Z/Web

Author: Jack Higgins

Normally I love spy thrillers and I’m not too critical of them, but this one was bad. The concept was terrific: the wealthiest woman in the world, an heir to an Arab oil fortune, declares vengeance on former IRA gunman now British secret agent Sean Dillon, his boss, an American Senator, and the Senator’s friend, the President of the United States. Unfortunately, that’s about as exciting as it gets: after that set up I expected a lot and instead I got a mishmash of dropped plots and non-action.

First problem: dropped plots. The American Senator and President feature initially, but later are forgotten completely and have nothing to do with the book. The Senator’s daughter is killed by the wealthy woman, and he initially vows revenge (against the counsel of the President), but ends up doing nothing. Higgins spends a lot of time at the beginning letting us know the history of this man, reliving his Vietnam experiences, etc., and then… nothing.

Next problem: lackluster action. While the rich woman talks big, she doesn’t just try to kill her enemies. You’d think she’d be hiring killers, planting bombs, etc., but no. She has dinner with them! They chat about how she is planning on killing them. She keeps hinting to her cousin about this big plan she has in mind, and when it’s finally revealed, it’s a plot to blow up her own oil pipeline and thus destroy the world economy and ruin the U.S. President’s popularity. Gee, that’s brilliant. Wasn’t that the plot of a recent James Bond film?

We finally get some action toward the end of the novel, but it’s too late. We’re bored to tears by then, and the action’s so brief and odd (killing is usually so quick it’s over before it’s begun, and the good guys and bad guys do more talking with each other than shooting) it’s unsatisfying.

The book has a few nice points, but that’s the problem: it feels like a jumbled collection of semi-related stories jammed into a single book with a rough plot loosely tying the mess together. Lame.