Some authors are so popular that just having their names over the title sells books.   Novels by Jack Higgins are those types of books.  Jack Higgins is not the author’s real name but a pseudonym for Harry Patterson.  (Jack Higgins does seem like a more powerful name for a writer of thrillers than Harry Patterson does but perhaps that is just because I am used to it.) 

Patterson began writing novels in 1959 under his name and several other pennames. He had some success as a writer through the years, but it was the publication of “The Eagle Has Landed”, using the Jack Higgins pseudonym that made his books perennial bestsellers.  The plot of  “The Eagle Has Landed” was a grabber.  It centered on an attempt to kidnap Winston Churchill by a German commando unit.  After this book was published, the name Jack Higgins before the title made his books bestsellers.

  I read “A Darker Place”, which was published in 2004.  This is one in a series, featuring Sean Dillon, a former IRA terrorist who is now a British intelligence agent.  Dillon is a member of the “Prime Minister’s private army”, a group of agents who work behind the scenes to foil nefarious plots against the United Kingdom and the free world. 

In “A Darker Place’ a famous Russian novelist Alexander Kurbsky defects to the West or does he?  Kurbsky contacts agents in British intelligence, saying he is fed up with the Putin government and wants to crossover and disappear in the West.  This is a real coup for British intelligence.  Sean Dillon and the rest of the “Prime Minister’s private army” arrange for his escape and concealment; however, Kurbsky has a hidden agenda.

A former paratrooper who served in Afghanistan and Chechnya, Kurbsky’s sister Tania was arrested during a protest demonstration and disappeared into the Russian Gulag in Siberia.   Vladimir Putin assures Kurbsky that Tonia is still alive.  If Kurbsky will infiltrate and spy on British intelligence, Tonia will be released.   Alexander Kurbsky leaves a bloody trail in his attempt to save his sister.

            You always know what you are getting with Jack Higgins above the title.  A Jack Higgins novel promises the reader a thriller with non-stop action, which is why he has such a loyal following.  If you don’t mind a little blood and gore in your novels, try Jack Higgins. They are good airport books. They keep the reader involved and make the time pass quickly. 

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