THE HEIGHTS OF ZERVOS by Colin Forbes

Alistair MacLean has been a staple of my reading since middle school, and I have been a fan of his, and the adventure suspense genre he wrote, ever since.  I especially enjoy the work of the genre’s top writers: Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley, Gavin Lyall, and Jack Higgins.  While I think of those four writers as the genre’s first tier, there are a handful of writers who wrote a solid adventure story, but weren’t quite consistent enough to take the stage with the best.  One of those writers is Colin Forbes.

Mr Forbes, which is a pseudonym for Raymond Harold Sawkins, wrote more than 40 novels (most fit quite comfortably in the adventure suspense genre) and many, especially his earlier novels, are really very good.  I recently read the second novel Mr Sawkins published as by Colin Forbes, and really had a good time with it.  The title: The Heights of Zervos.

Macomber is a Scotsman who is working for British Intelligence in Rumania in 1941.  The novel opens in the early hours of a cold April morning.  Macomber is atop an oil tanker rail car, a German patrol is searching the rail yard, and the bomb he planted beneath the oil wagon has less than 10 minutes to detonation.  If Macomber moves he will be gun downed by the Germans and if he stays put he will be blown into pieces by his own bomb.

The Heights of Zervos opens with a bang, and while there is never much doubt of the story’s outcome, it maintains the suspense throughout, and, amazingly, the roll out of the story is surprising.  Macomber moves from the rail yard to a ferry between Turkey and Greece, and finally to Mount Zervos, and he does it all while dodging Germans and their bullets, impersonating an Abwehr officer, and racing a storm up Mount Zervos.

The power of the story is in its straight ahead mentality.  It moves forward with a strong pace, and the plot twists enough to keep it interesting.  Mr Forbes’ skill is in crafting a tale, which is expertly plotted with a setting developed enough to make the reader believe the action:

“It was the third night of April and Rumania was still gripped by winter, still showed no inkling of spring on the way, still lay numbed under the icy wind which flowed from the east, from the Russain steppes and Siberia beyond.”               

The elements are as much an antagonist as are the German soldiers—the snow and ice as Macomber approaches the summit of Mount Zervos represent more risk to him than the Germans.  There are a handful of scenes that actually caused me discomfort.  In one a British soldier is bound, feet and hands, in a dark cabin on the ferry between Turkey and Zervos, which caused an unsettling claustrophobia. 

The Heights of Zervos is something better than average in the genre.  It certainly has weaknesses—Macomber is a little too super and everything seems to work out a little too well—but the action and pace, setting and description, more than cover its flaws.  If you enjoy the genre you won’t mind this one at all.   

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DEATH WAITS AT DAKINS STATION by Merle Constiner

I discovered the work of Merle Constiner a few years ago, and while I haven’t read much outside the westerns he wrote for Ace in the 1960s and 70s, he has become one of my favorite pulp western writers.  I recently read his fine novel Death Waits at Dakins Station, and in my estimation it is the best novel he wrote for Ace.

Brady Willet is a young out of work cow puncher.  The novel opens with Willet standing in the rain outside the only saloon in a small Montana town.  He was paid off his last job in Wyoming, and he is making his way north to Canada for the winter.  He is approached by a man in a doe skin shirt who offers him $10 to take a simple message to a Mr Lustrell at Dakins Station. 

The message: “Shaw can’t make it.”    

It seems a simple enough task, and since Willet has only 35 cents to his name he readily agrees.  Unfortunately when he arrives at the long abandoned Dakins Station the task isn’t simple at all, and Brady’s involvement with Mr Lustrell causes him more than a few problems.  Lustrell has money trouble, and someone is trying to acquire his Box L ranch.  The interested party isn’t interested in “no” and Lustrell is worried for his own safety and that of his daughter.

Death Waits at Dakins Station is as much a mystery as a western.  It features a plot that keeps the reader guessing—and in my case mostly guessing wrong—and there is an unexpected, and very rewarding, climactic twist.  I was reminded of Ed Gorman’s westerns; particularly the deft weaving of a mystery plot into the trappings of a traditional western.  Not to mention the humor, which is the primary element that raises the novel above the ordinary— 

“‘I can’t abide this room,’ said Lustrell.  ‘I wish I was in my bedroom.’

