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 elite intelligence unit responsible only to the Prime Minister of England. Apolitical, the unit has, inevitably, become an action unit as well.Ferguson enlists Dillon in an attempt to run down a mysterious group known as “January 30.” This is a group that has murdered a variety of people operating in the shadow world of international espionage and terrorism. January 30 appears to play no favorites, having been identified as killing former KGB agents, American diplomats and even Israelis. Now they plot to destroy the tenuous peace process taking hold in Northern Ireland. ANGEL OF DEATH, told in flashbacks and present-day action, carries the reader pell-mell from Ireland to England, to America, Beirut, and back. Along the way the reader is treated to imaginative convoluted twists and accommodations of the diplomatic games nations play, set against brutal and abrupt physical action. You’ll see Dillon the charmer with a gift of gab, Dillon the stone killer and Dillon the experienced, intelligent agent, provocateur.As always, Higgins characters are sharply drawn and always consistent. As always Higgins sense of place is thoughtfully and evocatively laid out so we are with him in the mean streets of Belfast and the elegant rooms of Ardmore House.,
This was what I would call brain candy reading. It was fast paced, action filled reading that kept you occupied but it didn't really amount to a great read. Jack Higgins is adept at coming up with interesting scenerios and this wasn't any different. An unlikely trio of people become a hit squad controlled by Soviet intelligence. When the assassinations of several people involved in the peace process in Ireland occur, the special branch of the Prime Minister becomes involved and Sean Dillon (ex-IRA enforcer) helps them track down the killers. The fun part of the book is watching the protagonists figure out the connections between the murders and the leak within the government. It wasn't the best in the series that I've read, but it did satisfy my reading hunger.
What do You think about Angel Of Death (1996)?
I have really enjoyed this series so far and this is just as entertaining as his earlier books. The beauty of his books are the super smooth writing that can convert an average plot (as this is) into a near 5* rating. I also enjoyed the insight into the political scene in the early 90's when the British government was trying to negotiate a complete ceasefire in Northern Ireland with the IRA. Although the book is not about the ceasefire, it is a central theme to the plot. The British Prime Minister, John Major and the US President, Bill Clinton also appear in the story, giving it an air of authenticity.
—Richard
It has been some time since I've read a Jack Higgins novel. I think the last one was Eye of Needle. However, since then I've read a number of very good novels of the same genre and "Angel of Death" left me wanting. I feel like many other reviewers who gave it a 3 and had some criticism of this book. Mr. Higgins probably pumped this out, as one reviewer put it, on a rainy weekend.I found it to be very formulaic and disappointing. As I read this I thought I was in a new "Johnny English" satire. A
—Calvin
