( CNN ) -- Helen Fielding 's latest novel on Bridget Jones is n't even out yet and it 's already reportedly a shocker . This weekend , The Sunday Times published excerpts from Fielding 's upcoming book , `` Bridget Jones : Mad About the Boy , '' that reveal a crucial character , Mr. Darcy , has been killed off . Cue the collective gasps of horror from around the world . Fielding first introduced heroine Bridget Jones in 1996 with her best-selling `` Bridget Jones 's Diary , '' a cheeky look at a 30-something single woman 's adventures with life and love in London . During that initial installment , Bridget gets to know the prickly but sweet Mark Darcy , and in the follow-up , 1999 's `` Bridget Jones : The Edge of Reason , '' he proposes . But by the time we get to `` Mad About the Boy , '' Darcy is dead and Bridget is a 51-year-old widowed mother of two . ( At least they got to have kids before he kicked the bucket -- the reason behind which is still unknown . ) Fielding said when the new novel was announced that Bridget would be in a different place with `` Mad About the Boy . '' `` My life has moved on and Bridget 's will move on , too , '' the author said in February . `` I hope people will have as much fun reading it , as I am writing it . '' That 's questionable , considering some of the intense reactions fans have had to the news of Darcy 's death . `` Just found out Mark Darcy , from the # BridgetJones sequel , was killed off ! ! ! ! I ca n't handle this ! '' said one fan . `` Helen Fielding killed off Mark Darcy in the new Bridget Jones book ? My hopeless romantic heart is devastated , '' said another . Given that these reactions have poured in on Twitter , the conversation does occasionally turn hyperbolic : `` The news said that Mark darcy gets killed off in the 3rd Bridget Jones , my life has ended , '' tweeted one distraught fan . Posted another : `` If Mark Darcy is really dead I have no reason to live anymore . # overlydramatic # bridgetjones # whywouldshedothis '' Yet another clung to some `` Dexter '' -inspired hope : `` Could it be that Mark Darcy fakes his own death & ends up as a lumberjack in the Pacific Northwest ? '' the user queried . Either way , it is apparent that Bridget has moved on . In the Sunday Times excerpt , she describes her indecision between attending pal Talitha 's 60th birthday party , and spending time with her `` toy boy , '' a nearly-30-year-old named Roxster . Both `` Bridget Jones 's Diary '' and `` The Edge of Reason '' were adapted into movies starring Renee Zellweger as Bridget and Colin Firth as Mark Darcy , and a third movie is expected to be on the way . At this point , we 're not sure if Firth should be quite so excited .
Author Helen Fielding has killed off a major character in her third novel . Bridget Jones ' character , Tom Darcy , is dead in ` ` Mad About the Boy '' Fans have reacted with shock to the news . It 's unclear how this will impact the third book .