“‘I wish I was in the Lucky Dollar Poolroom in Yuma,’ said Willet. ‘The smell was cerveza, chili, and sweat’

“They ran out of talk.”

Death Waits at Dakins Station is a premium western.  It is short, running 110 pages in mass market, and it is one of the most skilfully executed westerns I’ve read.  The plot is perfectly designed to satisfy both a western and a mystery.  The prose is stark, dry, and instilled with humor.  There is the requisite action.  Willet is bushwacked, beaten, and even chain whipped.  And at its best, it displays nearly all of these attributes at once—

“This one, the man in the hairy chaps, had his riflebutt almost to his armpit to draw his bead when Willet blasted him.  He shot twice.  Hip-shooting riflemen didn’t worry Willet too much, bead-drawing riflemen sure as hell did.”  

The characters all perfectly match the story, but Mr Constiner adds a quirky oddness to most, including a foul smelling hide-buyer named Meacham, who, when Willet meets him, explains in humorous detail how to recognize a good hide.  This is a title you should find and read, with no worry of regret.  

Death Wait at Dakins Station was published as Ace Double No. 14195 in 1970 with Ransome’s Debt by Kyle Hollingshead.

CRY OF THE HUNTER by Harry Patterson (Jack Higgins)

Cry of the Hunter is the second novel published by Harry Patterson.  It was released as a hardcover by John Long in 1960.  It is an interesting novel for a few reasons.  It is the first of Patterson’s novels to feature the Irish Republican Army, which is referred to as the Organization throughout, and the protagonist is familiar to the regular reader of Patterson’s work—Martin Fallon.  Mr Patterson used the Fallon moniker as a nom de plume for six of his early thrillers, and Martin Fallon, although a different Fallon, appeared in the 1973 novel A Prayer for the Dying.    

Martin Fallon is a legend in the Organization.  He joined the IRA at 17, and was the leader of the Ulster Organization at 22, and served nine years at the Dartmoor Prison before escaping to Ireland where he lives in the rural County Cavan.  Fallon earns a living writing nondescript thrillers, drinks too much, and is generally hiding from the world.  His comfortable, if not satisfying, life is interrupted when an old associate seeks him out with a special job. 

Patrick Rogan, leader of the Ulster Organization, has been arrested and he has sent out an ultimatum.  If he isn’t busted out before he reaches Belfast he will spill everything he knows about the Organization in exchange for a reduced sentence.  Rogan is not well liked, but he knows enough to set the IRA back years.  Fallon isn’t keen on getting back into the game, but he allows himself to be manipulated, and soon he is back in Northern Ireland on a mission to rescue Rogan.

Cry of the Hunter is the footprint for many of Mr Patterson’s later novels featuring Irish anti-heroes.  The protagonist is a man fallen far below his station; in this case Martin Fallon is a product of Queen’s University, and in the words of his favorite professor—“a fine man ruined and a good mind wasted.”  He is as much a man of ideas as he is of action.  He is an idealist who knows his actions are less than ideal, and the dialogue is that of the standard Harry Patterson Irish rogue—think Liam Devlin, and Sean Dillon.

The action doesn’t play out exactly as expected—the tension of the story is between Martin Fallon and Patrick Rogan rather than Martin Fallon and the Constabulary.  It is plotted with Mr Patterson’s deft hand, and the character of Martin Fallon is developed beyond just a simple cut out.  Fallon is a romantic who is afraid he has lost his nerve, and he also fears the Organization’s momentum.  The good men are being replaced by sociopathic hoods, which is exactly what Rogan is.

The prose is sharp, stark, seemingly simple, and at places almost lyrical—

“It was a fine morning with a clear sky and the sun was beginning to lift above the horizon.  He drove in silence for half an hour and then the girl spoke.”

