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Summary
Summary
For decades, Higgins has been giving his readers the best in international suspense. ?If there were ever going to be a commando team composed of writers,? the editors of the Book-of-the-Month Club wrote recently, ?Jack Higgins would have to be their leader. He seems to know precisely how soldiers, leaders, traitors, thieves, and spies think and act.' Never has that been truer than for the remarkable characters and situations of his new book.It is the early days of World War II, and two brothers find themselves on opposite sides. Max and Harry Kelso were born in the U.S. of a German mother and an American father. They were separated as boys when their mother took Max back with her to Germany, and now Max has grown up to become a feared pilot with the Luftwaffe, and Harry a Yank ace in the RAF. Each has kept track of the other's progress, but neither could possibly predict the extraordinary circumstances under which they are about to meet again. Forces much greater than they have set in motion an intrigue so devious, so filled with peril, that it will require that they question everything they know, all that they hold most dear'their lives, their families, their loyalties. Upon the results of their actions will hang, unalterably, the course of the war itself...Filled with harrowing twists and high-tension action, Flight of Eagles is Higgins at his very best.
Author Notes
Jack Higgins is a writer and educator, born in Newcastle, England on July 17, 1929. The name is the pseudonym of Harry Patterson. He also wrote under the names of Martin Fallon, James Graham, and Hugh Marlowe during his early writing career. He attended Leeds Training College and eventually graduated from the University of London in 1962 with a B.S. degree in Sociology.
Higgins held a series of jobs, including a stint as a non-commissioned officer in the Royal House of Guards serving on the German border during the Cold War. He taught at Leeds College of Commerce and James Graham College. He has written more than 60 books including The Eagle Has Landed, Touch the Devil, Confessional, The Eagle Has Flown, and Eye of the Storm. Higgins is also the author of the Sean Dillon series. His novels have since sold over 250 million copies and been translated into fifty-five languages.
His title's The Death Trade and Rain on the Dead made The New York Times Best Seller List.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
YA-An international thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The unusual beginning, the story of Tarquin, a stuffed bear that has acted as mascot in various aircraft since World War I, hooks readers and offers a smooth transition into the main plot. Identical twins Max and Harry were born in the U.S. to a German mother and an American father but were separated when the mother took Max, the future Baron von Halder, to Germany. As World War II explodes, he has become a feared pilot with the Luftwaffe, and Harry is a Yank ace in the RAF. Each is aware of the other and knows his position. Extraordinary circumstances propel both their lives and the lives of those they love on a perilous collision course. Intrigue and deceit abound in this easy-to-read, action-packed novel. Initially the plot seems obvious, but unexpected twists and turns will keep YAs' interest right up until the surprise ending.-Anita Short, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Another crowd-pleasing, if somewhat wooden, tale of steely heroism and stiff-upper-lip bravado from the prolific Higgins. Returning to the WWII settings that he knows so well, Higgins (The President's Daughter, 1997, etc.) puts a pair of identical twin flyboys, one American, one German, on opposite sides of the war. The stow begins in 1997 in Cold Harbour, a lonely Cornish village-and once a secret spy base--where the real Higgins and his real wife Denise find themselves after surviving a crash-landing in the English Channel. There, Zee Aeland, a crusty innkeeper, turns emotional when he glimpses Higgins's teddy bear Tarquin, which the author purchased in an antique shop. Aeland tells him that Tarquin's original owner was dashing Jack Kelso, a wealthy, thrill-seeking American vet who fought for the British before the US entered the war. Recovering from a crash-landing of his own in France, Kelso met and married his hospital nurse, the impoverished German baroness Elsa von Halder, who later-after her husband insisted on returning to the States-gave birth to twin sons Max and Harry. Because he was ten minutes older, Max also became the new Baron von Halder. Then, in 1930, Jack died, and took Max to his ancestral homeland, while Harry stayed in Boston with his rich grandfather, brooding, and finally taking Tarquin with him to fight for Finland against invading Russians. By page 60, Harry has joined the RAF (as a Finn!), and Max, a.k.a. ""The Black Baron,"" is clicking his boots among the Nazis. Using the two boys to show that ineffable daring, chivalric nonchalance, and the ability to execute a flawless Immelmann turn can transcend political borders and ideologies (both Max and Elsa rapidly develop sour opinions about Hitler). Women, spies, tyrants and combat buddies come and go, but teddy bears, brotherly love, and a tearjerker conclusion win out. An old-fashioned, sentimental ode to chivalric virtue and family values: Not as suspenseful as Higgins's best, but well grounded in historical detail, lightened by amusing encounters with Hitler, Himmler, and other factual fiends. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
