Harry Patterson (1)

A good bit of story-telling. There's long been mystery around the Duke of Windsor's time in Spain and Portugal after he was forced out of France in 1940. Higgins has created a narrative about what the Germans called "The Windsor Affair", their efforts to convince the Duke to stay in Spain rather than take up his post in the Bahamas. It's a brisk tale with some Nazi heavies and some American heroes and heroines. Most interesting is Walter Schellenberg, who was essentially a Nazi spymaster, show more who openly defied his Berlin masters in their attempt to physically kidnap the Windsors.
Higgins takes a fanciful positive view of the Duke and his actions, which recent literature would tend to discredit. However, Higgins praises the Duke and his view works well for his story and the way things plays out in his telling. In any event, Higgins tells a good story using interesting characters and enough historical background to make it sound authentic.
One nit about the facts: in the book's Epilogue there's a factual error because Windsor was not made Governor of Bermuda after he left the Bahamas.
Recommended as a good read despite having some flaws. show less

A Phoenix in the Blood - Jack Higgins ****

Higgins takes a step back from his usual action packed novels and delves into the more romantic side of life. Interestingly, out of the dozens of books he has written there are only two that could not be considered action, this one and the other being 'Memoirs of a Dancehall Romeo'.

I was a little unsure of how I would react to a love story, and to be honest if it was by hardly any other author I wouldn't have picked it up.

It is quite a short story show more and follows the relationship between Jay Williams and Caroline Grey. Sounds simple enough but Higgins has thrown in the fact that Williams is a serving officer in the forces and also coloured. Grey on the other hand is a fifteen year old white school girl with a privileged upbringing. Higgins has gently crafted the novel to allow the reader to feel sympathy for the couples plight whilst still viewing the situation from how society of the day would have reacted (it was written in 1964).

Readers of the tale though should not expect any type of sexual content because that just isn't Higgins’s style. It is dealt with sensitively and innocently.

As always with Higgins’s books though, expect a number of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end. show less

Anyone familiar with Jack Higgins will be aware of his best selling book The Eagle has Landed. In my opinion this book more than equals it.

The scene is set in the second world war with the german army poised to invade Britain. The Duke & Duchess of Windsor are in Lisbon. The British are desperate to send them off to the Bahamas (out of sight, out of mind) and the Germans are convinced that they would jump at the chance to defect to them, whereby they would place the Duke on the throne after show more the invasion. A plan by the Germans is put in place in order to ensure the Duke sees things their way, and if not, then a kidnapping is in order.....

Walter Schellenberg is put in charge of the case but doesn't really see things the way Himmler would like, and proves to be an almost anti hero. As usual, Higgins has created various characters to help the script flow nicely along with the pages flying by.

Expect killing, torturing, double agents, & beautiful girls mixed with real life events. As in the style of many of his works there is a prologue and epilogue that tidys up events in only the way Higgins can.

An excellent read and another book to add to my collection of favourites :) show less

Pretty good. Quick, no-nonsense.