Cry of the Hunter is plainly one of Harry Patterson’s first novels—it suffers from a naïve exuberance of ideas and mood—but it is a good example of a quick, exciting, and entertaining thriller.  The action scenes are well written—

“Fallon moved so quickly that Doolan didn’t stand a chance.  A fist caught him high on the right cheek and he stumbled, tripped over a loose rug and fell heavily to the floor.” 

And the mood is something shifting between brooding despondence—it rains for more than half of the novel—and naïve hope, but it does so with the slightest touch of humor—

“He started to walk faster.  It wouldn’t do to collapse in the street.  That would be stupid.”

—and a bushel of romantic ideas.  There are also a few terrific terms I wasn’t familiar with.  One example is referring to the police as “peelers,” which is a slang term derived from Sir Robert Peel’s surname; the founder of the Irish Constabulary.

Cry of the Hunter is worth reading on its own merits, but it is even more interesting (and possibly entertaining) as a study of Harry Patterson’s craft, and just how far it advanced from this novel to its younger siblings with similar plot structures (i. e. A Prayer for the Dying, and The Savage Day).

THE LAST TOMB by John Lange (Michael Crichton)

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Michael Crichton published eight thrillers under the pseudonym John Lange.  The Lange novels are something very different than the science fiction Michael Crichton became famous for writing.  They are thrillers more in the vein of Desmond Bagley, early Jack Higgins, and Gavin Lyall, and I like them much more than Crichton’s big bestsellers.

Harold Barnaby is an Egyptologist in an age when nothing new or interesting is happening in the field.  His specialty is hieroglyphics, and while translating a text he discovers a reference to the tomb of an obscure Pharaoh in the Valley of the Kings.  In earlier years Barnaby dreamed of the glory of discovering an Egyptian tomb, but now, at the age of 41, he is less interested in glory and more interested in wealth.  He approaches a freelance writer named Robert Pierce with an ambitious plan to loot the tomb, which he estimates to be worth, in 1968 dollars, $50 million.

The novel is written in third person, and is structured in three titled acts—The Plan, The Search, and The Last Tomb.  The scene titles are self-descriptive.  The Plan introduces the genesis of the idea, the plan, and the compilation of the team.  The team arrives in Egypt in the second act, and the third act is the resolution.

The Last Tomb is all story.  It opens with a flash, and it races from the first page to the last.  The setting is surprisingly rich, and provides, in stark prose, the sounds, smells, and sights of the land—

“The land was flat, desolate, windy; there was no vegetation, no sign of life.”

“The modern traveler’s first view of Egypt is appropriate: Cairo airport, set out in the flat, brown sand of the desert stretching away in silent heat for miles.  It is a landscape that communicates, quite distinctly, a sense of agelessness, unchanging, interminable.”

“The villages were all the same—mud huts, dusty streets, and date-palm trees, stately camels and barking, hungry dogs.”

The Last Tomb is a thriller as thrillers were meant to be.  It is quick, light, and entertaining as hell.  There isn’t the slightest bit of character development, but it is populated with an exotic group of characters.  There is the wealthy British nobleman financing the operation on a whim who travels with, at a minimum, two young ladies, there is the smuggler, and the thief.  It is exciting, and with just enough of a twist at the end to bring a smile.

The Last Tomb was published by Bantam in 1974.  It was originally published as Easy Go by Signet in 1968, and it is scheduled to be reissued as Easy Go by Hard Case Crime later this year.  It was Michael Crichton’s third published novel, and it is among the best, behind only Binary, of the John Lange titles.

The forthcoming Hard Case Crime edition, which will be published as Michael Crichton for the first time, has artwork strikingly similar to the old suspense novel Valley of the Assassins by Ian MacAlister.

SAD WIND FROM THE SEA by Harry Patterson (Jack Higgins)

Sad Wind from the Sea is the first novel published by Harry Patterson.  It was released as a hardcover by John Long in 1959.  It was a difficult title to find in the United States until it was recently released as a print on demand trade paperback and ebook by Open Road Integrated Media.

