Jack Higgins was a soldier and then a teacher before becoming a full-time writer. The Eagle Has Landed turned him into an international bestselling author and his novels have since sold over 250 million copies and been translated into fifty-five languages. Many of them have also been made into successful films.
Ellis Jackson hears a fellow prisoner-of-war being beaten to death in an adjacent room, then is told that he is next for execution. But Jackson manages to survive the Viet Cong's camp of hell and returns home brutalised and half demented by his experiences. Others think he has finally lost his grip on sanity when he is found with a 12-bore shotgun and the naked bodies of his mistress and best friend. Jackson refuses to believe he has gone insane, however. He is convinced that some power he can only guess at is trying to set him up for a purpose that remains unclear. Jack Higgins is in tremendous form in this story, first published under his Harry Patterson name in 1971. As always in a Higgins thriller the action is powerful and almost unremitting, and the main character is an engaging type you find yourself rooting for. A great yarn. (Kirkus UK)