Rating: 
Summary: Another great adventure
Review: Many years ago Jack Higgins wrote The Eagle Has Landed, one of the best adventure novels of my lifetime. Then he wrote Storm Warning, an extraordinarily good adventure novel. In total he has written 29 adventure books. Most have been pot-boilers (a nineteenth century term for light novels you read while waiting for the pot to boil).Higgins developed a set of characters involved in counter espionage and trying to stop bad guys from succeeding. In the post cold war world he has found an increasing range of bad guys. Edge of Danger is worth reading as a reminder of several key realities of our time. There are many people with massive resources who may decide they dislike us for reasons of their own. They may have backgrounds that give them remarkable knowledge of and contacts in our society. A free society is remarkably open and vulnerable. The details of this book are not believable but the overlying sense of vulnerability and threat are as real as the Taliban destroying priceless historic monuments and Osama bin Laden still holding press conferences eight years after the United States began trying to knock him out of the terrorist business. If you are looking for a quick read in a world of adventure and danger this will get your mind off whatever you have been worried about and remind you of the real threats the CIA and the FBI have to worry about. I look forward to Higgins' next work.
Rating:
Summary: HIGGINS IS ON A HIGH WITH THIS ONE
Review: Taut and tense, an explosion of sequential thrill packed events - these are hallmarks of the popular novels springing from the pen of the seemingly inexhaustible Jack Higgins. "Edge Of Danger," his 32nd suspense laden powerhouse is no exception. The Belfast born author now brings us a harrowing tale with former IRA member, Sean Dillon, confronted by the Rashid's, an English/Arab family sworn to avenge the killing of one of their own by a Russian diplomat who was driving drunk. When the diplomat is provided immunity by Russia and America, vengeance is sought with the life of the American president. Action swerves throughout the world until a terrifying finale takes place in a remote castle.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable book!
Review: I don't usually write reviews for books I've read, as I don't usually visit the sites of books I've read, but somehow I wandered into this site and had to respond to all the negative reviews of this book. I should mention that while the title of the version I listened to says that the book was abridged, the product description (as well as the cover of my set) clearly demonstrates that I did listen to the entire book, so I was not "spared" any of the "bad" parts. I stumbled upon Jack Higgins' books a couple years ago and have been hooked ever since. The Edge of Danger was no different than the rest, being very well done and hard to put down. Perhaps if I had been reading the book, I might have been disturbed by the dialog that others have complained about, but on tape, the narrative flowed smoothly. Others have complained about the plot, but I found the plot enjoyable, as Dillon and friends try to keep ahead of the Rashids, who are driven by the intense desire to revenge their mother's death and the assassination attempt against Paul Rashid. In addition, this book delved further into the personalities and natures of Dillon and the other characters than many of the other books. I appreciated seeing the reasons why Dillon is driven to perform certain actions instead of only what actions he actually takes. I like to listen to books by Jack Higgins when I am in the car, and this one, just like all the others, was a good choice. For those interested in the aspects of the audio version, Patrick McNee does an outstanding job of narrating Higgins' books, and I now look for his name if I am purchasing a new audio book. He smoothly switches among the various accents represented in Higgins' books, speaking clearly and with enjoyable, believable expression. Higgins' books seem particularly conducive for listening to, as things are written in a straightforward manner. This contrasts with this writing of Tom Clancy, to whom Higgins may be compared, because Clancy moves so rapidly from scene to scene that it is very difficult to follow. When Higgins changes scenes, I have no problem following while I am listening to the book. In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed this book so much that when I would get home from work, I would take the tapes out of the car and bring them into the house because I was so anxious to learn what was going to happen next. I certainly recommend this book for anyone looking for an enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: Implausible Action That Doesn't Thrill
Review: The premise of this book is that someone who doesn't care if he dies is unstoppable. Mr. Higgins's invincible hero in Edge of Danger is the familiar Sean Dillon, ex-IRA, who continues his role in earlier Higgins books of foiling terrorists on behalf of the British government. The terrorists here come from a wealthy, influential British family (the Daunceys) with Bedouin roots (the Rashids) as well. The Rashids employ IRA and Arab mercenaries to execute their plans, but get their own hands pretty dirty in the process. The book is marred by several problems. First, Dillon's inevitable success makes the action seem redundant. Second, there's too much action crammed into the story (enough for about four books) so you don't get the careful build-up of tension and then relief that makes action thrilling to read about. You just get another punch in the stomach, and move on to the next. Third, this book is about meglomania on such a grand scale as to be like looking inside an insane asylum. That robs the story of validity. Fourth, the villains are cut out of such thin cardboard that all you can tell about them is that they are crazy, rich, and stupid. The threat from their plots is hard to take seriously. Fifth, the book relies on references to products and brands