To Catch a King
by Harry Patterson
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From the New York Times–bestselling author Tom Clancy called "the master": In war-torn Lisbon, a bartender and a nightclub singer are caught up in a treacherous Nazi plot.As the Nazi war machine prepares to invade England, Hitler plots to kidnap the Duke and Duchess of Windsor while they travel in Portugal, and install them as puppet monarchs under the thumb of his fascist regime.
But when an American bartender and a young Jewish nightclub singer catch wind of the scheme, they set out to show more derail the Nazi conspiracy. As Hitler's henchmen close in, their thrilling rescue mission—and the surprising help it receives—will have the power to turn the tide of the Nazi progress toward European domination.
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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, 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 show more 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
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 show more 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
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 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 show more 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
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 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 show more 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.
The plot turns on use of a 1990s Xerox machine in 1940!
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- Canonical title
- To Catch a King
- Original title
- To Catch a King
- Original publication date
- 1979
- People/Characters
- Duke of Windsor; Walter Schellenberg
- Important places
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Important events
- World War II
- Dedication
- For my daughter, Sarah, from one unashamed romantic to another. . .
- First words
- Just after midnight it started to rain, and the Portuguese policeman brought a cape form his sentry box and placed it around her shoulders without a word.
- Disambiguation notice
- This book should not be combined with "The Judas Gate", first published in 2010, the recent Sean Dillon thriller. To Catch a King was known as The Judas Gate as a working title but it was dropped prior to publication. ... (show all)="http://www.scintilla.utwente.nl/~gert/higgins/" rel="nofollow" target="_new">http://www.scintilla.utwente.nl/~gert...
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- Reviews
- 5
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- 7 — Danish, Dutch, English, German, Hungarian, Portuguese, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 47
- UPCs
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- ASINs
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