Customer Reviews

Rough Justice

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

On the surface Harry Miller is an ordinary person; an MP who is in realty the counterpart to Blake Johnson, the American President's top security man. Blake runs the black ops group the Basement, a unit that works outside the law to administer justice and protect the country and its people. Blake and Harry met in Banu, Kosovo; each was there to inspect the country's leaders and to prevent a Russian Officer Igor Zorin from torching a mosque that would have reignited the fighting.

President Putin and his right hand man Ivan Volkov decide Miller should be taken out and assign the mysterious the Broker, who has never been seen, to contact Michael Quinn, a former IPPI agent. Quinn contacts one of his agents to take out the MP. Miller knows he is under surveillance and being stalked, but takes out the contact killer. He also insures that a plutonium shipment by boat is carefully monitored and tracked all the way. Putin knows that Miller with Major Ferguson's people were responsible (the British version of the Basement) and wants him dead. The plan works only the wrong person dies; Miller with Ferguson's help will not rest until all those involved in the assassination plot are dead.

Suspense grandmaster Jack Higgins writes another fascinating tense thriller that is loaded with action. Yet with all the non--stop action, the story line also contains the political realties of the world today with insight into Muslim fundamentalists, Russia's efforts to return to superpower status, the NATO response, and the fragile peace in several places like Northern Ireland. However, as always is the case in a Mr. Higgins' thriller, his key characters seem real even when they perform seemingly surreal stunts; and yes cold blooded killer Sean Dillon is in the middle of the maelstrom.

Harriet Klausner

I just finished reading Rough Justice, the 15th book in the series featuring Sean Dillon as a reformed IRA terrorist now acting on behalf of the British Prime Minister. It is probably the 12th or 13th one I have read in the series, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Having read the previous books in the series, I am very familiar of the cast of characters, several of whom are among my favorites. Each Higgins story is free standing, and very entertaining. I would not want to read this book if it were my first exposure to Higgins. Trying to catch up to all the characters all these years into his work would be nearly impossible.
I look forward to the next installment.

I did not like this book at all. The beginning was ok, but towards the end it got more and more boring. Sorry, Jack Higgins cannot write good thrillers any more.

It's OK, but it's not a Sean Dillon story, and the guy is not as much fun as Sean.

This was possibly the worst book I have read. The writing is weak (plot, characterization), and the editing non-existent. Many, many sentences you could not tell who was doing the action involved in the sentence. The dialog was awful - for some reason it reminded me of dialog in the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons - the old Natasha and Boris as Russian villains. Maybe his earlier books were good - this is the first Jack Higgins I have read - but this one does not make me want to waste my time with another.

If you like thrillers that feature Sean Dillon, you won't like this book as much as I did. Sean doesn't have a very large role.

If you like Sean Dillon as the unrepentant avenger, you won't like this book as much as I did. Sean shows a vulnerable side.

If you feel that the Sean Dillon books need some interesting new characters, you'll feel like Rough Justice provides a badly needed breath of fresh air.

If you wish that Jack Higgins would stop matching his avengers against the same bad guys, you'll be disappointed that Higgins goes over a lot of old ground in Rough Justice.

So what's it all about?

President Jake Cazelet's point man, Blake Johnson, is back early from Kosovo to report that the Russians are stirring the pot. He also tells a provocative tale about running into a British MP, Major Harry Miller, there who shot and killed Russian Captain Igor Zorin after Zorin molested a young woman. Cazelet tells Charles Ferguson, the PM's point man, that he should get to know Miller. Ferguson is intrigued and the two team up . . . with significant consequences.

Zorin is well connected in Russia and President Putin is alerted to his death. Although it's best to bury the incident, Putin doesn't like the interference with his plans to extend Russian influence.

From there, we learn a lot about Miller who has been an undercover agent for many years, beginning in Northern Ireland. In fighting skills, he's a lot like Dillon . . . but there the similarities end. Miller is married to a famous actress who doesn't know what he really does for a living. She expects him to attend nightly performances which he does his best to sandwich in between sanctions. As Miller's activities for Ferguson increase, the marriage's roots are shaken. Fortunately, Miller can rely on his sister, Monica, for sympathy and support.

Miller is a lot like Dillon: Shoot first and sort out the consequences later. As a result, his actions cause an escalation in tensions between the Russians and the British . . . and escalation that has personal consequences when he becomes a target.

In the background, a shadowy figure called the Broker is pulling the puppet strings to do the Russians' will . . . but not getting very good results. What will be the consequences for him?

Before the book is over, there's a classic battle in a familiar setting.

I thought that Rough Justice was the best Sean Dillon book in many years. The book was a little less predictable and contained two interesting characters, Major Miller and his sister, that were reasonably well developed by describing their deeds and words. The book's ending also suggests good things for future books in the series.

When a series starts to go downhill, it normally just keeps doing so. I am pleased to see new life breathed into what had become a series that offered too little variety and surprise.