as the primary means to establish mood and setting, a weak method to employ in such a sketchy book. I was surprised by how far Mr. Higgins has strayed from his roots as a thoughtful thriller writer. In Edge of Danger, he has almost written a satire of his own work. In fact, the book is almost a crossover into the worst of the post-Ian Fleming 007 books. The point he wants to make is that honesty and loyalty are what count, rather than one's ancestors, money, or influence. That message seems distorted by the fact that Sean Dillon turns out to be available to run errands for the rich without fully understanding what he is facilitating. What good are honesty and loyalty if they can be suborned by almost anyone, including the creeps in this book? This early betrayal of the Dillon character by Mr. Higgins sets up a reason for Dillon to be angry and want revenge, but even that's not carried off well. Between violent episodes, the good guys and the bad guys are having civil little chats with one another suggesting that the bad guys should mend their ways. Unlike many series, you could skip this book and not miss a single important development about Sean Dillon and his colleagues. If you do decide to read Edge of Danger, set a time limit and read quickly. That will make the experience more exciting by giving you a real source of suspense. Will you finish the book before your time runs out? After you finish the book (if you insist on reading it), I suggest that you contemplate what makes thrillers thrilling. What draws you to this genre? How can you tell if a book will meet that promise from reviews? Which reviewers are reliable and which praise everything? How can you evaluate whether to finish such a book once you've started? What face do you want evil to show, in order to make the triumph of good rewarding? Seek out the spread of goodness in all that you do!
Rating:
Summary: HIGGINS IS ON A HIGH WITH THIS ONE
Review: Taut and tense, an explosion of sequential thrill packed events - these are hallmarks of the popular novels springing from the pen of the seemingly inexhaustible Jack Higgins. "Edge Of Danger," his 32nd suspense laden powerhouse is no exception.
The Belfast born author now brings us a harrowing tale with former IRA member, Sean Dillon, confronted by the Rashid's, an English/Arab family sworn to avenge the killing of one of their own by a Russian diplomat who was driving drunk. When the diplomat is provided immunity by Russia and America, vengeance is sought with the life of the American president. Action swerves throughout the world until a terrifying finale takes place in a remote castle.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the effort
Review: Edge of Danger is yet another installment of the on-going saga of Dillon, Ferguson and Bernstein. If you truly enjoyed the preceding efforts by Higgins, then you might like Edge of Danger (because it is more of the same). However, if you have been growing disenchanted by Higgins' efforts, then you probably want to take a pass on this (and for me at least, future efforts as well). Higgins' books are more and more like screen plays and less and less like novels. Dialog between the characters, which often is terse, choppy, and unimaginative, makes up virtually all of the text. Higgins almost completely avoids the opportunity add any depth and breadth to the story through the use of descriptive text. As with the last few books from Higgins, Edge of Danger is clearly a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Worst book I've read in years
Review: This is the worst book I remember reading. I enjoyed a couple other Jack Higgins novels, so I picked this up. I'm sorry I did. It is nothing but action, which is so poorly described it is ridiculous. Entire action sequences take only 1 or 2 pages each. No character development, poor dialogue, no setting descriptions, nuttin' but poorly-described "events"! Enough said.
Rating:
Summary: WARNING: This is the worst book ever written
Review: As most people readers know, Jack Higgins has written many fine action-packed books. However, this book reads like a twelve-year-old wrote it. The characters are so transparent they could be ghosts. The author and his publishing house must really need the money to rip of the public in this manner. This is the last book I read by this author. One can only rest on his laurels for so long. I'm glad this book was handed down to me or I would have written a really nasty review.
Rating:
Summary: A Book Written by the Numbers.
Review: This book was obviously written by the numbers, but Higgins appears to have become lost when he got to ten. Perhaps if he had removed his shoes it might have perked the tedious text up a bit. "Paul Rashid was one of the richest Englishmen in the world." He was also half Arab and half British nobility. He and his brothers and one sister wanted to rule the world of Arab oil, but Russia and the United States did not support their hegemony. So, what to do? They would assassinate the President; that should show the meddlesome Americans. Why not kill the Russian President? Well, everyone knows the Russians are a second-rate power. No one would take that seriously. If you have taken this seriously so far I will not mention what they did to the Russian diplomat who killed Mom in a head-on accident in England. I wouldn't want to ruin the suspense for you if you buy this, this, this... story. In the interest of full disclosure, I must state that I could not force myself past page 51, despite the fact that I was desperate for a good mystery to read. Someone else will have to tell you whether their plot succeeded.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly Written
Review: The style of writing leads me to believe that Higgins was under pressure to churn out a book to meet some editor's deadline. There was no character development. Critical turns in the plot and action were blown through without the slightest bit of suspense. I've never read Higgins before and likely will never read him again.
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