''Domino Island'' is a
first-person narrative novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
written by
English author
Desmond Bagley, and was first published posthumously in
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
. Originally drafted in 1972, the novel was discovered by Philip Eastwood in 2017 among the author's archived papers at the
Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center in Boston, USA. Eastwood found a typed first draft with handwritten annotations by Bagley and his original editor, Bob Knittel. There was also correspondence between the two discussing plans for the second draft. Michael Davis acted as "curator" to bring the novel to publication.
HarperCollins first released news of the unpublished thriller on 12 October 2018 at the Frankfurt Book Fair (
Frankfurter Buchmesse). It was published on 9 May 2019.
''Domino Island'', The Bagley Brief
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Plot introduction
Bill Kemp, an ex-serviceman working in London as an insurance investigator, is sent to the Caribbean to determine the legitimacy of an expensive life insurance claim following the inexplicable death of businessman David Salton. His rapidly inflated premiums immediately before his death stand to make his young widow Jill Salton very wealthy. Once there, Kemp discovers that Salton's political ambitions had made him a lot of enemies, and local tensions around a forthcoming election are already spilling over into protest and violence on the streets. Kemp eventually realises that Salton's death and the local unrest are a deliberate smokescreen for an altogether more ambitious plot by an enemy in their midst.
References
External links
{{Desmond Bagley
2019 British novels
Novels by Desmond Bagley
Novels published posthumously
Novels set in the Caribbean
HarperCollins books