Jack Higgins is a Master of Suspense. He is a remarkably talented writer who knows his genre and knows what it takes to keep us fans coming back for another go with a cast of characters we've all come to know in return.
In an age of YOUTUBE and video game storylines it is nice to delve into a well-plotted, well-crafted saga where the terrible demons and dragons come in the shape and form of dangerous men. Also, where the knight in shining armor has more than a few character dents and occasional rust patches.
I am truely enjoying Higgin's latest thriller and think that you will too. If you haven't read any of his books before then you'll be pleased to know the characters have evolved from previous novels and that there is a stack of them waiting for you.
Good reading so turn off the game player and jump into some better action.

Fete of Death
The character called Harry Miller is an interesting guy. He's married to a famous stage actress, and he does things not so famous, more like infamous, to his enemies.

He serves the British government in black ops and naturally enough gets mixed up with Sean Dillon himself, no less, and his motley crew. Before you know it, all hell breaks loose as the lot of them meet up with Russian assassins, IRA hit men, radical Islamic terrorists, and assorted thugs.

Between rubouts, Sean Dillon takes time to become romantically involved in this outing. But don't mistake "Rough Justice" for a romance. It's a thriller through and through--and a blood-soaked one at that. Admittedly, there's a cast of hundreds, but they dovetail smoothly, in fact especially so for readers who've read Jack Higgins's previous Sean Dillon books in the series. If you're aching to devour a lean mean thriller, you couldn't do better than this one. Not an ounce of fat on it.

--Bryan Cassiday

Being stuck in a condo rental during a blizzard, and having nothing else to read, I confess that I read the entire silly thing. But I really hate myself for it.

Harry Miller, MP, appears to most of the world a mild-mannered upper-crust MP carrying on the family tradition of upper-crust noblese oblige. The PM & a few others know that Harry is an ex-military ex-special-ops bad-ass who cut his teeth in Northern Ireland during "The Troubles" and could put a 9mm round precisely between your eyes through the door of a moving vehicle. Well, probably not your eyes, since Harry Miller also never mistakes good guys for bad guys, an indispensable skill in someone who routinely metes out "Rough Justice." Harry gets around in his role of unofficial Enforcer for the P.M.: Kosovo, Washington D.C., Syria, and of course, Ireland. Word also gets around, both to a semi-unofficial "cell" of MI5 staffed by ex-IRAs, ex-gangsters, and other rough justice types, and to the Russian President (presumably Putin). The former recruits him, the latter tries to kill him, repeatedly (without success, of course, although the Russians do get Harry's wife via the A-rabs via the IRA).

Higgins' nominal theme is violence begets violence, or, What Goes Around, Comes Around. There is a sub-theme - Harry's love-hate relationship with his undeniable talents in the killing & fighting business. Curiously, I read my only other Higgins some 20 years ago, also in a rental condo - Touch The Devil - which was also concerned with the protagonist's troubled soul.

So far, so good. Higgins does mine old & wear-worn veins, but so do many authors. The problem is the execution. I've seen cardboard cutouts more three-dimensional than these characters). It's all very Ian Flemming-esque with the boys (and the occasional girl - Higgins makes a few ineffectual swipes at modernity) drinking copious amounts of whiskey & smoking innumerable cigarettes between offing various miscreants. Harry of course displays the occasional 007 elan when he joins his sister & celebrated actress wife for apres' theatre champagne & lobster.

Worse yet is the dialogue - wooden, mostly mini-sermons to the reader about what a rough world it is, and how Team Miller is just Doing What Needs To Be Done - putting down all manner of mad-dogs that are beyond the reach of conventional justice, etc. Even the prologue, supposedly a very high-level strategy meeting between the President of the USA, a top advisor, and a valued CIA covert-ops man who teamed with Harry in Kosovo, becomes the first of many such sermons - strategic planning goes by the wayside. Does this publisher not have a single competent editor?

Higgins is clearly struggling with computers & IT. In the opening Kosovo chapter, Harry is checking on some Bad Russians using files stored on his laptop, and in the wilds of Kosovo the Russians magically reach into it and wipe the affected files! Other forays into IT are similarly laughable.

It's too late for me, but take my advice: Avoid this book. Don't hate yourself. You'll thank me in the morning.

I am no literary giant so I can't comment on grammar and such. But after reading 35 or more Higgins novels I consider this one of his better attempts.

Harry miller, whom I liked, seems to be another super cop in the Realm of Sean Dillon, and is able to solve or just about debunk any and Everything.? Is he going to be backup for Sean and the Salters?

Loved the diologue between Lady Starling and Sean. Is he human after all? Although I think I would have liked to have seen him hook up with Hanna Bernstein before she was eliminated from the cast of ever present great Higgins characters.

All in all I loved the book and the last page was very emotional for me.

I did think though that their was not enough Sean Dillon. He is my literary Hero
























Sean and the Salters