Borrowed a novel from Biku last night to help while away the time - the book in question is "Edge of Danger" by Jack Higgins. And I can confidently assert that this is the worst novel that I have read in recent times.
The plot involves a half-Bedu, half-British family of the Rashids - Paul Rashid, his sister Kate and 2 other brothers - and another character called Sean Dillon, and a certain mix of other wishy-washy characters. The story starts off by portraying Paul as an extremely rich man who loves his family and retains his loyalty to the Bedu as well.
Then, following the death of his mother at the hands of a chap who is a wheeler-dealer for the Russians and Americans in their quest for oil in Arabia, and an attack on his life by the Bedu Sultan who has gone over to the Americans, Paul suddenly declares his intention to have revenge - and unfolds a plan to assassinate the US President (as part of a casual conversation by the fireside).
He recruits a henchman for the job, the henchman comes up with a plan in a week (!!!), and sets off to execute it within another few days ! He makes the attempt, fails (because the President's dog got in the way !!!), murders his associate Liam (who gets injured), makes a hash of that as well, because (miraculously !) Liam survives - but only long enough to spill the beans to the President's bodyguard.
Thereafter, Dillon and his cronies confront Paul, and after a flimsy scene, Paul walks away threatening of "alternatives" (??!!). And guess what, he comes up with an alternative plan to assasinate the Council of Elders in the Bedu land !!!
(Now, beg your pardon, Mr. Higgins, but most books about assasinations and revenge that I have read till date take such assasination attemtps a bit more seriously - I daresay you will find pages and pages devoted to the meticulous preparation for such attempts, but your characters appear to treat an assasination attempt (that too on the US President) as a little more than a walk in the park.)
Anyhow, off we go to Arabia, where Mr. Dillon foils the attempt again, by virtue of the fact that he comes to know all plans in the nick of time and manages to kill all the bad guys and manages to survive all attempts on his life and is, generally, the hero who saves the day.....
(Thanks again to Mr. Higgins, whose "killers" and "bad guys" appear to be either exceptionally underskilled, or excessively stupid, or extremely under-furnished with the appropriate weapons - or all of the above).
Hang on - it doesn't stop there ! Paul Rashid still isn't deterred, and now hatches a plot to kill the Soviet Premier who's due to visit England in a few days !!! (And guess what, the henchman fails again - stopped by Dillon, as usual).
The dialogues are stilted, the storyline is as weak and flimsy as you can get, the central characters have no aura about them - I could go on and on. I picked up the novel because I have heard a lot about the fellow, and his books - "The Eagle Has Landed" and other bestsellers. But, I'm sorry to say, Jack Higgins doesn't live up to his reputation, and the book appears to be a run-of-the-mill B-grade cheap thriller presented badly - it gives the impression of being a product of an assembly-line, rather than being a true creative work.
(And I wonder - were all those "smashing" newspaper reviews concocted, or were their critics sleeping ?????)
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