Day of Reckoning

Rating:
Summary: Jack phoned this in!
Review: Am I the only woman reviewing this? Oh well, Higgins is a favorite when I want intrigue and action and a fast read. I am big fan. I love Sean Dillon and the rest of the gang, but this book was a little lame. However, having said that, please know that I bought and read this book with relish. I can see why the 'guys' were disappointed. This was really not his best but it got me thru a plane trip!

Rating:
Summary: Keystone Cops vs. Apple Dumpling Gang
Review: In a suspense thriller where the characters are unashamedly one-dimensional, at least the details of tradecraft should be convincing. But here Higgins sleepwalks through an embarrassment which lacks credibility, never mind artistic integrity, in every way possible. Should disappoint even the comic book enthusiast.

Rating:
Summary: NOT a page turner...
Review: Like so many of the other reviewers, I grew to love Jack Higgins through "The Eagle Has Landed". I bought this book by the author. Now I wish I had read the reviews. The characters are incredibly shallow. The dialog rarely ventures below "well if you are a friend of Sean Dillon's, then you're a friend of mine...". Boring reading with a lackluster ending.

Rating:
Summary: Not his best
Review: An amusing story, but not Jack Higgins at his best. Fine if you're on the beach and don't want anything too complicated.

Rating:
Summary: A seasoned Pro A great suspense novel.
Review: This book is what I exactly want to see in more books by great authors. The beginning is perfect. And what an Ending! I could not have guessed what happend.

Rating:
Summary: Cliched action thriller
Review: I listened to this book on tape and was not at all impressed with it. There are so many flaws it's hard to know where to begin. The "hero" is Blake Johnson, a Rambo like character who has little personality. He mainly gives menacing looks to people who get in his way and says things like "I'll make you sorry you were ever born." The main villain, incidentally, Fox, says the very same thing a few dozen pages after Johnson . Is Higgins trying to make a subtle point about the underlying similarity between the two? I don't think so; more likely he was simply sloppy. To root for the good guys in this book you have to believe that killers who work for presidents and prime ministers are morally superior to those in the mafia. Aside from some truly disturbing political implications --Higgins seems to celebrate the existence of hit squads who carry out secret vendettas-- there is another problem with the high level affiliations of Johnson and friends. In a suspense story, it helps when the hero is something of an underdog facing seemingly impossible odds. In this book, Johnson and his allies have all the resources of the American, British and even Israeli governments at their disposal. How can they lose? Overall, Day of Reckoning has the tone of a propaganda piece, glorifying militarism. In an especially distasteful scene, or series of scenes, a young street kid named Billy is initiated into the ways of killing and learns that shedding blood is lots of fun. You don't have to be a pacifist or even a liberal to find it a bit sickening to see violence glorified in such a mindless and simplistic way. If a book is well written and has human characters and an intelligent plot, almost any point of view is justified. This book has none of these virtues.

Rating:
Summary: I felt like I was reading a Hardy Boys book
Review: From the 'Eagle has Landed' Jack has sunk to a new low. I accepted long ago that someone in each Higgins book always has "a Mauser with a bulbous silencer buried deep in their trenchcoat pocket" - but this book is far too shallow. I was surprised that none of the other reviewers mentioned that the NY characters in this book spoke using British phrases - very amateurish. Like other reviewers, I've sworn off him before - I'll try harder this time!

Rating:
Summary: day of reckoning
Review: The day of reckoning started off very nicely. A good mafia book always gets my interest but after the first 25 pages all the characters in the book did was talk about how they loved their work in the secret police in England and eat. I will say it was an easy read but very very predicable.

Rating:
Summary: The Characters are Cartoonish
Review: I have read most of Jack Higgins' books, and he has been one of my favorite authors back to high school (over 20 years). I have enjoyed his older books and new books, and purchase them almost immediately upon publication. Unfortuntately, Day of Reckoning is terrible. The story lines and sub-plots are full of cliche's, and the characters are cartoonish. No one is likable in this book, or believable. It almost seems like a knock- off author tried to write this book and pass it off as a Higgins work. As much as I like Higgins and the Sean Dillon character, this book is not worth the time it took to read it. The only plus to the book is that it is a fast read, much like a bad comic book.

Rating:
Summary: This is bad; really bad
Review: I have not picked up such a juvenile book in ages. With several successful books under his belt and banking on his name alone, Jack Higgins has resorted to turning them out fast and simple. The characters and dialogue are as shallow as a mud puddle and just about as dry. Reads like it was dictated in the barber's chair.