Jack Higgins books

Wolf at the Door, The (2011)

Slightly better than his recent books, it's hard to even justify giving this three stars, it's firmly in 2.5 territory.This novel begins with the ending (which happens to be the part containing the most action, and interest). It then steadily proceeds downhill with recounting of past events leadi...

The Wolf at the Door (2010)

Here’s another fine thriller from Jack Higgins, and at 80 years of age!This one's structured differently than most. The first third of the book’s action reveals the end game: a fast paced shoot 'em up set of assassination attempts aimed at Ferguson and several of his key people. At this point you...

Devil is Waiting, A (2012)

I have not read a Jack Higgins book since "The Eagle Has Landed" and I have never read any of the Sean Dillon series. Having finished this I can confidently say I won't be reading any more of either. This type of "heavy on the hardware" adventure thriller is not my cup of tea. The plot is Ok, but...

Death Trade, The (2013)

If you're addicted to Higgins and the exploits of Dillon from way back, you'll probably like this one too. Sadly I find myself growing a little weary of the formula and spreading out my intake over a couple years at a time. It was fun to step back into Dillon's world again for a little while, b...

The President's Daughter (2003)

This novel is number 6 in the Dillon series and is basically a kidnapping & ransom story with the details jiggled a little.The illegitimate daughter of the President of the United States is kidnapped by Israeli hardliners in an attempt to blackmail him into signing off on the wholesale attack of ...

Confessional (1997)

#3 in the Liam Devlin series. Devlin, former IRA gunman, has retired to the life of University English professor. He is called out of retirement to help catch a Cuchulain, a Russian trained terrorist. He hasn't been identified from the photos that British Intelligence has and Devlin is the only o...

Dark Side of the Street (1973)

With commando-like precision, someone was breaking Britain's most notorious prisoners out of jail, and delivering convicted spies back to the Soviets. His code name was The Baron -- there was just one way to trace him: put a secret operative inside the walls and let the Baron get him out. To do ...

The Dark Side of the Island (1980)

I think it’s a sign of Jack Higgins’s talent for storytelling that I blew through this book in three sittings. I’ve read several of his books over the last 20 years, but I hadn’t read this one yet. It tells the story of a former British commando who goes back to a small Greek island 17 years afte...

Day of Reckoning (2001)

This is a short, uninspired novel that feels like it was rushed out in order to fulfill a book contract or something. Either that, or Higgins is running out of ideas. Day of Reckoning is entertaining enough to be a passable read, but there's hardly a description or moment of subtle characteriza...

Night of the Fox (1991)

A hugely-entertaining WW2 yarn serving as a clever "remix" of classic Higgins themes (e.g. cheeky Irish rogues and celebrity impersonations). Jersey, 1944: the German occupying force is startled to receive a visit from none other than Field Marshal Rommel, tasked by Hitler with overseeing the Wes...

Edge of Danger (2002)

The real problem with Edge of Danger is that if you’ve read other Sean Dillon books you can probably see what’s coming. The novel starts well, introducing new characters (Ferguson’s cousin and an entire family of villains, the noble and millionaire Rashids) as well as bringing back some familiar ...

To Catch a King (1994)

Jack Higgins has always been one of my favorite authors. I found The Eagle Has Landed to be one of the best I've read, and still have this in my collection. To Catch A King was a book I found in a thrift store nearly 20 years ago, and finally got around to reading it. The premise takes place when...

Angel of Death (1996)

Jack Higgins still has the touch. This is an absorbing, fast-paced thriller in the best sense of the word. The plot is current, and quite believable. Once again, ex-IRA terrorist Sean Dillon is teamed with Scotland Yard DCI Hannah Bernstein and her boss, Brigadier Charles Ferguson. He runs an eli...

The Eagle Has Flown (1991)

#4 in the Liam Devlin series. This novel is a sequel to The Eagle Has Landed (1975), a 1943 plot by Heinrich Himmler to kidnap (or kill) Winston Churchill. The plot was foiled and Irish gunman Liam Devlin was wounded and escaped, eventually to Lisbon, while 13 of 14 German Paratroopers were kille...

