Forever and a Death

In the early 1990s, the producers of the James Bond films approached the late Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Donald Westlake (1933–2008) to write the next 007 adventure. The story the author envisioned centered on the then recent transfer of Hong Kong to Chinese control. Deciding the plot would be too controversial, the producers scrapped the movie. Westlake reworked this idea into a novel, which has never been published until now. Business titan Richard Curtis's latest real estate development is just a Ponzi scheme to acquire money for his real motive, revenge on the Chinese who kicked him out of Hong Kong after their takeover of the British colony. If enacted, his scheme will cause the physical destruction of Hong Kong and the acquisition of the gold in the city's banks. Standing in his way are an engineer, an environmental activist, and a beautiful blonde.