Nothing Lasts Forever (Thorp novel)
Sequel to The Detective, adapted into Die Hard.
Nothing Lasts Forever is a 1979 action thriller novel by American author Roderick Thorp, serving as a sequel to his 1966 novel The Detective. It follows retired detective Joseph Leland as he becomes embroiled in a hostage crisis at a Los Angeles office complex, fighting European terrorists to save his estranged daughter. The novel is best known as the basis for the 1988 film adaptation Die Hard.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Roderick Thorp
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Genre
- Thriller novel
- Publisher
- W. W. Norton & Company
- Released
- 1979
- Format
- Print (hardback & paperback)
- Dewey Decimal
- 813/.5/4
Facts from the source article.
Plot
Retired NYPD detective and recovering alcoholic Joe Leland visits the 40-story Klaxon Oil Corporation headquarters in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, where his daughter Stephanie Leland Gennaro works. On the flight to LA he befriends stewardess Kathi Logan. While waiting for his daughter's Christmas party, German Autumn–era terrorist Anton 'Little Tony the Red' Gruber and his twelve armed accomplices seize the skyscraper, taking all 74 guests hostage, including Stephanie's children.
Leland recognizes Gruber, the son of a Nazi SS officer, from a counter-terrorist conference. Barefoot after exercising to relieve jetlag, Leland escapes during the takeover and witnesses Gruber kill the Klaxon CEO and steal documents exposing Klaxon's dealings with Chile's junta, as well as attempt to access a safe containing $6 million in cash. Though he agrees with the terrorists' motives, Leland opposes their methods and fights them alone to save Stephanie.
He kills several terrorists, including Hans, brother of second-in-command Karl, and communicates with the LAPD from the roof while eluding capture through the ventilation system. He throws a corpse out a window to get police attention, and Kathi is brought to the scene as a witness.
Background and film adaptation
In 1975, Roderick Thorp saw the film The Towering Inferno and later had a dream of a man being chased through a skyscraper by armed men, which he developed into Nothing Lasts Forever. Thorp intended the book as a sequel to The Detective so it could become a follow-up film starring Frank Sinatra as Joe Leland, but Sinatra declined. The role was then offered to Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and others before Bruce Willis signed on. The film was retitled Die Hard and made into a stand-alone story, though many scenes, characters, and dialogue were adapted from the novel.
Key changes included making the protagonist a younger detective named John McClane, changing the person he visits to his estranged wife, and replacing Klaxon Oil with the Japanese Nakatomi Corporation. The film's terrorists are professional thieves posing as terrorists, seeking $640 million in bearer bonds, and most are German, including their leader Hans Gruber, whose name references Karl's brother from the novel. The novel's ending has Leland's daughter killed, while the film has McClane save his wife.
Bruce Willis stated in a 1988 interview that he portrayed McClane with fear and vulnerability to make audiences believe he could die, as Joseph Leland could have died of his injuries in the book. Famous action sequences taken from the book include Leland crawling through HVAC ducts and dropping a C-4 bomb down an elevator shaft.
More in Characters & Cast
Elsewhere in Die Hard
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