Drink with the Devil [Paperback]

Jack Higgins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1997

With the peace process breaking down in Ireland, former IRA terrorist Sean Dillon plays a deadly cat-and-mouse game with sinister forces as he races against time to recover a vast fortune in gold bullion, hijacked and lost at sea some ten years before. Reprint. K. PW. "

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jack Higgins is the Ebola virus of thriller writers: his prose is so contagious that it makes you read along feverishly until the bitter end. Since there's no known cure, you might as well lie back and enjoy his latest attack, a compulsively readable story about an alliance between the New York Mafia and Irish Loyalists to recover 50 million pounds worth of stolen gold bullion from the bottom of the Irish Sea. It pits Sean Dillon, one of Higgins's trademark superheroes, against a variety of villains--none more frightening than a young woman driven mad by hatred.

From Publishers Weekly

Sean Dillon, master of disguise and steady Higgins hero (Angel of Death, etc.), returns for another go against political mayhem in the author's latest action-fest. A 1985 hijacking of gold bullion, masterminded by Irish Protestant terrorist Michael Ryan, ends with the ship that's carrying the booty sinking off Ireland. Ryan and his niece Kathleen flee to America while their presumed henchman, seemingly a sailor but actually a disguised Dillon, then an IRA enforcer, ostensibly returns to sea. Ten years later, Ryan is sprung from an American medical prison by a Mafia lawyer intent on retrieving the bullion. Soon the gold is the object of desire of the mob, a retired IRA chief of staff and British Intelligence, for whom Dillon now works. The cheeky, pint-sized Dillon tends toward occasional stage Irishness, and the other characterizations aren't much deeper, but readers riveted by Higgins's mastery of plot and pace won't mind at all. Winding up with a jaunty noir bounce, this is splendid high pulp-in other words, vintage Higgins. BOMC main selection. (June) ~ FYI: Two Sean Dillon novels, On Dangerous Ground and Eye of the Storm, will air later this year on Showtime as TV movies, starring Rob Lowe as Dillon.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425157547
• ISBN-13: 978-0425157541
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #926,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jack Higgins is among the world's most popular authors. Since the publication of The Eagle Has Landed--one of the biggest-selling thrillers of all time--every novel he has written has become an international bestseller, including The White House Connection and Day of Reckoning. He has had simultaneous number-one bestsellers in hardcover and paperback, and has been published in thirty-eight languages worldwide. Many of his books have been made into successful movies, among them The Eagle Has Landed, To Catch A King, and The Valhalla Exchange. He lives with his wife on Jersey in the Channel Islands.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Four and a half stars, if I had my choice, January 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Drink with the Devil (Paperback)

Drink With the Devil makes for an absolutely fantastic read. Sean Dillon, arguably the (or one of) most loved characters ever created by Higgins, returns again in this thriller. Yes, the story may be a tad slow at times, but it never promised to be a high adrenaline-pumped book in the first place. And that was why it was such a pleasant read. The mood of the book changes from time to time, scene to scene, and appropriately so. Higgins' writing may not be the most fanciful, but boy, was it a great ride. Not to be missed, especially if you're a great fan of Jack Higgins, and of Sean Dillon as well.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is much deeper than you might think., September 18, 2000

By 

"bulldog51" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drink with the Devil (Paperback)

In 1985, IRA terrorist Sean Dillon is assigned to infiltrate a renegade Loyalist terrorist group led by Michael Ryan. Posing as a Protestant named Martin Keogh, Dillon saves Ryan's niece Kathleen from rape (and probably worse) at the hands of a group of Catholic thugs. Dillon joins Ryan in his plan to hijack a British armored car carrying 50 million pounds to fund Ryan's campaigns. The heist goes off successfully, but the captain of the boat ferrying them across the Irish Sea tries a double cross, and pays with his life. Dillon and the Ryans survive, with Michael maintaining an electronic device which will lead the user to the wreck and the money. Dillon has an opportunity to kill the Ryans and take the device, but (perhaps in his first pangs of conscience) chooses not to, and they go on their separate ways.

Ten years later, Michael and Kathleen Ryan have immigrated to the U.S., where Michael is imprisoned for shooting a police officer in a botched robbery. Michael's health is failing, so he is often transported from the prison to a nearby hospital for treatment. One of the henchmen of Mafia Don Antonio Russo gets wind that Ryan knows the location of (now) 100 million pounds sitting at the bottom of the Irish Sea. Russo confers with IRA chieftain Jack Barry (the man who assigned Dillon to infiltrate Ryan's group) and offers to split the booty. Russo will break Ryan out of prison in exchange for the location of the wreck. The Ryan's are thus forced into assisting the IRA and the mob.

Stalwart British Intelligence guru Brigadier Charles Ferguson gets wind of Ryan's resurfacing and sends Detective Chief-Inspector Hannah Bernstein and Dillon, who's now working for British Intelligence (read "Thunder Point" if you want to know why,) after the gold, to stop it from falling into the hands of either the IRA, the mob, or the Ryans.

Another Dillon classic, with the added bonus of shedding some light on what Dillon did when he was with the IRA. Kathleen Ryan is easily the most compelling character in the book. At the end of the book, when you find out what has happened to her in her short life, it makes her actions that much more tragic and also much more understandable. I defy you not to feel for her when her trauma is finally revealed. One wonders how many real Kathleen Ryans there are in Northern Ireland today, both Protestant and Catholic, and if they'll ever manage to find peace.

If you like Higgins, and especially Dillon, buy this book. But it's a lot deeper, and raises a lot more questions, than most people are willing to admit.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Old Fashion Yarn - we need more like it on the bookrack, April 19, 1999

By 

"muunrakr" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drink with the Devil (Paperback)

Higgins has been around for so long and has developed an endearing style for spinning tales that can only hook the reader. The types of adventure stories he tells had gone out of style long ago. I lament the passing of those times. For that reason, I often find myself reading material from the 60's and 70's, transporting myself back to a time when geopolitics and detailed knowledge of technical hardware didn't gum down the pace of a good novel. It was a less informed time, but fun, non the less.

Drink with the Devil is a rare novel that transports me back but yet remains refreshingly contemporary! I think that's why I like it so much. Sean Dillon, Higgins's weathered hero, does all the time travelling for me. The novel opens with a gold heist gone awry a decade ago. Fast forward to today and a treasure hunt ensues throughout the rest of the novel.

Mafia, Ulstermen, angry IRA types, and many others find their way into the novel. Like most Higgins fare, the pace is very quick. All subplots, there aren't many, are attended to; Dillon sews up all loose ends, as he usually does.

A fine read. Or, a fine listen. Patrick McNee does the audio version. He relies on his cockney accent to bring realism to the text. Very enjoyable