Sad Wind is a familiar story to readers of Jack Higgins.  It has a similar plot to both the The Khufra Run, and The Keys of Hell, but while it is familiar, it is a very enjoyable read.  Mark Hagen is a fallen American naval officer who, with his boat Hurrier, makes a living smuggling, gun running, and illegally pearling.  When the novel opens Hagen is on the Portuguese Island of Macao; Hurrier was impounded by customs, and Hagen is down to his last few petakas without any way to get his boat back, or earn a living.

Hagen’s prospects change when he rescues a beautiful Indo-Chinese (think Vietnamese) girl from two attackers in a rough part of Macao.  The girl’s name is Rose Graham, and she tells Hagen she was meeting a friend about retrieving $250,000 of sunken gold when she was attacked.  Her father was smuggling the gold out of North Vietnam and his boat sank in the Kwai marshes.  Hagen quickly devises a plan to retrieve the gold, but it all hinges on getting is boat out impound, and finding a willing financier.

Sad Wind has all of the elements of a solid 1950s adventure novel.  It includes the requisite communist plot; in this case a Russian named Kossoff who wants the gold for himself, and his Chinese helpers.  There is an array of underworld characters including Charlie Beale, owner of a casino, and Clara Boydell, madam of the best “house” in Macao.  The plot is intricate, and the prose is pure Higgins—stark, tight, smooth, and surprisingly atmospheric. 

“When Hagen emerged from the gambling casino at the back of Charle Beale’s café he was drunk.  He heard the door click into place behind him and for a moment he stood swaying as the cold night air cut into his lungs.”    

There are also some really neat cultural references from the 1950s.  Hagen hands out a Benzedrine—an amphetamine better known as a bennie—to Rose and says, “[T]hey’re harmless.”  When they are deciding where to run with the gold Hagen says, “Not England—killed by taxes these days,” which foreshadows Mr Patterson’s hasty move to the Isle of Jersey when The Eagle Has Landed pushed his income into the millions.  There is also what appears to be an error in the text when Mark Hagen refers to Ireland as his childhood home, which is rather odd for an American—

“For a moment he shivered as he remembered stories he had heard as a child of fairy pools back home in Ireland…”

Sad Wind from the Sea is Harry Patterson’s earliest novel, but it is really very good.  And while it is familiar, and Mr Patterson does have a tendency to repeat himself, the familiarity didn’t take anything from the novel or my enjoyment of the story.  It is similar to some of the early Gold Medal adventure titles; specifically Wade Miller’s Devil May Care.  If you enjoy the old style adventure novels, or just Jack Higgins, you will have a good time with this title.

NEMESIS by Bill Pronzini

Nemesis is the 38^th novel—say that aloud and it sounds even more impressive—featuring Bill Pronzini’s Nameless Detective.  It is also an excellent entry in the series.  Jake Runyon, a long time operative of Nameless’s detective agency, takes an extortion job.  The client is a woman named Verity Daniels; Ms Daniels received a sizable inheritance from an uncle, and a crude caller is demanding $10,000 in exchange for keeping evidence of a felony from the police. 

Ms Daniels hires Jake to find the blackmailer, and she insists there is nothing in her past that would send her to jail.  Runyon finds it odd the client doesn’t want the police involved, but goes about his business in his usual competent and professional manner.  But when Ms Daniels fails to record two telephone calls from the extortionist, and then the blackmailer doesn’t turn up at the money drop, Jake’s suspicions are piqued.

Nemesis is a beautifully written and executed novel.  It is told in three distinct sections and voices; each is narrated by a different character with Nameless appearing, and taking over the action, in the third scene.  The mystery is a slow roll, and it is cleverly plotted (and paced) to keep the reader uneasy.  The reader knows something isn’t right about the set-up from early on, but it is difficult to guess exactly what Ms Daniels’ game is, and how it is going to play out.

The prose is Mr Pronzini’s usual; simply put, flawlessly smooth, and at times, almost beautiful—

“There was no way I was going to spend another day hanging and rattling in the city, going through motions, waiting for something to happen.”