A Fine Night for Dying (2003)

1969 short Brit thriller a little tame by modern standards..."Dying" was our introduction to prolific author Jack Higgins, a native Irishman heavily influenced by Britain's role in WW-II. In this post-war "thriller", British intelligence agent Paul Chavasse is assigned a case involving a body dis...

Flight of Eagles (1999)

Jack Higgins tells the amazing story of Max and Harry Kelso, identical twin brothers of German-American descent. In World War I, their father, Jack Kelso, flew for the Royal British Flying Corps. He fell in love with his German nurse, Baroness Elsa Von Halder, while hospitalized after his plane...

A Jack Higgins Trilogy: Solo, Luciano's Luck, Touch the Devil (1988)

Luciano's Luck (1981)

Luciano's Luck by Jack Higgins is very short, only two audio tape cassettes. It was a pleasant surprise. Since I had already read some reviews about the fiction in this historical fiction story, I did a little bit of research on this short chapter of history prior to listening to the cassettes. T...

The Last Place God Made (1985)

A short adventure novel set in the Amazon/Brazil in the 1930's-early 40's era. The main characters are involved in a flying business, ferrying mail & cargo. People who populate the outposts at the edge of civilization fill out the cast of players. Fatal skirmishes between the native population (...

Midnight Runner (2003)

(Note that I only read to page 62. I stopped because life is too short to read books that annoy me. If someone believes these problems stop later in the book, then by all means correct me.)This is the second political/military thriller I've read, written by a long-running best-selling author, tha...

Dark Justice (2005)

Dark Justice, while not one of the best Sean Dillon adventures, is a worthy entry in the series. This time a British-born Muslim assassin tries to kill the American President and the aftermath sweeps Dillon and his allies into a battle with a Russian oil billionaire, a growing Muslim terrorist um...

The Eagle Has Landed (1998)

In all seriousness, this is without doubt, the BEST 2 STAR BOOK that I've ever read. I know, I know... on its face that sounds confusing and maybe even oxymoronical and may lead to a bit of head scratching or possibly even a mild rash. For that I'm truly sorry, but please slap some calamine l...

Year of the Tiger (1996)

The New York Times bestselling author returns with another action-packed adventure. In 1962, abrilliant scientist becomes the key to the superpower space race--and the object of a worldwidemanhunt. A maelstrom of Cold War intrigue and espionage, The Year of the Tiger is Higgins at his best.

Without Mercy (2006)

Picking up where Higgins' Dark Justice left off, Sean Dillon and colleagues seek revenge on the Russian agents responsible for murdering their colleague. The Russians themselves, however, are not too happy with Dillon for killing their man, billionaire and former KGB official Josef Belov. With th...

Day of Judgment (2000)

May, 1963...As President John F. Kennedy prepares to make his historic visit to West Berlin, a covert group of ruthless killers prepares to strike. And only one man can stop them: Father Sean Conlin, hero of the West German resistance.

Drink with the Devil (1998)

hey manyeah youyou looking for a hit?I gots another book review for you.hear you've been fiendin. up all night. sweat poring out of every pore. you've been needin' textual satisfaction...oh that sweet book review satisfaction. can't get it nowhere else but here. m.goodreads.com. type it on your c...

In the Hour Before Midnight (2000)

Stacey Wyatt knows the power of the Mafia. He has seen what its brutal vengeance and sinister corruption can do. But when he is broken out of prison and brough to Sicily, his only choice is to enter the Mafia's shadowy world of treachery and death. His was a simple job - rescue the daughter of a ...

The Savage Day (1976)

This is a well written if improbable thriller set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. In the early 1970s, disgraced former Army officer Simon Vaughn is sprung by British Intelligence from a Greek prison where he is serving time for gun-running. However in exchange he has to help them retriev...

