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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
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
I picked up her latest, THE HIGH FLYER, and put it down only to start the preceding one... The woman's brilliant" You Magazine. "Unputdownable...hugely ambitious" Daily Express "Howatch's skills as a novelist are consummate: her characters and her contexts live...One of the bravest books I've read" Church Times
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First Sentence
He glanced up, decided I was just another dumb blonde hired to massage a keyboard and made the big mistake of adopting a patronising manner. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
He glanced up, decided I was just another dumb blonde hired to massage a keyboard and made the big mistake of adopting a patronising manner. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format: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
Format: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
Format: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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great read for us girls
I've read most of Susan Howatch's novels and always enjoy them, going back to re=read them. Great books for holidays all the usual ingredients love, sex, romance, power and... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Catherine Kennedy
the high flyer
absolutely loved this book, read heartbreaker first as didnt realise it was a second book - couldnt wait to order high flyer. Read more
Published 3 months ago by jules
Boring
Did not enjoy the book at all. Tedious - really quite put downable. I won't be reading any of the author's other books.
Published 4 months ago by C. Dougan
Good crime story but not much else
I enjoyed this novel less than the other Starbridge and St Benet's novels, partly because there was too little room for Nicholas D. and the other well-known characters. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Joanna
Better than I expected
Having read some of the reviews for this book I wasn't sure what to expect but have to say I was overall pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I was going to. Read more
Published on 3 May 2010 by Pendleton Girl
High Flyer
I was bought this book as a present for Christmas and put it to the back of my "pile" for reading as I was convinced it was not my sort of book. Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2003 by "roonetta"
Starbridge falling
To those of us who have read,and thoroughly enjoyed,the Starbridge novels in their entirety,this latest meeting with Darrow and Co will come as a great disappointment. Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2001
A throughly good book and rather thought provoking.
I enjoyed this book immensely. I particulary liked the way Howatch's shows how fragile people can be and the way that even when we are at what may seem like the best times of our... Read more
Published on 15 July 2001 by M. E. Spencer
A book I made myself finish
This had the potential to be a good story but the main character was unbelievably irritating - I thought I would scream if I read the word "flufette" (her word for girly... Read more
Published on 26 April 2001
Dire
This book is lame for a number of reasons. The narration flows terribly. It's boring in a nutshell, but it's so bad you'll keep reading to see if it gets any better or any more... Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2001
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