NOTHING LASTS FOREVER

New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1979. First edition. Near fine in a very good jacket.. First printing of Thorp's thriller, the tale of an off-duty policeman battling German terrorists in a Los Angeles office building - and basis for the blockbuster holiday stalwart DIE HARD. Thorp's sequel to his 1966 novel THE DETECTIVE, continuing the gritty, noirish adventures of Joe Leland, played by Frank Sinatra in the 1968 adaptation of that first installment. In this sequel, set over a single 24-hour period in a single building, Thorp follows the traditional prescriptions for a dramatic tragedy, adhering to the unities of time, place, and action. Remarkably, obedience to the formal elements suggested by Aristotle and codified by 16th-century Italian dramatists is not the book's most enduring claim to fame: NOTHING LASTS FOREVER also had a film adaptation, in which Joe Leland was renamed John MacLane; and under that name, incarnated by Bruce Willis in DIE HARD, Thorp's character ascended to immortality in the pantheon of world-weary tough guys who have an excessively hard time during the holidays. Increasingly scarce. 8'' x 5.75''. Original half dark blue cloth with speckled red cloth boards. In original unclipped ($9.95) dust jacket, illustration by Charlie Geer. 188 pages. Minor edgwear, rubbing to jacket with some foxing on verso. Lower front flap corner clipped, but price intact (as common). Couple of small bumps to corners of book. Overall, bright and sound.