Sure Fire (2009)

This was such a well written book- you didn't even notice all of the description that Jack Higgins planted into your mind while reading it, all you saw were the vivid pictures of every event and the wonderfully developed main characters. I was hanging on to Higgins's every word from the beginning...

On Dangerous Ground (1995)

I'm a fan of Sean Dillon, who's rather a lot like James Bond – if James Bond had a history of working for the IRA and selling his services as a mercenary. He's my kind of anti-hero: a redeemed villain who's smart, competent, ruthless and charming, always a witty remark on his tongue. Having said ...

The Valhalla Exchange (2007)

Jack Higgins is a name that is often associated with fast paced and highly engrossing political and espionage thrillers featuring some of the noblest of heroes ever to adorn the thriller genre. Jack Higgins is the pseudonym of ‘Harry Patterson’, a prolific British writer with more than 80 novels,...

Sheba (1995)

I enjoy a good WWII thriller. I grew up on Alistair MacLean gems like The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare. One of my favorite novels in this genre is Jack Higgins The Eagle Has Landed, the classic story of a Nazi attempt to kidnap British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.In Sheba, Higgins ...

Death Run (2007)

A mafia banker wants to defect and give evidence against his former bosses, and John Chance's boss Ardman is handling the exchange. But when the criminals realise they might be able to get at Chance by getting at his children, Rich and Jade, the twins find themselves in the firing line.

The Keys of Hell (2001)

The Jack Higgins character Paul Chavasse appears in several novels and is essentially a James Bond-style action hero. In this one, he has various cut-throat adventures in eastern Italy and the swamplands of Albania while trying to help a beautiful agent in her quest to recover a priceless religio...

The White House Connection (2000)

This book is the 7th in the Sean Dillon series and I can say having read the Liam Devlin books and all of the prior Sean Dillon books that the Irish Rogue drama is starting to get stale.The story line in this arc at least has evolved to include UK-USA coorporation, more so than the last, however ...

Touch the Devil (1983)

My usual light reading brought me in close contact with Jack Higgins. An author I did not heard before, but learned pretty fast that he is a master of thrillers. This particular novel is a spy thriller set in the late 70s Europe, in the middle of Cold War. It brought me back some memories from my...

Dillinger (2015)

In 1934, after his spectacular jailbreak from a cell in Indiana, Dillinger was like a ghost -- some claimed to spot him in New York, others in London, New Orleans, or California. Though the FBI would eventually find and kill Dillinger in Chicago, speculation about his whereabouts in those mysteri...

Passage By Night (1982)

ebook LibraryHarry Manning, a freebooter with a past he doesn't like to talk about, runs a charter boat in the Bahamas. Also, he boozes. When his sweetheart leaves him by dying, Harry can find no relief. Except for the thought of revenge. And because he is Harry, he sets out to settle the score. ...

Thunder Point (1994)

I've read some great books by Jack Higgins, others that were quite reasonable, but not worth adding to my permanent library. This was the first time I've read one that was frankly poor. So OK, if you just read and never think about how likely it is, you might still like it, but really...SPOILER A...

Hell Is Always Today (2005)

When the body of a young woman --- the fifth to die in as many weeks --- is found in a rain-soaked alley, the city is gripped with mortal fear. A mad killer known as the Rainlover walks among them, and no one, not even the police, know when he will strike again. But Detective Sergeant Dick Mille...

Night Judgement at Sinos (1982)

A rousing, globe-trotting adventure--the kind of novel in which the hero is a world-weary war vet named Jack Savage and the love interest is a scathing nineteen-year-old beauty with a penchant for provocative clothing. That being said, this isn't nearly as lowbrow as one might suspect. NIGHT JU...

Midnight Never Comes (1976)

Paul Chavasse had everything a good agent needed. Flair, ingenuity, a superb intelligence, common sense plus a willingness to kill... Now he was part of the walking wounded. So badly hurt on his last mission they figured he was through. But Chavasse was far from through. A few months of special...

