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beer_matt's review against another edition
4.0
Jack Higgins is a professional thriller writer, he knows his audience, and he pares his writing back to tell a story as efficiently as possible.
I'm interested in the Second World War and Higgins has given me enough to keep engaged without bogging the story down with extraneous detail (eg. half-track vs sdkfz 251/1 ausf D........)
I'm going to read Higgins again.
I'm interested in the Second World War and Higgins has given me enough to keep engaged without bogging the story down with extraneous detail (eg. half-track vs sdkfz 251/1 ausf D........)
I'm going to read Higgins again.
aaronboyes19's review against another edition
4.0
A great, quick read that was thoroughly entertaining. The story moved along at a good pace and kept you interested.
larkspire's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
justaguy's review against another edition
3.0
Just ordinary
There are a bunch of twists and suspense. In the ending, it just wraps up ordinary enough that’s it. This was too great to be a coincidence but again it is all fictional. The weird thing that beginning and ending have zero relation with the whole story. That which threw me off and considered as a filler.
There are a bunch of twists and suspense. In the ending, it just wraps up ordinary enough that’s it. This was too great to be a coincidence but again it is all fictional. The weird thing that beginning and ending have zero relation with the whole story. That which threw me off and considered as a filler.
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
4.0
Night of the Fox (1986) is the second World War II thriller I've read by Jack Higgins. It's just before D-Day and the Allies having been running training simulations in Lyme Bay at Devon. American boats mistake signal lights for British convoys and are attacked by the German E-boats. Nearly 650 American servicemen are lost--among them are three men who have all the details of D-Day in their heads. As the bodies are recovered, the ranking officers hope that all three men are among them. Two are found, but a third, Colonel Hugh Kelso is still missing.
Badly wounded, he manages to scramble aboard a life raft and drifts until he lands on the German-occupied island of Jersey. Luckily, he is found by Helen de Ville and, with the help of "General" Sean Martin Gallagher--a Dublin veteran of the Irish wars, she manages to hide him and provide medical attention. But will they be able to keep him from the Nazi occupiers? Sean manages to send word to London via a French resistance group and the Allies face the fact that Kelso must be rescued or silenced.
A plan is formed and it will require their best--Harry Martineau, a British scholar who is fluent in German and particularly skilled in impersonating Nazi officers. He's done it before--and the Germans know it (much to their chagrin). He's got a flair for reckless courage, but it may be that he will trust his skills once too often. By his side is Sarah Drayton. She is an innocent nineteen-year-old who tried to sign up for the secret service once but was turned down. But this time they need her. She's a Jersey Island native who knows the terrain and can provide Harry with the bona fides to gain Helen and Sean's confidence. She'll need every bit of acting skill she's got to keep up her role as Standartenfuhrer Vogel's (Martineau's) French mistress.
World War II thrillers are not often my thing--but Jack Higgins sure knows how to write them. Having read The Eagle Has Landed (I've always enjoyed the movie made from it) a couple years ago, I picked this one up last year. It was another absorbing read. He has a particular flair for the WWII time period and in both books he has created fully-fledged characters that the reader cares about. All of the central characters get a full treatment with distinct personalities. With so many characters (there's a whole sub-plot with Rommel and another impersonator), it would be easy to lose track with less well-defined personalities.
Martineau is a particularly complex character. He is a brilliant scholar who has seen a bit too much in this war. He's lost his love (Rosa) to the Nazis and now he likes to see himself as a man of action willing to kill as many Nazis as possible. But he's lost his purpose just a bit. Not too long before the events in this book he was able to exact revenge on the man he held responsible for Rosa's death. It was satisfying at the time....but it's lost its savor. He now seems like a cold, hard man...and yet he can show compassion to Sarah when she breaks down one night. The other characters are only slightly less complex.
I've seen a few reviews that say Higgins gets a bit formulaic in his extensive output and I can see how that's probable. [He uses very similar framing devices for both this and The Eagle Has Landed.] But at this point, the stories are so interesting and well-told that they are very enjoyable for this reader.
