Customer Reviews

A Fine Night for Dying

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"Dying" was our introduction to prolific author Jack Higgins, a native Irishman heavily influenced by Britain's role in WW-II. In this post-war "thriller", British intelligence agent Paul Chavasse is assigned a case involving a body discovered in the English channel weighted down with chains. Following a lead to a human smuggling ring (to circumvent tight immigration laws), he contrives to be a customer using an Australian identity as a cover. The passage back to England becomes one of cross and double-cross, and before it's over several more deaths go down ere Chavasse closes in on the bad guys and, together with the victim's brother, ensures the carriage of justice.

While the storyline is suspenseful, this is a pretty short novel at 180 pages set in fairly large print. The plot is quite straightforward, with just a few characters and a couple of settings, and is characterized by sustained action as opposed to intrigue or complexity. By today's modern thriller standards, this simplistic book comes across as pretty tame -- maybe that was to be expected from a book published nearly 35 years ago.

Higgins has compiled a bibliography of some 50 or more novels, so he obviously enjoys a loyal and ardent following. While we were modestly entertained with the effort at hand, we plan to sample a more recent example of his work as a truer test of his craft and abilities. Meanwhile, "Dying" provided an enjoyable, albeit brief, adventure.

Definitely a 1-star book. I kept waiting for it to get good until I realized that it was over. Even the parts which you know were supposed to build suspense didn't. Not even worth borrowing from the library.

This is one of the many books that Jack Higgins (Also known as Harry Patterson) wrote under another name. I cheated and took the year that it was written (1969) from another review. This book is from the Paul Chavasse series, but is not quite as good as previous entries, that I have read. The book does not quite deliver on its early promise. ALSO the book is padded with blank pages. But still, all in all, I would recommend this book.

I am a big Jack Higgins fan but I am very disappointed with this book. Not anywhere near his best. I would pass on this one.

Intelligence agent Paul Chavasse is brought in to investigate when a body weighted down with chains in found in the English channel and it's not the first. There is a human smuggling ring operating and Chavasse is sent to infiltrate it. Posing as an Australian criminal he pays for passage with the smugglers which leads him to some powerful people at the top.

This is a solid Higgins novel, but not his best. It was actually written in 1969 and parts are dated, especially the Chinese communism story line. The whole plot is interesting but not gripping. It's a short, compact book with quite a bit of action and twists. This novel won't stay with you. It's like a sweet confection; you'll get a few hours of enjoyment and then it's gone.

I enjoyed this book well enough for the first half, but once the writer got past that point and started to have to wrap things up, his story and writing completely fell apart. Between totally improbable plot-turns to the simply illogical this book veered off into the absurd.

Case in point is toward the end when Chavase and Co take a boat out to Hellgate and Chavase makes a point of "staying low" and on the boat while another character goes into town to check things out. If that's the case how was he photographed, allowing the nemesis to find out he was there. Really stupid crap like that was frankly just a bit much to ask for. It's like the author just made crap up as he went along and didn't care that it didn't fit with what he'd already written and was too lazy to adjust his story to flow better.

I absolutely HATED this book and only even finished it because I was on vacation in Mexico with no other book left to read and no way to get another.

In closing, not only do I want the $9.99 I spent back for this drivel but I want the 3 hrs or so I lost reading this junk.

I enjoyed the other Paul Chavesse novel better. This novel is not without merit. Provided that you stick the plot long enough to get to real action. It has typical things loyalties divided and consciences are weighed. But the story doesn't truly become interesting until middle of the novel. My advice wait for the next one.

Give Jack Higgins an enema and he could sleep in a matchbox as this work typifies.
It is a wonder his characters could kill and maim as they do at every turn since they all have lung disease from excessive tobacco smoking and impared livers from the constant consumption of alcohol. Higgins himself likely has cigarette smoke as flatus and urinates pure Irish Whiskey. The stories such as this one are basically interesting. It is the smoking and drinking kind of slop the characters are made to wade through on every page that gives the stories their inferior quality.

harry paterson at his best