The Anti-Death League – Kingsley Amis

Unclipped dust jacket, very good+. First edition (Stanton, p.55). By the author of Bright November; Colonel Sun; The Evans Country; Girl, 20; The Green Man; Jake’s Thing; Lucky Jim; Lucky Jim’s Politics; On Drink. Amis was a prolific writer, with a long career.

“The nervous neutralism of the cold war provides Amis with a theme for this slightly outrageous suspense story.” (Time Magazine, Oct. 14, 1966, p.15.)

In this surreal comedy of soldiers and spies, Lieutenant James Churchill and his colleagues find themselves questioning their purpose. Are they for death or against it? These men of action travel between the barracks, the lunatic asylum and the house of an aristocratic nymphomaniac in search of answers. Few know the awful truth about Operation Apollo, the mission they are being trained for, fewer still understand the motives of the powerful psychiatrist Dr Best, who thinks he is surrounded by repressed homosexuals, and none know the identity of the secret agent among them. When the Anti-Death League is founded, they are at last offered the chance to rebel and perhaps escape.