Midnight Runner (Hardcover)

Agent Sean Dillon returns in Midnight Runner, a sequel to 2001's Edge of Danger, in which author Jack Higgins, a consistently solid thriller writer, introduced the intriguing and powerful Arab/English Rashid family. Kate, the only Rashid left after an assassination attempt on the American president foiled by Dillon, has sworn to avenge her family and will do anything to humiliate the United States, including sabotage her own oil fields to cripple America's--and the world's--oil supplies.

The fast-paced action starts with the death of a presidential envoy's daughter and ends with an explosive showdown in the Rashid oil fields. Higgins makes the most of a somewhat thin plot with superb pacing and terrific action sequences. From Dillon's earlier adventures, he brings back Harry and Billy Salter, the agent's "reasonably but not totally respectable" gangster pals; White House operative Blake Johnson; and Sean's boss, General Ferguson. The new characters include a Vietnam war hero who's a roving troubleshooter for President Jake Cazalet, and another villainous Rashid, Kate's American cousin Chauncey. And while Kate seems to be down for the count at the end of this adventure, Dillon and his fans may not have seen the last of her yet. --Jane Adams

'Higgins is a master of his craft.' Daily Telegraph 'A compulsively readable storyteller.' Sunday Express 'The master craftsman of good, clean adventure.' Daily Mail

Undercover operative Sean Dillon returns and finds himself the target for a revenge-crazed killer, in a book which shows the kind of energy and invention that were the hallmarks of Higgins's early work. At the end of Edge of Danger the sinister Rashid family had been largely destroyed by Dillon and his crack undercover team. However, one scion of the utterly ruthless oil-magnate family was allowed to live - and that decision is one that Dillon comes to regret. The implacable Kate Rashid has seen her brothers being killed one by one, and has taken a vow of vengeance. But there are more lives at stake than Sean Dillon's: White House operative Blake Johnson and even the President himself are in the line of fire, and it takes all of Dillon's expertise simply to stay alive, let alone put paid to Kate Rashid's campaign. All of the set-pieces are delivered with authority, and Dillon is as economically - and persuasively - drawn as ever. (Kirkus UK)

Superhero Dillon gets his villain, saving us all from heaven knows what. Beautiful billionaire terrorist Kate Rashid should have gone back to terrorist school for a refresher in Security 101. Scheming Kate just can't seem to keep those nefarious plans to herself. Eager to blow up a certain bridge in southern Arabia ("I want to create chaos"), she mouths off in an Irish pub that, as even a journeyman bomb-thrower will tell you, constitutes a security leak begging to become a flood. Within minutes her plan's details are known to Sean Dillon, counterterrorist extraordinaire, who takes the steps necessary to foil it. That is, he collects a couple of AK-47's, a couple of Brownings, a helper to watch his back, and a plane to jump out of when the time is right-all the assault team he needs to put a whole army of Kate's simpletons in body-bags. But why was wicked Kate so intent on blowing up that bridge? Well, oil pipes run alongside, you see, and if these were to be destroyed, the world's oil supplies would suffer a devastating blow. And why does that matter to Machiavellian Kate? She figures it would so besmirch US President Cazelet's reputation that his place in history would be permanently downgraded. She holds Cazelet, Dillon and friends responsible for the deaths of her three cherished brothers, cold-blooded killers all, and though her retribution-of-choice might seem roundabout to some, to Iago-like Kate it's an eye for an eye. At any rate, Dillon stymies her, setting the stage for the obligatory showdown: Dillon vs. Kate, mano a womano, and you will go a long way to match the absurdity with which this denouement plays out. At one end le Carre, at the other Higgins himself (Edge of Danger, 2001, etc.), who yields to no one in mindless plotting. (Kirkus Reviews)