- Hardcover: 585 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown & Company; First Edition edition (7 Oct 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0316851760
- ISBN-13: 978-0316851763
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.4 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,370,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
"When I first saw my temporary secretary it never occurred to me to flirt with him". The bemused confidence and upended assumption of this first sentence from The High Flyer, by Susan Howatch, reveal a great deal about the character who speaks it and the shape of this novel as a whole. The narrator, Carter Graham, is a successful London lawyer--a "high flyer"--whose thoroughly secular plan for a perfect life (clothes, car, kids, etc.) is proceeding quite punctually, thanks to her strong sense of entitlement and her talent for social manipulation. The story that follows, however, undermines Carter's confident assumptions regarding the inner lives of the people around her. Carter meets and marries another high flyer, a charming business titan named Kim. Slowly, Carter learns of Kim's involvement in the occult, his Nazi past and the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of his former wife. As the mysteries of Kim's past are revealed to Carter, Kim's personality undergoes a deep and demonic transformation. Carter, terrified, seeks shelter at a Christian healing centre, where a cast of clerics and lay people help Carter reconstruct a life for herself, and a theological and psychological framework that makes some sense of the blindness and betrayal that destroyed her life with Kim. "[C]reation's not about efficiency", explains one character, "it's about love. It's about shedding blood, sweat and tears to make the thing you care about come right. It's about enduring the shadow side of creation and using it so that in the end everything can be brought into the light". The novel's greatest strength is its suspenseful plotting, which calls to mind (thanks in part to the narrator's frequent allusions to) the films of Alfred Hitchcock.. --Michael Joseph Gross
YOU MAGAZINE
'The woman's brilliant!'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Howatch consistently touches my heart with her work.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The High Flyer (Paperback)
I've read this book 3 times since it was published, as I do all Howatch's books. This novel gives us yet another twist on Nicholas and his coterie that is compelling and thoughtful, but also fun to read. Her books on the church consistently speak to me in a way that nothing else about Christianity does. Because of her, I'm becoming a "closet" Christian! I wish the Christians I've encountered were more like her characters -- real people with problems but also with integrity and commitment to something greater than themselves. When they are portrayed as rigid or stiff necked, the plot usually involves a BIG dose of humility accompanied by a change in perspective. These novels inspired me to expand my reading to include Farrer, Underhill, Julian of Norwich, and The Cloud of Unknowing. I check every week to see if she's got a new book coming out -- hope it's soon!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable and thought provoking,
By A Customer
This review is from: The High Flyer (Paperback)
This is the first book by Susan Howatch that I have read, and now I am in the process of finding her other books to read. The two main characters, Carter Graham and Kim Betz, are difficult to like at the begining of the book but the author pulls you into the story so well that you have to find out what happens to them. After the first couple of chapters, I found it very hard to put the book down. What I enjoyed most about the novel is the ending. Normally with a thriller you have the climatic finish and are left wondering what happens to the characters after that - but with the High Flyer the last 100 pages tell you the aftermath of the story. I found this book to be unique and fresh - it was a wonderful read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent continuation of the Starbridge series,
By A Customer
This review is from: The High Flyer (Paperback)
This book is a continuation of Howatch's Starbridge series. Although Carter Graham can at times be an irritating protagonist, this is a valid attempt at exploring the culture clash between the worlds of work and career, and the worlds of spiritual understanding and knowledge.For those ( like me ) who have read Howatch's previous books, it is a pleasure to meet again her main characters of Nicholas Darrow and Alice, a few years on from "A Question of Integrity". The most moving passage of this book is Carter's flight from her flat, through the streets of London, searching for sanctuary. Even if you don't enjoy the book's attempt at describing theology by using conversation - read this passage. It's worth it.
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