Customer Reviews

Drink With the Devil

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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

Introduction : in 1985, Ulster Loyalist Ryan successfully robbed 50 million pounds of gold, only to lose it in transit when the Irish Rose, a vessel carrying the truck which carried the gold, sank somewhere off the coast of Ireland after sailing off from England.

Ten years later, a New York mafia don discovered Ryan and his connection to the lost gold. He arranged for Ryan to escape and forced Ryan's niece along to salvage the gold, working together with Jack Barry, retired IRA chief. It appeared that Ryan's gang of robbers had included an IRA mole, whose identity is easily guessed by readers familiar with Higgins' work.

Through a stroke of luck, the British authorities learned of the planned salvage and Group 4, aka PM's private army, was put to work to prevent the refunding of either militant factions in Northern Ireland. The rule, as usual, is "no publicity", which is somehow important amidst the US-mediated Irish peace process. Higgins' work, as usual, is action packed. There are less twists and turns, with the prologue taking almost half the book. His heroes, and heroines, seemed incredibly lucky and outskilled the opponents all the time, and trip only the sheerest bad luck. As usual, they know exactly where to inquire for their quarry, rendering zilch the laborious detective work.

This book would have served well enough if not for some incredible plot holes.

First, it was in the papers that the gold was on the Irish Rose which sank between England and Ireland. Though the British may find it hard to locate the wreck, the IRA had strong clues to narrow the location, and 50 million pounds of gold would have been worth the effort, regardless of whether one is driven by idealism or greed.

Second, Ryan could have retrieved his gold without too much difficulty, but instead he took chances to rob a bank in American and landed in jail. Why he did nothing, even after finding himself in prison, is a major plot hole. He could even have contacted his comrades to work something out instead of growing old in prison.

If Jack Higgins wrote it, it's worth reading. Love the "Sean Dillon" series. Book arrived within alloted time frame and was well packaged.

Higgins in his prime was a master of plot, character and dialogue. Drink With the Devil is a perfect example of formula rubbish, typical of his later books. Actually, the book might indeed be the work of a writing team, ala Jack London: Higgins provides the plot; a writing staff supplies the rest. Every character sounds exactly alike, whether they're English, Irish, Italian or American. Nearly everyone says "Good God" at some point in the story. Other numerous cliches are stuff like "his eyes turned cold" to indicate something serious is about to happen. His "Irish" characters, again typically, mouth vaudeville Irish cliches like "sure and" and "girl dear." One keeps expecting "Faith and begorrah" to erupt from Dillon and Devlin. As usual with all of Higgins' post WWII works, his understanding of political realities remains in the White Hat/Black Hat perspective: all the good guys working for the Anglo-American governments, all the bad guys outside that nexus. He also follows the propaganda line of the English by defining the Irish struggles as a Catholic/Protestant affair rather than the historical national movement it was and is. He writes of "Provos," as if he's never heard of the left leaning hunger striker Bobby Sands and the movement in general without any awareness of Protestant figures like Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone or Marxists like James Connolly. The final senility is his continued use of WWII weapons a half century after that war ended. Everyone carries Walthers, Brownings and Smith and Wessons; apparently Higgins is not aware that by the 1990's most operatives replaced those antiques with Sigs, Glocks, Makarovs and CZ75s.

Jack Higgins' DRINK WITH THE DEVIL receives a fine performance by veteran Michael Pqage, who has recorded over 50 tiles for Brilliance and is a Professor of Theatre and an actor. His dramatic voice spices the account of a deadly treasure hunt between an Irish militant who wants to finance a war and a former IRA enforcer who wants to retrieve the gold before he gets there. Highly dramatic action comes to life in audio.

I love Jack Higgins books. I have read every one he writes. I can't believe the situations that Sean Dillon gets into. I think I buy the books just to see if someone will finally get Sean. The secret little "hit squad" that is run by the "Brigader" is very interesting and I feel very important especially in these times. The fact that the United States has an equal organization is very interesting. I can't wait for Jacks next book.

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In this presentation we find Dillon posing as a Protestant to gain entry into the inner workings of a Loyalist Irish terror group and the friendship of Michael Ryan, its leader. Together they manage the robbery of an armored truck containing millions in gold, but their endeavour is botched when thru circumstances beyond their control the ferry boat sinks and takes the armored truck and its contents to the bottom of the Irish Sea.

Years later we come across Ryan and his sister living in the U.S.A., However, thru bad luck and a botched robbery Ryan in in jail where he is confined to the sick ward due to an illness. Now the parts start to come together. The Mafia know that Ryan is transported to a local hospital periodically for treatment, and they plan to kidnap him and force him to reveal the location of the sunken ferry boat and the armored truck. At about this time our perpetual heroes, Dillon and Brigadier Ferguson, enter the picture, determined to forestall the Mafia's attempt. This then becomes a very convoluted triangle which Higgins successfully and skillfully draws to a conclusion that leaves you gasping.

E.J. Walden, author of "Operation Snow Owl"

No thrill in this thriller, I was surprised to see other "good" reviews. I basically felt it was boring without any "bang" at the end.