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 First edition cover | |
| Author | Desmond Bagley |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Thriller |
| Publisher | Collins |
Publication date | 1969 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 292 pgs |
| Preceded by | The Vivero Letter |
| Followed by | Running Blind |
The Spoilers is a novel written by English author Desmond Bagley, [1] and was first published in 1969 with a cover by Norman Weaver.
When wealthy film tycoon, Sir Robert Hellier, loses his daughter to a heroin overdose, he declares war on the drug peddlers. He offers London drug treatment specialist, Nicholas Warren MD, unlimited financing to use his insider knowledge of the drug trade to smash the major international drug ring responsible. Initially reluctant, Warren is convinced by professional interest and personal circumstances to organise a team of friends and specialists who will use a combination of deceit and violence to infiltrate and bring down the drug ring, and to destroy a hundred million dollars' worth of heroin at its source in the Middle East.
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the dried latex of the Papaver somniferum plant; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical-grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brown powders sold illegally around the world as heroin are routinely diluted with cutting agents. Black tar heroin is a variable admixture of morphine derivatives—predominantly 6-MAM (6-monoacetylmorphine), which is the result of crude acetylation during clandestine production of street heroin. Heroin is used medically in several countries to relieve pain, such as during childbirth or a heart attack, as well as in opioid replacement therapy.
Morphine, formerly also called morphia, is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin produced by drying the latex of opium poppies. It is mainly used as an analgesic. There are numerous methods used to administer morphine: oral; sublingual; via inhalation; injection into a muscle, injection under the skin, or injection into the spinal cord area; transdermal; or via rectal suppository. It acts directly on the central nervous system (CNS) to induce analgesia and alter perception and emotional response to pain. Physical and psychological dependence and tolerance may develop with repeated administration. It can be taken for both acute pain and chronic pain and is frequently used for pain from myocardial infarction, kidney stones, and during labor. Its maximum effect is reached after about 20 minutes when administered intravenously and 60 minutes when administered by mouth, while the duration of its effect is 3–7 hours. Long-acting formulations of morphine are available as MS-Contin, Kadian, and other brand names as well as generically.
Desmond Bagley was an English journalist and novelist known mainly for a series of bestselling thrillers. He and fellow British writers such as Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean set conventions for the genre: a tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary hero pitted against villains determined to sow destruction and chaos for their own ends.
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The Connection is a 1961 found footage feature film directed by the American experimental filmmaker Shirley Clarke. The film was Clarke's first feature; she had made several short films over the previous decade. Jack Gelber wrote the screenplay, adapting his play of the same name. The film was the subject of significant court cases regarding censorship. It is the first known movie shot in the found footage format and beginning with a found footage title card.
Bahama Crisis is a first-person narrative thriller novel by English author Desmond Bagley, first published in 1982. It was completed by May 1980 following a holiday with his wife in the Bahamas taken late in 1979.
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The Vivero Letter is a first-person narrative novel written by English author Desmond Bagley, and was first published in 1968. It was also made into a film in 1998 of the same name starring Robert Patrick, Fred Ward and Chiara Caselli.
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Night of Error is a First-person narrative novel written by English author Desmond Bagley, and was first published in 1984. The manuscript was completed in 1962; however, Bagley desired to make revisions and never pursued publication. After his death in 1983, the work was completed using revisionary notes he had left behind, and was published posthumously by his widow.
Gangs in Liverpool have been in existence since the early-19th century. There were also various sectarian 'political' gangs based in and around the city during this period. During the 1960s and 1970s, crime in Liverpool mainly focused on theft and armed-robbery. In the late 1970s, drugs became the new and most profitable way for gangs to earn money and made local criminals very wealthy in a short space of time. Liverpool’s modern organised crime centres mainly on the drug trade. Merseyside police have reported in 2023 that as many as 120 gangs are operating around Merseyside.
Domino Island is a first-person narrative novel written by English author Desmond Bagley, and was first published posthumously in 2019. Originally drafted in 1972, the novel was discovered by Philip Eastwood in 2017 among the author's archived papers at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center in Boston, USA. Eastwood found a typed first draft with handwritten annotations by Bagley and his original editor, Bob Knittel. There was also correspondence between the two discussing plans for the second draft. The author and journalist Michael Davies acted as "curator" to bring the novel to publication.
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