The Iron Tiger (1996)

Jack Drummond is an adventurer -- a tough ex-naval pilot who is fed up with too many hot countries and strange cities. He resolves to fly only one more mission. Dropping off an illegal shipment of arms in Tibet (his last), Drummond is suddenly caught up in a bloody border war. To escape he must f...

Memoirs of a Dance-Hall Romeo (1990)

Oliver Shaw is the main character in this coming of age novel. This character, Oliver, appears to be based on Harry Patterson (Jack Higgins) himself, as they share a similar past and Oliver's path from Army to teaching to novelist roughly follows the trajectory of the path taken by the writer him...

Pay The Devil (2000)

The pedestrian paperback cover might have put me off until I opened it up, but chancing across this unassuming little epic has turned out to be one of the best choices I've made in a while, where books are concerned. In fact, this is one of the best books I've read all year. The characters are so...

Cold Harbour (2004)

The time is May, 1944, the dark heart of a world war that has driven a generation of the best and brightest into conflict - and espionage...Off the coast of Brittany a top OSS agent, Craig Osbourne, is floating helplessly, waiting to rendez-vous with an allied ship...Then, from out of the fog, a ...

The Death Trade

They had been driving in a convoy for three days, following a wearisome trail that seemed as old as time and probably was, their destination Timbuktu.     The lead vehicle paused as the column emerged in a flat valley, and Daniel Holley called a water stop. He stood up beside ...

Exocet (v5)

It was a poor sort of place, usually much frequented by prostitutes, but not on such a night or rather, morning, for it was almost five a.m.The barman leaned on the zinc-topped counter reading a newspaper and Nikolai Belov sat at a table in the corner drinking coffee, the only customer.Belov was ...

The Judas Gate

He’d purchased a furnished barge a few months earlier, convenient for business trips for both him and his partner, Hamid Malik. He wore a black track suit, looked younger than forty-nine, his hair still brown. Of medium height, fit and well, he had the permanent slight smile of a man who found li...

The Killing Ground

She dropped off to sleep again and Dillon, turning in his seat to pour a Bushmills, found Hal Stone observing him. “What do you think?” the professor asked. “How in the hell is she ever going to get over what’s happened?” Her father was also dozing, an arm around her, and Dillon looked at them ag...

A Darker Place

There had also been the mortar attack on Number 10 Downing Street. The Gulf War had been at its height, and the target had been the War Cabinet meeting at ten a.m. on February 7—an audacious attack, and the missiles had landed in the garden, just narrowly missing the house. It bore all the hallma...

Midnight Never Comes - PC 04 (v5)

He fastened the top button, placed the peaked cap at a slight angle on his head and nodded in satisfaction.Behind him, the door opened and Asta entered, Stavrou behind her. Donner turned with a grin and held his arms wide. 'Will I do?'Asta's eyes burned with hate. 'If I had a gun, I'd kill you, M...

Bloody Passage (v5)

I wanted Hannah away from there and back home without delay, so Barzini pulled strings and got us seats on the flight to London that same afternoon.He took us out to the airport at Punta Raise himself in the yellow Alfa--me, Hannah, and Simone. Nino stayed home, the streets of Palermo still unsaf...

Eye of the Storm

“I’ve got rather hot news,” she said. “The hunt for a lead on you is moving to Belfast.” “Tell me,” he said. Which she did. When she was finished, she said, “Does any of this make any sense?” “Yes,” he said. “The McGuire fella was a big name with the Provos in those days.” “And he’s dead, is he, ...

A Prayer for the Dying (v5)

Three houses on the north side had been converted to provide every possible facility from a flower shop to a Chapel of Rest. A mews entrance to one side gave access to a car park and garage area at the rear surrounded by high walls so that business could be handled as quietly and as unobtrusively...

Dark Side of the Street - Simon Vaughn 01 (v5)

1929), the New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy thrillers, including The Eagle Has Landed and The Wolf at the Door. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide.Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Patterson grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. As a child, Patter...

