The High Flyer [Import] [Hardcover]

Howatch Susan (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 585 pages
• Publisher: Great Britain Little, Brown and (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316851760
• ISBN-13: 978-0316851763
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,282,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Howatch mesmerizes again with The High Flier, July 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The High Flyer (Hardcover)

My eagerly-awaited copy of The High Flier now lies on the living room floor, tempting me to read it all over again. As usual, once I started this latest novel by Susan Howatch, I couldn't bear to put it down!

Set in 1990, this book is the latest installment in the Starbridge series and once again we see Alice, Nick Darrow, and the other denizens of the Healing Centre at St. Benet's church. This time, however, the story is told from the point of view of Ms. Carter Graham, a 35-year-old lawyer who nearly "has it all."

Carter's life is following her plan perfectly, and her most recent success is her marriage to Kim, a fellow lawyer-barracuda. Things aren't what they seem to be, though, and Carter finds herself sorely in need of the healing powers of Nick Darrow and crew.

As with all of Howatch's books, the emotional wrenching and soul-searching is so powerful that I found myself experiencing it on a personal level. Once again, the Ultimate Reality is explored and experienced, however reluctantly.

And now I know that I will be forced to wait several more years until Ms. Howatch produces another novel. My name will be on the waiting list!

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The High Flyer" Soars!, July 11, 2000

By 

Laura G. Carter "Castlebreaker" (Reidsville, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The High Flyer (Hardcover)

Once again Ms. Howatch, masterful author of her 6-volume Starbridge series and other novels such as "The Rich Are Different" and "Wheel of Fortune", weaves a thrilling plot and fascinating new characters together in her latest novel, "The High Flyer". I won't reiterate the plot, as this Amazon.com page will detail all one needs to know very well without my help. However, I will say that - once again - I'm having difficult tearing myself away from the book. I want to take this work slowly yet, as is always the case with Ms. Howatch, I find I can't stop once I start a chapter or a section. I'm happy to report the re-appearance (still in vital and believable form) of Nicholas Darrow, Lewis Hall and Alice Fletcher from the latter volumes of the Starbridge series. Seeing them again felt like a reunion with old friends. They may be familiar characters but they are as fresh as newcomers Carter Graham, her mysterious husband, Kim, and the intriguing and ever-so-sexy Eric Tucker. Being a writer myself, I know how difficult it is to create characters - then recycle them - as believable entities. With "The High Flyer" - as with all of Ms. Howatch's novels - I just stand back and admire and pray that someday my talents will equal one-tenth the writing skills she displays, once again, so well in this novel. Additionally, her Starbridge series and "The High Flyer" continue to bring me a spiritual depth of story on a realistic, rational and intellectual plane that I get nowhere else, either in novels or organised religion or philosophical debate. Her characters' lives are blown apart, only to come together again through ministry, faith and a continuing belief in the elasticity of the human spirit. As with all her other works, this one is one you shouldn't miss. (My only regret is having to wait 3-4 years between fixes!)

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best "read" this year., July 10, 2000

By 

Shirlee Whitcomb (Walnut Creek, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The High Flyer (Hardcover)

High Flyer is Susan Howach at her best and beyond. The first half of this novel is so fast paced it's a roller coaster ride of surprise after surprise as the drama unfolds. Just when you think you've figured out the story's direction, it turns on a dime and takes a whole new twist. You won't be able to anticipate this compelling tale. It's a contemporary, psychological thriller, a romance, and a mystery involving the supernatural, the church, sex and big business in a brilliant mix that grips the reader right from the start. The second half of the book is paced just a bit slower holding the reader captive in a reflective study that brings unexpected clarity to what you think you already understood. A compelling read! Old familiar characters and fascinating new ones keeps your interest from start to finish.