The story is unusual, shockingly simple—a simplicity only a true artist can create—and highly entertaining.  In short, Nemesis may be the 38^th novel to feature Nameless, but it is anything but a tired and bland retread.  Instead it is an entry that makes the series seem new and alive, and I hope it isn’t the last.   

Purchase a copy on Amazon.

"Birth of a Monster" by Richard Stark

I found a small collection of old digest-sized science fiction magazines in a thrift shop last summer and I finally took a serious look at them this past weekend.  The first magazine I picked up was the August 1959 issue of Super-Science Fiction.  It included eight stories with beautifully lurid titles—“Planet of the Angry Giants,” “Monsters That Once Were Men,” “Man-Hunting Robot,” “Which Was the Monster”.  And even better, the magazine is subtitled: THIRD MONSTER ISSUE!  Of the eight stories included, an even half were written by Robert Silverberg and published here under various pseudonyms, and another, which is the one that caught my immediate attention, was written by Donald E. Westlake and published as by Richard Stark.

The Stark story is titled, “Birth of a Monster”.  It is the story of a doctor who receives a late night call from a man whose wife is in labor and, even though the soon-to-be mother isn’t a patient, the doctor agrees to rush to the couple’s home and deliver the baby.  When the doctor arrives he discovers something a little unusual.

“Birth of a Monster” is a decent little pulp story.  It runs only about six double column digest size pages, and it is straight up horror, 1950’s style (i. e. heavily influenced by The Twilight Zone without the social commentary).  While it is a relatively pedestrian story, Mr Westlake played with the tropes a bit (to tell how would ruin the tale and I shall remain mum).  The language is a tad stilted and very sharp, which doesn’t devalue the story, but rather adds to the unease it generates with the reader—

“He hung up, hurried back to the bedroom and dressed.  He knew the estate, at the end of Larchmont Road.  Empty for years.”

“Birth of a Monster” reminded me a little of an early Richard Matheson story, although not quite as vibrant and polished—it appears to be straight forward, but a little twist at the climax reveals the true complexion of the story.  And while it is not as mature and solid as Mr Westlake’s later work (he was only 26 when it was published) it is a story that will bring a smile.  

This review originally appeared on the now defunct blog Dark City Underground July 6, 2010 in significantly different form.  I will be moving a few other reviews from DCU to Gravetapping over the next several weeks.  I will also be posting some ori

Jack Higgins: The Golden Age Novels

In 1975 a midlist writer thundered onto the worldwide bestseller lists with a World War 2 adventure thriller titled The Eagle Has Landed.  It was published as by Jack Higgins, but the writer was a former college lecturer named Harry Patterson.  Mr Patterson was a veteran writer in 1975; he had already published 34 novels and his work was becoming both more accomplished and more successful.

Mr Patterson’s work can be broken into three easily identifiable segments, (i), his pre-The Eagle Has Landed work (1959 – 1974), (ii) The Eagle Has Landed to The Eagle Has Flown (1975 – 1991), and (iii) Eye of the Storm to his most recent novel A Devil is Waiting (1992 – 2012).  Mr Patterson’s pre-The Eagle Has Landed work tended to be lean, deftly plotted, and very linear suspense novels.  I think of this era as his golden age.  It includes a bevy of truly excellent adventure novels, The Savage Day, A Prayer for the Dying, and The Last Place God Made, which are, by my reckoning his three best novels.

The next period is his bestseller period.  Mr Patterson hit it big with The Eagle Has Landed, and while he wrote several very successful novels he could never quite get out from under the shadow of his “big” bestseller.  The most recent, and final, period is the Sean Dillon era.  He introduced an antagonist in his 1992 novel Eye of the Storm, which in Mr Patterson’s subsequent work became a protagonist.  The Dillon novels are the weakest of Harry Patterson’s canon, but there are several, which are really quite good.

