#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 one mutually trusted to oversee the review of IRA photos. A thrilling 1985 series entry for the agent first met in The Eagle Has Landed (1975).Liam Devlin series - Mikhail Kelly’s credentials were impeccable. Russian mother, Irish father hanged by the British. He could split an apple – or a head – across a large room with a handgun. And his special talent was acting. The KGB gave him the perfect part…assassin. For more than twenty years Cuchulain has created chaos, fear and disorder in Ireland by hitting counter-productive targets on both sides of the border, making fools of British Intelligence and the IRA. But Cuchulain is a man whose time is nearly up. The one person who can identify him is the beautiful Tanya Voroninova, daughter of a KGB general. And the one person who can persuade her to defect is Liam Devlin, poet, scholar, IRA gunman retired. Hunted by the combined forces of British Intelligence, the IRA and the KGB who now regard him as an expendable embarrassment, Cuchulain prepares to hit the most counter-productive target of all time - the Pope.
Well, this was an unusual book. It's not often when you find an author with skill but a plot which has absolutely no head or tail. As soon as I finished reading the book, my first thought was "This should have been split up into two books". Why? Because by the time we get to the end, it's not in any way related to the beginning. Characters are simply tossed off to the side and loose ends are left hanging. What happened to Tanya Vorovoniva during the second half to the end? What about all the characters from the KGB? Every character and idea is left half-cooked and the complete meal is unappetising when it could have been much more.The author definitely has the talent to make a better plot than this.
What do You think about Confessional (1997)?
Brief summary:The KGB has an agent in Ireland who, for the past 20 years, has been assassinating key contributors to peace talks between the IRA and England in order to maintain the disorder and anarchy in the region. The agent, who goes by the name Cussain, is a catholic priest and also Liam Devlin's next door neighbor. Once England discovers Cussain the Soviets decide to kill him rather than extract him. They are unsuccessful and he flees knowing there is no safe place for him now. Resigning h
—Cal
http://ajitabhpandey.info/2014/11/confessional-by-jack-higgins/The Liam Devlin character is quite special in a way that he is not everywhere in the book and rather the author gives each and every character in a chance to be in the book and do justice to the story. At the end of this book I felt pity towards the bad guy and I must admit I kind of started liking him. He was the one who was in the book everywhere rather than the main character. Always three steps ahead of Devlin, he finally died but even then he won in a sense.The story is very simple and strong and it keeps moving smoothly, always binding the user and wanting to finish it quickly. Devlin once again agreed to work for British in order to find a hidden KGB moul somewhere in Ireland who was disrupting the peace activities between IRA and British and always creating chaos. The chase started in Dublin and ended in Canterburry.I would give three stars out of five.
—Ajitabh Pandey