First Strike

Jade was wearing a pale blue dress; the hem was just shy of the floor, and that was with high heels. Rich looked smart but slightly uncomfortable in a dark suit and plain tie. Halford—as ever—looked as though he might have slept in his suit. He seemed totally relaxed, a contrast to Jade and Rich’...

the Valhalla Exchange (v5)

It reminded him too much of the Ardennes for comfort. He stamped his feet to induce a little warmth and lit a cigarette.Sergeant Hoover had started a wood fire, and the men, only five of them now, crouched beside it. Anderson, O'Grady, Garland and Finebaum who'd once played clarinet with Glenn Mi...

Dillinger (v5)

Now they have lost two to our one. The gods are turning in our favour.'It was Chato who said, 'Killing Rojas was enough. It was wrong to kill the old man.''Silence!' Ortiz said. 'Manilot was told by me to turn the horses loose. The old man saw him and would have shot him. Now they are both dead. ...

A Devil Is Waiting

“There you are.” Ferguson was remarkably cheerful. “Let’s get started. It could be a long night, thanks to Ali Selim. The Prime Minister is furious, thinks the whole business makes us look very bad in Washington, so Ali Selim must be dealt with once and for all.”  “Which is where hot pursuit come...

Rain on the Dead

There were lots of other people in the darkness, laughter, guitar music, but there was no one by the Cazalet house.They passed it, turning up the left side of the estate through a marshy area with reeds growing high, found a place where the fencing gaped and squeezed into the garden. They could h...

Comes the Dark Stranger

He opened his eyes and focused on a face. He frowned, trying to remember where he was, and a voice said, ‘Maybe you hit him too hard, Frenchy?’ Frenchy grunted. ‘So what? He’s going anyway, isn’t he?’ He took a firm grip of Shane’s coat and lifted him into a sitting position. He grinned evilly. ‘...

Bad Company

THE CHURCH DOOR opened and the cortege appeared, the Baron and Marco close behind. The procession started through the graveyard to the family mausoleum. “Come on,” Ferguson said, “I want to see this.”   The coffin was on a central dais and people walked around it slowly, paying their respects. Th...

Cry of the Hunter (2010)

When he first awakened and checked his watch it was shortly after five. He was cold and stiff and his limbs ached from contact with the stone floor. He lay in the darkness listening to the rain and the wind as it moaned through the graveyard. After a while he drifted into sleep again. He became a...

Passage by Night (v5)

Seth and Papa Melos both appeared to be dozing and Orlov stood at the grille and peered outside. Morrison paced restlessly up and down.After a while, he crouched beside Manning. 'If I don't get out of here soon, I'll go crazy.''That kind of talk won't get us anywhere. What time is it?'Morrison pe...

the Savage Day - Simon Vaughn 02 (v5)

At the height of summer the place could never hope to seem more than it was, a bare, black rock, but just now in the morning mist, rain driving across the bay in a grey curtain, it looked about the last place there was on top of earth.I'd been preparing on the way over and was already wearing my ...

Solo (Aka the Cretan Lover) (v5)

Not that it mattered. Whatever he liked to pretend, she was as tough as him any day of the week and could handle the boat as well.Twice a week, for the excitement and a little extra money, they would set out to lay their nets as usual at night, then turn out the lights and make the four-mile run ...

The Bormann Testament

He was wearing a white Continental raincoat and green hat, both of which belonged to Hardt. He pulled the brim of the hat down over his eyes. “How do I look?”Hardt slapped him on the shoulder. “Fine, just fine. There should be a lot of people leaving the train. If you do as I suggest, you’ll be o...

Pay the Devil (v5)

As they approached the head of the valley, he gave a peculiar liquid whistle and a horseman moved out of the trees on their left, moonlight glinting on the barrel of his shotgun.“Is it yourself, Kevin?” Dennis Rogan called softly.“I’ll send Marteen up to relieve you in an hour,” Kevin told him as...

Sharp Shot

Rich hated it. He felt so useless and just wished there was something he could do, but he knew that Ardman’s team was doing everything they could. There was actually lots to do. And though playing billiards with Dad in the snooker room of the enormous mansion did take his mind of things for a whi...