Suspense

Higgins goes geopolitical for an engaging multi-layered story

Narration by accent master Michael Page is truly excellent. (And the shifting accents in a couple books was an experiment;; the accents that you are used to have been restored. ) The accents are so clearly differentiated and local geography authentic that this is a far better performance than reading the book.

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Good Story, Great Narration . . . but . . .

Jack Higgins is certainly an entertaining writer (his best is probably the WWII thriller, "The Eagle has Landed") and this story, which is set in a kind of fictional alternate universe in a post-9/11 world, certainly holds one's interest. The narration by Michael Page is also expertly done -- he manages to give almost every character (especially male characters) different-sounding voices that are remarkably diverse.

The problem with the book is that it's actually intended as a continuation of a series of novels (apparently, this is no. 15) involving the character Sean Dillon. Dillon actually has a secondary role in this novel, but there are a number of places where Higgins refers to events that have already happened in other novels, and one gets the feeling of having walked in during the middle of the play. So, it's an entertaining and well-read audiobook -- but I wouldn't have chosen it if I had known it was part of a series.

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2 people found this helpful

Rough Justice

I really like this book. Holds your interest and is well read.

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Same old thing. But that's okay

With any Sean Dillon book, much is familiar. The same characters. Same descriptions. Just occasionally rearranged. In this book, Dillon and friends go to war with an international panoply of villains. For all that, it's still fun and well written. I like this narrator much more than the fellow who read the previous books.

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A Dillon only in name

Thankfully the narrator is back to normal form and the story is regular Dillon fare but sadly, Dillon is nowhere to be found most times and when he does show up it’s to hold hands while some English Doppelgänger is impersonating him.

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Suspended in mystery

Mystery, suspense,murder and intrigue. Nonstop action and plotting with never a drag. The secret organizations of the Brits, The Russians,The followers of Ossama. Wonderfully narrated. It will keep you thinking.

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10 people found this helpful

Dangers of the deep state

This is relevant in today’s world. Sean Dillion at his best. What starts out as a good government program ends up being corrupted by greedy people.

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If you've read one Higgins, you've read them all.

I realize this is a series with many of the same characters, working out of the same places and doing the same things. But unlike many other series (Lucas Davenport, Jack Reacher, Elvis Cole, Joe Pike, Harry Bosch, King & Maxwell, John Puller... the list goes on and on), the Sean Dillon series brings nothing new to the table with each installment. The same things happen. The same phrases get uttered, over and over, the same scenarios get played out and the same plot lines just get rehashed. All that changes are the names and locations of the bad guys. It takes about 5 of Higgins books for this to sink in, but once it does, you realize a feeling of deja vu as you find yourself thinking... wait a minute. I've read this before. This same line is in every one of his books. The you start paying attention. You realize these characters... not just a few, but all of them drink champagne like it's water. That's all they drink, except for the always present Bushmills whiskey.

Then start a drinking game. Down a Bushmills (or your own preference) every time you come across the following phrases or circumstances:
"As certain as a coffin lid closing.."
"One sword is worth a thousand words" (A favorite phrase in many of his books, which he attributes to The Koran, when, in fact, no such passage exists in The Koran at all.)
"I'll get you for this." "No, you won't. You'll write it off to experience and move on."
The bad guys are always telling Dillon to "Get Stuffed", to which his usual response to to shoot off an earlobe.
The rooms and meetings and gatherings are always attended by "The great and the good."
Everybody always wants a "Full English Breakfast" or ham sandwiches and tea.
Every body that gets sent to the secret crematorium always becomes "Nothing but 6 pounds of gray ash."
"Krug Champagne.. non-vintage. It's the grape mix"
"Is that you, Dillon?" "As ever was."
"God bless all here." [silence] "God save you kindly is the proper response."
"If you believe that, you'll believe anything"
Some thug is always threatening to shoot out a kneecap and "put them on sticks"
Dillon's weapon of choice is a Walther PPK with a (Fictional) Carswell Silencer (Although the way narrator Michael Page says it, Walther come out 'Valther'), which he has used to shoot the earlobe off dozens of
Another weapon of choice: The AK-47 with folding stock and silencer (Have any idea how large a silencer would have to be to quiet an AK-47?)
"This has a silencer. I could shoot you in the heart and nobody would hear it"
Every garage or barn door has a 'Judas Gate'. I've hear the term maybe once in my life. You'll read it 50 times in HIggins books.
Said to Dillon, in practically every novel: 'You don't take prisoners, do you?" "I could never see the point."
In at least 5 of the novels, a bad guy dies when he runs into a London street and gets hit by a red double decker bus. His death is always loudly confirmed by a just-happend-to-be-in-the-area police officer, and that is always followed by the distraught bus driver, who proclaims, "It wasn't my fault. He just ran out in front of me." And, which is always corroborated by a bystander who just happened to see it all. The bad guys lose. Dillon wins. Exactly the same way every time. You can pick up a new novel and you'll know you've already read it before. I'm guessing he can produce one of these every week. Copy and paste from the stock templates and he's got a new one. Too bad I wasted so many credits before I caught on.

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Narrator off

The narrator repeated himself tp many times, it was annoying after awhile. He usually doesn’t do this, so I will say it was not his best book.

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Not my favorite Jack Higgins

This didn't reach usual Jack Higgins heights. I felt it was weaker than most. The characters not so full as in other books.

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