I’ve been reading a lot of heavy books lately about grief, loss, and trauma, so, I needed something of a palate cleanser. Phew, Jack Higgins’ 1997 book, The President’s Daughter, hit me at the right time: it was so fun. As long-time readers of my book reviews will know, I’m a big fan of the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child (and now his brother, Andrew Child), and around the same time I picked up Reacher, I also became obsessed with the Mitch Rapp series by the gone-too-soon Vince Flynn. In other words, I dig a good action book, with a bad-ass protagonist to root for, and an intriguing mystery along the way. Higgins’ novel, with his protagonist, Sean Dillon, met that criteria, and I had a blast reading it.
Dillon used to work for the Irish Republican Army to take down the British, and then later, was an assassin for hire to the highest bidder, but eventually, he came to the side of the British to do good. He’s the protagonist in the mold of Reacher and Rapp, albeit he actually came before them (1992 versus 1997 for Reacher and 1999 for Rapp), in that he’s confident to the extreme, but capable. As an assassin, he’s worldly, picking up multiple languages and geography lessons. But, Dillon isn’t alone. He has the help of the British, Americans, Greeks, and his former IRA running buddies to help him. That is, I love books that give us cause for comradery, leaning on connections, and globetrotting, as this one does. And like Reacher and Rapp, there’s always a little flirtation with a woman, in this case, a British detective, Hannah, who is also rather bold and bad-ass herself. Moreover, instead of needing to rescue one damsel in distress, as it were, in Hannah, Dillon needs to rescue two women.
The second? You guessed it, the president’s daughter. Except, it’s not as direct as that. The book opens with the president prior to him being president during his exploits in Vietnam. Jake Cazalet, was a on the fast-track of life, a Harvard man, with wealth, and instead, he chose to serve in Vietnam — remember, most men were drafted into fighting the war. The reason Jake made that decision is after seeing Teddy, a soldier back from Vietnam with one less arm, bullied for his service. Jake stood up for him. Ever since then, including through to Jake’s presidency, Teddy became his righthand man. More on that in a moment.
So, Jake serves in Vietnam, rescues a French woman, has a one-night-stand, and it turns out the French woman is a valuable member of French society and becomes pregnant with his child. She only tells him this years later, and they agree that they don’t want to ruin Jake’s fast-track to the presidency with an illegitimate child. At this point, it seems like only she, the daughter, Jake, and Teddy know about this secret. The French woman later dies of cancer. We’re down to three people who know.
Fundamentalist Israelis, inspired by payback against Hamas and other Islamic fundamentalists who’ve bombed Israel, concoct a plan to kidnap Jake’s daughter once he’s president to force his hand into bombing Iran, Iraq, and Syria. At this point, I started worrying that Higgins was going to have Teddy betray Jake. Because how else would the fundamentalist Israeli leader, Judas, know about the connection? As it turned out, the French family’s longtime lawyer, a Holocaust survivor sucked into the plot, overheard the secret and told Judas. Phew! I’ve gotten too used to authors going for the twist instead of telling a straightforward story, and I think that’s what I most appreciated about Higgins’ book: Aside from being just fun to read, it was a tight, straightforward book, aiming to tell a good story and achieving that aim. At only 278 pages, it didn’t overstay its welcome either.
And in further point-of-fact about Teddy, who owes his career to Jake’s kindness and friendship, rather than seeking to betray Jake, he felt that pressure to do something good in return, and finds his moment by uncovering the real identity of Judas, who happens to be an American. In the end, Dillon and a few others do their thing and rescue the “damsels in distress” with much aplomb, and Higgins is even self-referential about how Jake gets his happy ending by reuniting with his daughter, this time with them both having the knowledge of their familial connection.
Have I mentioned this was fun? If you need a fun … winter read, as it were, I’d give this a whirl, if I were you, you old codger, you old sod (a taste of the dialogue that was cracking me up).
Milam's Musings 