book opens with Curtis and his chief engineer George Manville, testing an oscillating wave – a soliton – which is the root cause of tsunamis. The object of the test is Curtis’s island of Kanowit, and the test is successful – the island is destroyed and turned into a quivering lump of mud which will eventually dry up and be built on.
Just before the explosion takes place, a diver from the group of eco-warriors on the ship Planetwatch III enters the water, and Curtis and Manville are faced with the real possibility of someone dying during their experiment.
The resultant story of industrial espionage, revenge and romance are the things that Bond movies are made of. Indeed, when we read the blurb of the “Afterword” by Jeff Kleeman, we find that Mr Westlake was very much involved with the whole Bond franchise, and very nearly ended up writing the script for one of the films.
This is a very entertaining book, the plot of which is well within the bounds of possibility and I really enjoyed reading it and thoroughly recommend it.
Sméagol
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of this book to review.
Richard Curtis is a global businessman, having created both Curtis Construction Company and R C Structural. His wealth was made in Hong Kong, but when this once-British colony was handed back to the Chinese in 1997, Curtis, along with many others, was thrown out and moved to Singapore.
He has, however, never forgiven nor forgotten the ignominy of that time, and vowed to get even, and richer.
The book opens with Curtis and his chief engineer George Manville, testing an oscillating wave – a soliton – which is the root cause of tsunamis. The object of the test is Curtis’s island of Kanowit, and the test is successful – the island is destroyed and turned into a quivering lump of mud which will eventually dry up and be built on.
Just before the explosion takes place, a diver from the group of eco-warriors on the ship Planetwatch III enters the water, and Curtis and Manville are faced with the real possibility of someone dying during their experiment.
The resultant story of industrial espionage, revenge and romance are the things that Bond movies are made of. Indeed, when we read the blurb of the “Afterword” by Jeff Kleeman, we find that Mr Westlake was very much involved with the whole Bond franchise, and very nearly ended up writing the script for one of the films.
This is a very entertaining book, the plot of which is well within the bounds of possibility and I really enjoyed reading it and thoroughly recommend it.
Sméagol
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of this book to review.
October 1, 2021
There's a reason why posthumous works like this weren't published in the author's lifetime: because the author didn't feel they were strong enough to publish. In this case it really would have benefited from another draft. As the Afterword points out, Manville the engineer is the central focus of the first third or so of the book and then it just starts hopping around to a bunch of other characters while Manville becomes relegated to a mostly minor character. I can't help thinking that if Westlake had done another pass on it, he would have solidified the narrative structure to make it a better read.
It is an interesting curiosity, though. The original impetus for this was as a James Bond movie--what would have followed after Goldeneye instead of Tomorrow Never Dies. There's not really a lot of similarities between that and this book except it involves the machinations of a rich guy. In this case a Donald Trump type who's trying to bail himself out by stealing gold in Hong Kong. He recruits Manville to use an engineering process to destroy all evidence of the crime afterwards, but after a young diver interferes with the first test, Manville realizes what the rich guy is up to and escapes.
The problem is Manville is captured and taken to a "station" in Australia that's like a ranch and then he's pretty much out of the story. Then it starts skipping to the diver and her environmentalist friends, the rich guy, and a goon he recruits. It would have been better if it had been able to maintain focus on Manville or just alternating between Manville and the rich guy and maybe the diver.
Anyway, it's too bad a Westlake Bond movie never happened. It probably would have been better than Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, or certainly Die Another Day.
It is an interesting curiosity, though. The original impetus for this was as a James Bond movie--what would have followed after Goldeneye instead of Tomorrow Never Dies. There's not really a lot of similarities between that and this book except it involves the machinations of a rich guy. In this case a Donald Trump type who's trying to bail himself out by stealing gold in Hong Kong. He recruits Manville to use an engineering process to destroy all evidence of the crime afterwards, but after a young diver interferes with the first test, Manville realizes what the rich guy is up to and escapes.
The problem is Manville is captured and taken to a "station" in Australia that's like a ranch and then he's pretty much out of the story. Then it starts skipping to the diver and her environmentalist friends, the rich guy, and a goon he recruits. It would have been better if it had been able to maintain focus on Manville or just alternating between Manville and the rich guy and maybe the diver.
Anyway, it's too bad a Westlake Bond movie never happened. It probably would have been better than Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, or certainly Die Another Day.
June 7, 2017
Many manuscripts that have lain dormant have been resurrected, for good or ill, by publishers since the dawn of recorded time (hyperbole, I know). Billy Budd is an example of a good one. Add to that too short list Donald E. Westlake's return FOREVER AND A DEATH. Spoiler Alert: Billy Budd is the better book. FOREVER is a reworked treatment for a James Bond film that was never made. There are many Bond tropes in the novel but no overt Bond surrogate. It is simply a joy to revisit Don's wit and plotting expertise, all driven by portraits of disparate characters whom Don imbues with lives of their own. As in the Stark novels, there are asides as Don introduces the petty eccentricities of those not the focus of the main story. The plot itself is pure pulp fantasy, an evil power broker with plans of vengeance. In these post-election days it is difficult to not see real estate tycoons as malevolent, but Richard Curtis is an extreme example of the genus. There are dated elements in the book -- people do a lot of communicating by FAX -- and one plot twist is just a tad too coincidental. However, it is a joy to read. Were it not impossible to do so, given the importance of the Chinese market to film studios, this would make a crackerjack movie. It's that cinematic. Thank you, Charles Ardai and Hard Case Crime, for making this available to us.
July 30, 2022
Westlake tries his hand at the globetrotting technothriller and while it's an enjoyable read it probably was left on the shelf for a reason.
September 8, 2025
a real page turner of an adventure.
make sure you read the story of the story and the 007 connection.
make sure you read the story of the story and the 007 connection.
July 4, 2017
I am a huge Donald Westlake and so I was most like going to read this regardless of the reviews and I expect other Westlake fans will and, frankly, should do. Westlake had many different styles and this falls into the standard Westlake fare, neither comic (i.e. Dortmunder) nor gritty (i.e. Parker). This book was published after his death and so is a surprise treat for the fans.
Of course, the book is quite well written and while not being the worst thing I’ve ever read by Westlake it also doesn’t have much of the amazing unique cleverness that inhabits his best books. As was mentioned in the book and other reviews this was salvaged from a failed attempt at writing a 007 movie. It seems like Westlake was trying to please the producers by using a lot of cliché movie plot tricks, like very suspect coincidences and just dumb thinking on the part of the good guys. All these appear to just lengthen the book and drive the narrative along in a somewhat overworked way. Therefore, it lacks the organic feel that his best books have where even though something ridiculous happens as your read you’re thinking yep this totally makes sense.
So, the book has a Bond feel without Bond but with a Bond-ish super villain with a strange technical super weapon. It would make a pretty decent movie and is a good read as long as you don’t compare it with his other works.
Of course, the book is quite well written and while not being the worst thing I’ve ever read by Westlake it also doesn’t have much of the amazing unique cleverness that inhabits his best books. As was mentioned in the book and other reviews this was salvaged from a failed attempt at writing a 007 movie. It seems like Westlake was trying to please the producers by using a lot of cliché movie plot tricks, like very suspect coincidences and just dumb thinking on the part of the good guys. All these appear to just lengthen the book and drive the narrative along in a somewhat overworked way. Therefore, it lacks the organic feel that his best books have where even though something ridiculous happens as your read you’re thinking yep this totally makes sense.
So, the book has a Bond feel without Bond but with a Bond-ish super villain with a strange technical super weapon. It would make a pretty decent movie and is a good read as long as you don’t compare it with his other works.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews