History Literature / TriggerMortis

It's 1957, UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace is heating up, and [[Literature/{{Goldfinger}} James Bond and Pussy Galore]] are living together in Bond's flat... [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome and it's starting to grate]]. So Bond jumps at the chance to take a mission involving one of his favourite pastimes: motor-racing. But a Soviet plot to kill a racing driver [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot leads Bond to discover something far bigger]], which puts the future of the U.S. space program at risk.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A big part of why Pussy leaves Bond. The novel shows for the first time something Fleming only ever mentioned happening in the background – the end of Bond's relationship with the GirlOfTheWeek. Bond and Pussy are starting to grow irritated at each other, as he prefers his solitude at home, and she has unfinished business with her criminal gang in the States. Eventually, Pussy leaves, but they part (with her insistence) on good terms with no regrets.

* {{Feelies}}: The dustcover of the original European edition can be cut up to make a paper model of the Vanguard rocket!

A Literature/JamesBond novel published in 2015, and written by Creator/AnthonyHorowitz. It contains small amounts of material originally written by Creator/IanFleming, from a series of short pitches for a potential TV series that never was. The original pitch was titled "Murder on Wheels", which becomes a chapter title in the novel.

It's 1957, and [[Literature/{{Goldfinger}} James Bond and Pussy Galore]] are living together in Bond's flat... [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome and it's starting to grate]]. So Bond jumps at the chance to take a mission involving one of his favourite pastimes: motor-racing. But a Soviet plot to kill a racing driver [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot leads Bond to discover something far bigger]], which puts the future of the U.S. space program at risk.

It's 1957, and [[Literature/{{Goldfinger}} James Bond and Pussy Galore]] are living together in Bond's flat... [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome and it's starting to grate]]. So Bond jumps at the chance to take a mission involving one of his favourite pastimes: motor-racing. But a Soviet plot to kill a racing driver [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot leads Bond to discover something far bigger]], and the future of the Space Race at risk.

* IfItsYouItsOkay: With a touch of FixFic for the ValuesDissonance in ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}''[[note]]Where Pussy was only a lesbian because she was abused by her uncle as a kid[[/note]], Pussy Galore decides she had fun with James, and has no regrets, but from now on she'll stick to women.

* PairTheSuitors: For a certain definition of "suitor". Pussy Galore and James Bond begin the novel as an official couple, but it's clear the relationship is close to having run its course. Meanwhile, Logan Fairfax and Bond clearly share a mutual attraction, but there is also an enormous amount of hesitancy - and most of it on Logan's part - to see the relationship progress beyond teacher/student and the occasional dinner together. In any event, the two women ultimately end up together.

* RedRightHand: An unusually psychological example for a Bond novel - Sin is described as "passably good-looking" rather than a Fleming-esque grotesque. But he wears extremely strong-prescription glasses, and behind them, his eyes are described as [[EyesNeverLie absolutely dead and expressionless]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A big part of why Pussy leaves Bond. The novel shows for the first time something Fleming only ever mentioned happening in the background - the end of Bond's relationship with the GirlOfTheWeek. Bond and Pussy are starting to grow irritated at each other, as he prefers his solitude at home, and she has unfinished business with her criminal gang in the States. Eventually, Pussy leaves, but they part (with her insistence) on good terms with no regrets.

* WhatMeasureIsAMook: Bond gets confronted with this ''hard'' when he meets the guy who drove the digger that [[BuriedAlive buried him alive]] earlier. The guy - practically a kid - insists he's [[BadBoss trapped in the job because they'd kill him if he left]] and pleads for his life. Unfortunately, [[KickTheDog Bond can't afford to let him live.]] [[spoiler: A few pages later it turns out he [[PetTheDog changed his mind at the last moment]].]]

A James Bond novel published in 2015, and written by Creator/AnthonyHorowitz. It contains small amounts of material originally written by Fleming, from a series of short pitches he did for a potential TV series that never was. The original pitch was titled "Murder on Wheels", which becomes a chapter title in the novel.

A James Bond novel published in 2015, and written by Creator/AnthonyHorowitz. It contains small amounts of material originally written by Fleming, from a series of short pitches he did for a potential TV series that never was. The original pitch was titled "Murder On Wheels", which becomes a chapter title in the novel.

It's 1957, and [[Literature/{{Goldfinger}} James Bond and Pussy Galore]] are living together in Bond's flat... [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome and it's starting to grate.]] So Bond jumps at the chance to take a mission involving one of his favourite pastimes - motor-racing. But a Soviet plot to kill a racing driver [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot leads Bond to discover something far bigger]], and the future of the Space Race at risk.

! Tropes:

* WrenchWench: Logan Fairfax, daughter of a Grand Prix racer and expert driver herself. [[spoiler: She ends up with Pussy Galore rather than James Bond!]]

* TextualCelebrityResemblance: Jeopardy Lane looks like Jean Seberg.

* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: It's the trope-naming series, and Jason Sin does an absolutely textbook example. He puts on (an apparently mediocre) dinner for Bond, including a badly-made martini. He then [[JustBetweenYouAndMe shares the details of his plan because he plans to kill them both.]] Bond [[YoureInsane bluntly tells him to shove it.]] And Jeopardy pockets a CutleryEscapeAid at the end.
* PairTheSuitors: For a certain definition of "suitor". Pussy Galore and James Bond begin the novel as an official couple, but it's clear the relationship is close to having run its course. Meanwhile, Logan Fairfax and Bond clearly share a mutual attraction, but there is also an enormous amount of hesitancy - and most of it on Logan's part - to see the relationship progress beyond teacher/student and the occasional dinner together. In any event, the two women ultimately end up falling for each other.

* BiggerBad: SMERSH are paying Sin to sabotage the rocket flight. But beyond that, he genuinely doesn't care about them or their politics in the least.

It's 1957, and [[Literature/{{Goldfinger}} James Bond and Pussy Galore]] are living together in Bond's flat... [[RealityEnsues and it's starting to grate.]] So Bond jumps at the chance to take a mission involving one of his favourite pastimes - motor-racing. But a Soviet plot to kill a racing driver [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot leads Bond to discover something far bigger]], and the future of the Space Race at risk.

* RealityEnsues: A big part of why Pussy leaves Bond. The novel shows for the first time something Fleming only ever mentioned happening in the background - the end of Bond's relationship with the GirlOfTheWeek. Bond and Pussy are starting to grow irritated at each other, as he prefers his solitude at home, and she has unfinished business with her criminal gang in the States. Eventually, Pussy leaves, but they part (with her insistence) on good terms with no regrets.

* IfItsYouItsOkay: With a touch of FixFic for the ValuesDissonance in ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}''[[labelnote:T]]Where Pussy was only a lesbian because she was abused by her uncle as a kid[[/labelnote]], Pussy Galore decides she had fun with James, and has no regrets, but from now on she'll stick to women.

* CoolCar: Bond drives a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maserati_250F Maserati 250f]], one of the most beautiful racing cars ever built, around [[RacingGame/ThatOneLevel Nürburgring]]. The book also features the (retroactive) first appearance of his new personal car, a Bentley Mk VI.

* EvilPlan: Jason Sin (under direction from SMERSH) plans to sabotage the test flight of the Vanguard rocket, which seems at first to Bond to be overly simplistic - rockets blow up all the time, after all. [[spoiler: The real trick is to blow up the Empire State Building along with a replica of the Vanguard missile. A few judiciously placed "witnesses" will mean it'll appear the debris from the aborted Vanguard launch landed in Manhattan and destroyed the iconic building and killed thousands. Even if they find the real wreckage in the Atlantic eventually, the enquiry and public backlash will have set back the US ten years in the Space Race.]]
* {{Expy}}: In Fleming's original plot sketch, Lancy Smith was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_Moss Stirling Moss]]. Horowitz made him an {{Expy}} because the real Moss mightn't necessarily appreciate being featured in a Bond novel, and [[ForegoneConclusion obviously wasn't killed by Russian assassins in 1957]], being still alive when the book was released.

* BiTheWay: [[spoiler: Logan Fairfax seems genuinely interested in Bond, but ends up with Pussy Galore. Probably at least partly a corrective to Ian Fleming's NoBisexuals approach in ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}'']].

* {{Expy}}: In Fleming's original plot sketch, Lancy Smith was the still-living [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_Moss Stirling Moss]]. Horowitz made him an {{Expy}} because the real Moss mightn't necessarily appreciate being featured in a Bond novel, and obviously wasn't killed by Russian assassins in 1957.

* RedRightHand: An unusually psychological example for a Bond novel - Sin is described as "passably good-looking" rather than a Fleming-esque grotesque. But he wears extremely strong-prescription glasses, and behind them, his eyes are described as [[WindowsOfTheSoul absolutely dead and expressionless]].

* TakeMeOutAtTheBallGame: Bond is initially tasked with preventing the murder of Formula 1 driver Lancy Smith during a race at the Nurburgring.

* {{Expy}}: An unusually deliberate example. In Fleming's original plot sketch, Lancy Smith was the still-living [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_Moss Stirling Moss]]. Horowitz made him an {{Expy}} because the real Moss mightn't necessarily appreciate being featured in a Bond novel, and obviously wasn't killed by Russian assassins in 1957.

* HotSubOnSubAction: Bond keeps calm while he's being buried alive by remembering being on board [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Trespasser_(P312) HMS Trespasser]] during the real-life incident when the Captain thought it was a case of this... but he actually torpedoed a dead whale.

* WhatMeasureIsAMook: Bond gets confronted with this ''hard'' when he meets the guy who drove the digger that [[BuriedAlive buried him alive]] earlier. The guy - practically a kid - insists he's [[IDidWhatIHadToDo trapped in the job because they'd kill him if he left]] and pleads for his life. Unfortunately, [[KickTheDog Bond can't afford to let him live.]] [[spoiler: A few pages later it turns out he [[PetTheDog changed his mind at the last moment]].]]

* TextualCelebrityResemblance: Jeopardy Lane looks like Jean Seberg.

* JustFollowingOrders: The young man driving the digger that [[BuriedAlive dug Bond's grave.]] He explains that he's an ex-con who took the only job he could to support his family, and now he can't leave or they'll kill him. Bond, still going through the [[WhatMeasureIsAMook crisis of conscience]] he was in at the start of ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}'', agonises over whether to kill him or risk him giving away Bond's escape. [[spoiler: He knocks him out, but only at the very last second. He decides that's the difference between him and his enemies - [[PetTheDog he's capable of mercy]].]]

* BiTheWay: [[spoiler: Logan Fairfax seems genuinely interested in Bond, but ends up with Pussy Galore. Probably at least partly a corrective to Ian Fleming's NoBisexuals approach in ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}'']]