The Judas Gate (Sean Dillon) (vuoden 2011 painos)

I start reading his books and it takes me forever to figure out who's who and who is good and who is bad. Not a whole lot of character development, just crazy violent things start happening and keep happening but thankfully the good guys always survive and win. ( )

This is my second Jack Higgins book this month. They are rousing, shoot 'em ups with minimal plot lines, and yet they are enjoyable. They remind me most of B-picture westerns of my youth where there was a continuous supply of bad guys which never seemed to diminish. The bad guys would have their innings but, in the end, justice always prevailed. Higgins tries to give his characters some life but they are mainly two-dimensional. All that said, I shall seek out more of his books. ( )

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The Judas Gate is right at the top of the list of the worst books Jack Higgins has ever written.

The characters have lost all individuality, the action somehow manages to be dull, the plot developments are predictable and the settings in the book are all recycled from prior books, asides for the brief introduction of a few scenes in Pakistan/Afghanistan. That's without going into the clichéd writing, recycled sequences - including the rehashed shot in the chest, appear dead, but oh no he's wearing a bulletproof vest; or scene variety number two; shot in the chest, collapse, then retaliate and kill the shooter.

I've read all 17 books before this one in the Sean Dillon series and can say without a doubt that the quality and plot development has been on a downward spiral for sometime and I shan't be bothering to buy number 19.

If you are interested in his work, check out The Eagle Has Landed, The Eagle Has Flown & Sheba for decent novels. ( )

### Review

‘Open a Jack Higgins novel and you’ll encounter a master craftsman at the peak of his powers ... first-rate tales of intrigue, suspense and full-on action.’
Sunday Express

‘Higgins is a master of his craft.’
Daily Telegraph

‘A thriller writer in a class of his own.’
Financial Times

‘The master craftsman of good, clean adventure.’
Daily Mail

### Product Description

Treachery has a price, in the mesmerizing new Sean Dillon thriller from the Sunday Times-bestselling author.

Helmand Province, Afghanistan: a lone convoy edges its way towards a deserted mountain village, led by US Army Rangers in Mastiff APVs. Stopping to search the area, the Rangers are hit by a massive roadside bomb, and as half the patrol lie dead or injured, the rest are ambushed with military precision. A nearby British medical team responds to the call for back-up, but all are slaughtered when their Chinook helicopter is blown up.

The ambush is bad, but what's worse is that, amidst the battlefield chatter picked up by Major Giles Roper, not all the Taliban voices are Afghan – some are English, and the commander bears an Irish accent; he even names himself 'Shamrock'. Why would he commit such an atrocity, but more importantly can he be found before he masterminds another?

Sean Dillon is put in charge of hunting the traitor down, with all the resources of the 'Prime Minister's private army' at his disposal. The fast and furious plot sweeps the reader from Pakistan to Algeria to London to Paris to Ireland, with many deaths along the way. The stakes are already high for Dillon and company then a familiar, deadly face makes a dramatic reappearance. This time, Dillon will not only be going to war – the war will be coming to him, and he will learn that this Judas has al-Qaeda on his side...