I read Drink with the Devil—the fifth appearance of Jack Higgins' trademark hero Sean Dillon—before the pandemic and decided to finally review it in my sixth month of work from home. Somehow, I always seem to pick up a Higgins to revive my blog every few months. Maybe because he is my favourite action-thriller writer and also my comfort read.
In Drink with the Devil (1996), Higgins offers a glimpse into Dillon's early life—first as a disillusioned IRA assassin, then as a skilled mercenary for the PLO and the Israelis, the KGB and the Red Brigades, and finally as an operative for a highly secret British intelligence unit answerable only to the prime minister.
The story begins in 1985, London.
The IRA sends Sean Dillon—as Martin Keogh—to team up with a legendary Irish militant (Protestant/Loyalist), Michael Ryan, and his young niece Kathleen, who hijack a truck laden with gold bullion worth £50 million. The IRA doesn't want Ryan to use the bullion to buy arms and start a civil war back home. Luckily for Dillion, things don't go according to plan. One late night, he and Ryan are transporting the bullion truck by a hired boat across the Irish Sea. But the scheming crew with plans of their own forces them to blow up the boat and send the bullion plunging to the bottom of the choppy sea.
Cut to the present, 1995, New York State.
Michael and Kathleen are dead to the world, including to the IRA and British intelligence; the priceless cargo never recovered. Michael is serving 25 years in a New York State prison for a failed bank robbery and shooting a policeman. His niece, who works as a nurse at a nearby hospital, meets him every day. They have assumed the names of Liam and Jean Kelly.
Enter Sean Dillon. The former IRA hitman is tasked with a single mission—prevent the gold from disrupting the peace process between the Catholics and Protestants. He meets his "old friends" a decade later, and therein lies the proverbial twist in the tale.
While I haven't read many of the nearly two-dozen Sean Dillon novels, I can venture to say that Drink with the Devil is not his best. I thought the story, though evenly paced and with a fair amount of action and plenty of dialogue, was somewhat weak. It gave me the impression that even an amateur could have got away with stealing the gold. It also left me wondering how British Intel could not have traced the hijacked bullion or the whereabouts of Michael and Kathleen. They can't just have been lost at sea or disappeared into thin air.
In Higgins' defence, though, Dillion, his boss, Brigadier Charles Ferguson, who heads the secret unit known as the Prime Minister's Private Army, and Special Agent Hannah Bernstein, come into the picture much later; in 1995, when the story of the Irish Rose under the Irish Sea actually begins.
That aside, Drink with the Devil has all the hallmarks of Higgins' simple, to the point and conversational storytelling style. The characters, including the appearance of his other endearing hero, Liam Devlin, and the charming Lake District setting in northwest England, with its pubs and cafes affiliated either to the Republicans or the Loyalists, make the novel a fairly entertaining read. As with many of his IRA-linked novels, Higgins weaves the Northern Ireland conflict and its assorted players into his narrative, which, as a history buff, I find very interesting to read.
Whatever the pros and cons, it is a pleasure to read Jack Higgins.
Where have you been Prashant? Hope you and your loved ones are fine. Good to see you back. I have missed your posts.
ReplyDeleteHi Neer! All well at my end in Mumbai. Hope you and your family are doing well too. The last four years have been rather hectic in terms of my work and commuting to and from the office. It left me with little time or energy to review books and maintain the blog. I tried to revive the blog earlier. Hopefully, I will be more regular in this attempt.
DeleteGood to see you back Prashant, and glad you enjoyed the book. Hope you and the family are well and surviving the crisis...
ReplyDeleteThank you, Moira. We are doing well. I have been working from home since March and will probably continue to do so until New Year.
DeleteYou've been absent from the blog for ages though I did spot you on FB. I do hope things are ok for you and the family. The statistics that come through the news for India is not encouraging at all.
ReplyDeleteAll well, Mystica, thank you. I have cut down on FB so that I can focus on my reading and writing. I agree, the COVID-19 situation in India is not good, though, the death rates are still low and the recoveries very high. With restrictions being lifted slowly, there are too many people out on the streets, many with half-chin or without masks.
DeleteSo glad you're back blogging, Prashant! Like Mystica, I've been following the news from India, and so sorry to hear how many people are ill. I hope you and your family are well.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Margot. We are all doing well. I'm still working out of home. The case numbers are not looking good, I agree, but fortunately the death rates are low and recoveries high. People are becoming complacent and letting their guard down. My family and I hardly step out and when we do, we wear two masks and keep our distance from others. In fact, we order everything home to avoid going to the stores or supermarkets.
DeleteSorry I missed this one initially, Prashant. Glad the bellicosity over Kashmir hasn't been flaming up too prominently, atop all else.
ReplyDeleteHi Todd! Kashmir aside, we now have to deal with a belligerent China in India's northern-most Ladakh region. They're up to mischief with most of their land and sea neighbours.
DeleteI must make an effort to read something by Higgins. I'm sure I have a couple. I might have read him in the long ago forgotten days before I kept a record of these things.
ReplyDeleteCol, I'm glad I haven't read all of Higgins' books because I do enjoy his thrillers.
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