The blurb on my copy says it was based on real events, but I haven't been able to find any specifics. Not sure if it just means the plot to kill Hitler and the German occupation of the island of Jersey (which were definitely real things)--or if there was an incident with a downed officer near Jersey. I'd be interested in any details on what Higgins was drawing from.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Badly wounded, he manages to scramble aboard a life raft and drifts until he lands on the German-occupied island of Jersey. Luckily, he is found by Helen de Ville and, with the help of "General" Sean Martin Gallagher--a Dublin veteran of the Irish wars, she manages to hide him and provide medical attention. But will they be able to keep him from the Nazi occupiers? Sean manages to send word to London via a French resistance group and the Allies face the fact that Kelso must be rescued or silenced.
A plan is formed and it will require their best--Harry Martineau, a British scholar who is fluent in German and particularly skilled in impersonating Nazi officers. He's done it before--and the Germans know it (much to their chagrin). He's got a flair for reckless courage, but it may be that he will trust his skills once too often. By his side is Sarah Drayton. She is an innocent nineteen-year-old who tried to sign up for the secret service once but was turned down. But this time they need her. She's a Jersey Island native who knows the terrain and can provide Harry with the bona fides to gain Helen and Sean's confidence. She'll need every bit of acting skill she's got to keep up her role as Standartenfuhrer Vogel's (Martineau's) French mistress.
World War II thrillers are not often my thing--but Jack Higgins sure knows how to write them. Having read The Eagle Has Landed (I've always enjoyed the movie made from it) a couple years ago, I picked this one up last year. It was another absorbing read. He has a particular flair for the WWII time period and in both books he has created fully-fledged characters that the reader cares about. All of the central characters get a full treatment with distinct personalities. With so many characters (there's a whole sub-plot with Rommel and another impersonator), it would be easy to lose track with less well-defined personalities.
Martineau is a particularly complex character. He is a brilliant scholar who has seen a bit too much in this war. He's lost his love (Rosa) to the Nazis and now he likes to see himself as a man of action willing to kill as many Nazis as possible. But he's lost his purpose just a bit. Not too long before the events in this book he was able to exact revenge on the man he held responsible for Rosa's death. It was satisfying at the time....but it's lost its savor. He now seems like a cold, hard man...and yet he can show compassion to Sarah when she breaks down one night. The other characters are only slightly less complex.
I've seen a few reviews that say Higgins gets a bit formulaic in his extensive output and I can see how that's probable. [He uses very similar framing devices for both this and The Eagle Has Landed.] But at this point, the stories are so interesting and well-told that they are very enjoyable for this reader.
The blurb on my copy says it was based on real events, but I haven't been able to find any specifics. Not sure if it just means the plot to kill Hitler and the German occupation of the island of Jersey (which were definitely real things)--or if there was an incident with a downed officer near Jersey. I'd be interested in any details on what Higgins was drawing from.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
tommyro's review against another edition
3.0
The way Jack Higgins tells it, the Allies defeated the Nazis in WWII because we had better cliches.
michaeldrakich's review against another edition
4.0
Classic World War 2 spy story complete with real people from the war intermixed with the fictional ones. There's a very strong attention to detail regarding Jersey, the weaponry, the uniforms and life under occupation. All of these things make the reading enjoyable. Almost all of the characters came across well. My only disappointment was in the main character, Harry Martineau. By the end of the novel, I realized I never felt a deep connection to his character. Sarah, Gallagher, Heini, even Rommel all came across better than Harry did. Still, the story itself is entertaining and inventive. Four and a half stars would be my rating but as I have to choose an even amount, four it is.
faroshtaha's review against another edition
3.0
An epic world war 2 thriller. Good character development. Short chapters keep the plot fast moving and paced.
Definitely one of the best Jack Higgins.
Definitely one of the best Jack Higgins.
justaguy's review against another edition
3.0
Just ordinary
There are a bunch of twists and suspense. In the ending, it just wraps up ordinary enough that’s it. This was too great to be a coincidence but again it is all fictional. The weird thing that beginning and ending have zero relation with the whole story. That which threw me off and considered as a filler.
There are a bunch of twists and suspense. In the ending, it just wraps up ordinary enough that’s it. This was too great to be a coincidence but again it is all fictional. The weird thing that beginning and ending have zero relation with the whole story. That which threw me off and considered as a filler.