Nobody Lives Forever - James Bond, Bk 5 Author:John E. Gardner, Ian Fleming Many have tried; none has succeeded. Not even James Bond's most desperate adversaries, not even all the global resources of a SMERSH or a SPECTRE under the diabolical leadership of Ernst Stavro Blofeld or, in more recent days, Colonel Tamil Rahani, have managed to defeat 007. — But is it because no one has discovered 007's soft spot? It a... more »ll starts innocently enough: The suave James Bond is on leave in Europe, motoring across France in his Bentley Mulsanne Turbo on his way to visit friends in Italy, then to a sanitorium in Austria, where his devoted housekeeper, May, is convalescing from a serious illness. Soon enough, however, ominous event begin to take place: Sudden death strike at least four people who come close to Bond during his journey, Coincidences? Perhaps. But is Bond's encounter with the wealthy and beauteous brown-eyed Sukie Tempesta known as "La Principessa," or her cohort, the equally charming" Nannie" Norwich who heads the world's only female bodyguard service, truly a coincidence? Then a phone call comes, from May's doctor at the sanitorium: Bond's housekeeper has been kidnapped, and with her a familiar visitor, M's secretary and Bond's longtime (if discreet admirer, Miss Moneypenny. Soon enough Bond realizes what has happened. There is a contract out in the espionage world: ten million Swiss francs for James Bond's head literally severed and delivered on silver charger. The donor: none other than Tamil Rahani himself, who was last seen in John Gardner's Role of Honor) plummeting from an airship into Lake Geneva. Filled with double-crosses that will throw off even the most seasoned Bond hand, this is high-tech, high-tension thriller writing at its very best, proving once and for all that Nobody Lives Forever.« less