Given to us by Marcia

I found the attitudes of the characters rather matter of fact, whether they were plotting their next moves or killing a terrorist. It seemed that Maggie came into a room and shot the baddie right between the eyes on several occasions. She proved to be quite the asset at age 19. The ending roared up very quickly and resolved in but a moment of time. The plot is topical with the current state of world affairs but the cloak and dagger is missing. My thanks to the author and the Penguin First to Read program for a complimentary copy. ( )

The Midnight Bell - Jack Higgins **

It is hard to believe that this is the 22nd book featuring the IRA man turned good Sean Dillon. For fans of Higgins it is pretty much amazing that at the age of 87 he is still releasing new material for his sake I hope it continues for a long time, it is obviously something that is still a passion and his output hasn’t really decreased with age all that much. I have been a Higgins fan for the best part of 20 years and read practically all of his 84 books and consider him my favourite author of all time... and yet these recent novels are just failing to live up to any kind of expectation.

I suppose that there will be two camps of people that read a new Higgins release, those that are fairly new to his work and those that have followed him closely over the years. I envy those that are discovering him for the first time, and possibly books like the Midnight Bell will seem fresh and energetic, but to me it is just a rehash of all his other books. He could almost have placed the other 21 books into a blender, whirred for ten minutes and poured out a new story. We have the same old Al Qaeda bad guy that seems as threatening as Mary Poppins, the inept bad guys that fail at everything they do and the implausible plots that just fall into place with far too much ease and coincidence. The dialogue is extremely poor, with every speech written with the prefix ‘said’ or ‘demanded’ often when they aren’t really demanding anything at all. There are no surprises and anyone with half a brain can second guess what is going to appear on the next page, or even twenty pages along. Even the relatively new characters, such as Dylan’s cousin are an amalgamation of previously seen people, at best they are totally unbelievable and worst just annoying. I found myself reading pages of dialogue and thinking that no one in their situation speaks like that that especially when they have just been nearly killed or about to enter a dangerous situation.

The plot follows the usual bunch of Dylan, Ferguson (who must be over a hundred by now...), Roper and Sarah as they pit their wits against the new ‘Master’, a man high up in the Al Qaeda organisation. Once again a tale from the past with IRA connections rears its ugly head and both the present day and old acquaintances join forces on opposing sides. It is a race to avoid the traps set in place by the master and neutralise the threat before they get eliminated.

I really wish that Higgins would put an end to the Dylan series, at this far into the series it is already around 8 books too long. The plots are formulaic, the characters tired and wooden with the Higgins magic all but disappeared. If you are looking for an introduction to him, try his 70’s output such as the Eagle Has Landed or A Prayer for the Dying, leave this alone, unless like me you are a completist and will but almost anything he releases.

The blurb states:

‘‘The bell tolls at midnight as death requires it. But will it finally toll for Sean Dillon & company.”

I can only answer honestly and say that I wish it would..... ( )

I had been looking forward to reading the next book in this series for a while and I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed being close to all the old characters in this series. They were well done as always. I look forward to reading the next in the series. Sean is wonderful as always. The storyline is fantastic. Keep the good writing coming. I received an ebook copy of this book from Firsttoread for a fair and honest opinion. ( )

The twenty-second Sean Dillon thriller pits the hero against the Master, the new leader of al-Qaeda, who is busy plotting revenge for the death of the previous Master.

In Northern Ireland, a son has sworn revenge for the death of his mother in a drunken car crash. In Washington, D.C., a special project director with the CIA puts a daring anti-terrorism plan into action without authorization. In London, Sean and his colleagues receive a warning from al-Qaeda that “you have only made us stronger.”

As each of these seemingly disparate events occur, readers will find that the unfolding plot twists and turns, bringing them together and creating havoc.
With complex characters and long-held secrets, readers will find it difficult to set this one aside before turning the final page.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads program ( )