''The Facts of Death'', first published in 1998, was the third novel by Raymond Benson featuring

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

(including Benson's

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of ''

Tomorrow Never Dies ''Tomorrow Never Dies'' is a 1997 spy film, the eighteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode from a screenplay ...

''). Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright—the final James Bond novel to do so—it was first published in the United Kingdom by

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint (trade name), imprint of Hachette (publisher), Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs ...

and in the United States by Putnam. The novel's title was originally ''The World Is Not Enough'', an English translation of the Latin phrase ''Orbis non sufficit'', which appears in the novel and film '' On Her Majesty's Secret Service''. The title was later used for the nineteenth James Bond film, released in 1999.Benson on Bond - The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers

Plot summary

''The Facts of Death'' starts off with several deaths from mysterious diseases. We first find Bond in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, where a number of British troops have been discovered murdered under mysterious circumstances. Bond gets too close for comfort to the group behind the murders and is attacked, but rescued by a fiery Greek agent, Niki Mirakos, who becomes Bond's love interest.Bond then returns to Britain, where he is invited to attend a dinner party being held by Sir Miles Messervy, the former M. The current M and her boyfriend are also in attendance, and the latter is murdered after the party. M then tells Bond that all of the killings are connected—near all the bodies were statues of Greek deities and numbers, keeping a running count of the victims. Bond is sent to Greece and partnered with Niki. They are both suspicious of an internationally-known mathematic cult called the Decada. The head of the group is a Greek mathematician, Konstantine Romanos. Bond goes to a casino about two hours away from Athens and beats Romanos in a game of

baccarat Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score ...

, catching the attention of an attractive woman named Hera Volopoulos, also a member of the Decada. After she and Bond make love, she drugs Bond and takes him to Konstantine. Konstantine orders Hera to kill Bond, but he manages to escape. Bond realises that Konstantine plans to start a major war between Greece and Turkey, and locates his hideout just in time to witness Hera murder Konstantine. She leaves Bond to stop a

nuclear missile Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. Several methods have been developed to carry out this task. ''Strategic'' nuclear weapons are used primari ...

that will be fired from Greece into Turkey. Hera's plan is to profit from the chaos ensuing after she releases a new virus worldwide. Bond, with assistance from the Greek military, kills her and stops the missile.

Locations

Locations where the book takes place include: *

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Publication history

* UK first hardback edition: May 1998

* US first hardback edition: June 1998 Putnam * UK first paperback edition: 5 November 1998 Coronet Books * US first paperback edition: August 1999 Jove Books * US first paperback edition: August 2022

instagram Books Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be ...

by MANASVI GHUNE

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Facts of Death, The 1998 British novels James Bond books Novels by Raymond Benson Novels set in Greece Hodder & Stoughton books

Plot summary

Locations

Publication history

See also

References