Higgins, Jack

(British, 1929– )

Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Higgins worked as a teacher and lecturer before becoming a best-selling thriller writer in the early 1970s. Begin with The Eagle Has Landed (1975), which typifies Higgins's dramatic fictionalizations of events in closely researched historical contexts. Set at the height of the Second World War, the book deals with a group of Nazi paratroopers who land in Norfolk in an attempt to kidnap Winston Churchill. Exocet (1983) reflects the commercial and political realities of the arms trade in describing a Russian plot to supply the Argentinians with sophisticated weaponry during the Falklands conflict. The topical emphasis in Higgins's work is sustained in Angel of Death (1995), set during a critical phase of the peace process in Northern Ireland. It centres on the efforts of British and Irish intelligence organizations to prevent further killings by a renegade terrorist faction.

Tom Clancy, Eric Ambler. See SPY  DH