A typical Higgins work with the whole company of characters. The story is a real stretch which suggests Higgins might need a break. ( )

Bad Company starts off in World War 2, and for the most part chronicles the life of Baron Max von Berger. An SS officer in the war, he was summoned by Adolf Hitler, who gave von Berger his diary as well as access to funds that would launch an extremely successful industrial career that provided the baron great wealth. Fast forward to present day, and he enters an alliance with the Rashids, Arab oil moguls who operate on the opposite side of the law. Sean Dillon, ostensibly the main protagonist, has killed all of the Rashids, including Kate, which infuriates von Berger. He vows revenge on Dillon and British black ops commander Charles Ferguson. He also comes in contact with his son, Marco, who he did not even know existed, and mayhem ensues.

The book teases about this deep dark secret that von Berger is holding, which can be found in Hitler’s diary. They built this up like it was going to be a big deal, but when it was revealed, I felt incredibly underwhelmed. Spoiler alert: The secret is that toward the end of the war, Hitler reached out to President Roosevelt to join together, end the war, and turn on Russia before they took over Eastern Europe. Roosevelt sent the father of the current president of the United States to be his emissary. Something that would horribly damage the president. I thought this was a yawner. I didn’t see why the president’s father under the orders of Roosevelt sent to hear out Hitler was a big deal. I’m sure negotiations happen in war all the time. Also, Dillon is maybe in 25% of the book, even though he is the protagonist. Von Berger gets far more screen time and character development. He wasn’t as villainous as one might expect since he was very big on honor. The action was solid but the plot wasn’t terribly interesting, and the character of Marco was a little over the top. This was just an okay novel that is hard to get excited about.

Carl Alves – author of Reconquest: Mother Earth ( )

If I was so inclined it would be possible to review this novel using a single cheesy line from the very book I'm now writing about: "It's like a bad novel, the whole thing." That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this title, but nonetheless I shall expand below.

This current plot arc started with the Rashid Family in "Edge of Danger" two books ago, some unbearably bad judgement and an epic plot hole saw the arc extend into "Midnight Runner", the entire book of which was spent trying to fix the bad judgement exhibited in the prior book (we all know that if we attempt to assassinate the US President but then our family dies the authorities will let us go with sympathy, right? right?).

Well, continuing on with the epic plot holes "Bad Company" introduces us to Baron Max von Berger who was been a silent partner of the Rashid Family all this time to the tune of two billion dollars. However, despite the Rashid Family attempts at destroying the world oil markets, conspiring to assassinate a US president and various other nefarious activities such as arms smuggling and what not, no one, anywhere, in the US Government nor UK Government security services bothered to run a simple computer check on the company Rashid Investments until this book... then oh what do you know there's a silent partner.

We then continue the utterly ludicrous bad judgement and let Baron Max von Berger get away with his plans for awhile before a climax in a castle in Germany.

Oh, and Hitler's missing diary is involved in what seems a bad Clive Cussler-esque attempt at tying current action to past events, but it's never really used per se just hangs around at the edges of the story as apparent motivation for them to chase Baron Max von Berger down because being a part of a conspiracy to corner the world oil markets and arms smuggling is apparently A-OK.

Deeply unimpressive novel with an even more uninspiring plot that the last two novels. ( )

I like the way he writes, but do not agree sometimes with the way he ends the book.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, Jack Higgins was one of the best thriller writers in the business. He had a lean, vigorous style (probably learned writing 200-page paperback originals in the 1960s) and a gift for offbeat plots and unusual heroes--the most memorable of whom was Irish gunman-poet Liam Devlin, featured in "The Eagle Has Landed." Nearly twenty years on, Higgins is well past his literary prime, and "Bad Company" is sad proof of it.

Another installment in the seemingly endless, increasingly repetitive story of IRA gunman turned British agent Sean Dillon, "Bad Company" puts the series' stock company of characters through their desultory paces with little imagination and less wit. Dillon, an interesting character in his first few appearances in the 1990s, has become progressively less so with every subsequent outing. The rough edges have been sanded off his character, the darkness bleached out of his soul, and he has--even by the loose standards of thriller fiction--become boringly invincible.

The first fifty pages--a long slab of WWII back story involving the principal villain--are the best in the book After that, regular readers of the series will feel that they've heard it all before and new readers will wonder what all the fuss was about. ( )