Edge of Danger – Jack Higgins (Sean Dillon #9)

Legendary adventure writer Jack Higgins returns to the fore with his latest novel of political intrigue, conspiracy, and assassination, Edge of Danger. His latest to feature ex-IRA assassin Sean Dillon (The White House Connection, Day of Reckoning, The President’s Daughter) delivers a remarkably forward plotline that never backs up in its tracks or slows the pace of the breakneck action. Paul Rashid is one of the world’s richest individuals. His family is built upon two powerful sovereignties: the British and Arab empires. As successor to great authority in both the English and Bedouin ruling classes, Rashid is able to garner unimaginable wealth and also wield incredible influence. The Rashid family controls the oil fields of the Middle East, but its supremacy is being undermined by the sultan of Hazar, who attempts to broker major deals with the United States and Russia. When an attempt is made on the lives of his family, Rashid takes the matter to heart and proposes a way to make a forceful statement to the rest of the world: assassinate the president of the United States. But President Jake Cazalet isn’t a man used to fighting only in the political arena. He served in Vietnam and has a clandestine task force known as The Basement providing him protection. When an IRA assassin working for Rashid fails in his mission, Cazalet’s best friend and security chief, Blake Johnson, begins a hunt to find out who is out to kill the president. Unknown to them, in Rashid’s own camp is a former IRA solider named Dillon who is forced to move against Rashid despite their mutual respect for each other. Soon a game of cat and mouse is under way across the United States, the Middle East, and Europe, as these driven men struggle against each other for the fate of nations. Higgins never bothers with deeply involved explanations detailing the world’s political tinderbox. Instead, the author chooses to break down the catalysts for all events in the book into two categories of motive: money and personal honor. Here there are no confused issues or bewildering incentives. Characters in Edge of Danger are either easily bought by enormous sums of cash or are willing to throw themselves into a deadly fray for some blood-oath vendetta. Higgins’s writing style is vivid, rapid-fire, unpretentious, and wholly engaging. Once again it’s clear why Jack Higgins is a luminary surrounded by legions of imitators. Edge of Danger is another winning, all-out thriller that proves the master has not lost his extraordinary touch.