More than most other Gardner novels, Death Is Forever is grounded in contemporary events, with the fallout from the end of the Cold War and the failed 1991 Russian coup being important backdrops to the story.

Bond, along with American desk agent Elizabeth Zara St. John, M and Bill Tanner go through Vanya and Eagle's last days, to understand how they could be tracked down.

After successfully breaking free from two of Wiesen's men on the train, Bond decides he doesn't trust Spraker and they split up at the Paris station.

Bond then meets another Cabal member, Gus Wimper, with whom he forms a temporary alliance when Easy, Simeon, Spraker and Bruin are captured by Wiesen's men.

Bond realizes that the plan involves the not-yet-completed Channel Tunnel between France and Great Britain, where the EU's twelve prime ministers will meet at the premiere of the Eurostar.