The following is a chronological listing of Harry Patterson’s golden age books.  It includes work published by multiple publishing houses and pseudonyms.  Many of Mr Patterson’s early work disappeared without a trace when it was first released, but most of it, with only two exceptions, are easily obtained today.  I listed the original United Kingdom and U. S. publisher for each title, but most of the books have been published in multiple editions, and all have been republished under Harry Patterson’s primary pseudonym Jack Higgins.    

Sad Wind from the Sea.  Published by John Long in 1959.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was not printed in the United States until 2010 when it was issued as an ebook and a POD trade paperback by Open Road Integrated Media.  Read the Gravetapping review.

Cry of the Hunter.  Published by John Long in 1960.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was not printed in the United States until 2010 when it was issued as an ebook and POD trade paperback by Open Road Integrated Media.  Read the Gravetapping review.

The Thousand Faces of Night.  Published by John Long in 1961.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was not published in the United States until 2010 when it was issued as an ebook and a POD trade paperback by Open Road Integrated Media.  Read the Gravetapping review.

Comes the Dark Stranger.  Published by John Long in 1962.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was not published in the United States until 2010 when it was issued as an ebook and a POD trade paperback by Open Road Integrated Media.  Read the Gravetapping review.

Hell is Too Crowded.  Published by John Long in 1962.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was issued in the United States in 1978 as a paperback original by Fawcett Gold Medal.  Read the Gravetapping review.

The Testament of Casper Schultz.  Published by Abelard-Schuman in 1962.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as by Martin Fallon.  It was published in the United States as a paperback original in 1978 by Fawcett Gold Medal.  This is the first novel (of six) to feature Paul Chavasse.  It was reissued in 2006 as The Bormann Testament; the new edition included a brief introduction explaining the “testament’ was originally Martin Bormann’s, but due to potential legal issues the publisher requested the title change, and the references to Martin Bormann be removed.  Read the Gravetapping review.

Pay the Devil.  Published by Barrie Rockcliff in 1963.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was published in the United States in 1999 as a paperback original by Berkley. Read the Gravetapping review.

The Dark Side of the Island.  Published by John Long in 1964.  It was originally issued as hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was published in the United States in 1977 as a paperback original by Fawcett Gold Medal.  Read the Gravetapping review.

Seven Pillars to Hell.  Published by Abelard-Schuman in 1963.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as by Hugh Marlowe.  It was published in the United States in 1994 as a paperback original with the title Sheba by Berkley. Read the Gravetapping review.

A Phoenix in the Blood.  Published by Barrie Rockcliff in 1964.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It has never been released in the United States.  Read the Gravetapping review.

Thunder at Noon.  Published by John Long in 1964.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It has never been released in the United States.  This title was rewritten and published in both the United Kingdom and the U. S. as Dillinger in 1983.  Dillinger was published by Hutchinson in the U. K. and Stein & Day in the U. S. as Harry Patterson. Read the Gravetapping review.

Wrath of the Lion.  Published by John Long in 1964.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was published in the United States in 1977 as a paperback original by Fawcett Gold Medal.  Read the Gravetapping review.

Year of the Tiger.  Published by Abelard-Schuman in 1964.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as by Martin Fallon.  It was rewritten and issued in the United States in 1996 as a paperback original by Berkley.  It is the second novel (of six) to feature Paul Chavasse.  Read the Gravetapping review.

Passage by Night.  Published by Abelard-Schuman in 1964.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as by Hugh Marlowe.  It was issued in the United States in 1966 as a paperback original by Avon. Read the Gravetapping review.

The Graveyard Shift.  Published by John Long in 1965.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was issued in the United States in 2002 as a paperback original by Berkley.  This is the first novel (of three) to feature Nick Miller. Read the Gravetapping review.

The Keys of Hell.  Published by Abelard-Schuman in 1965.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as by Martin Fallon.  It was issued in the United States as a paperback original in 1976 by Fawcett Gold Medal.  It was rewritten and reissued in 2002 by Berkley.  This is the third novel (of six) to feature Paul Chavasse.  Read the Gravetapping review.

The Iron Tiger.  Published by John Long in 1966.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was released in the United States as a paperback original in 1979 by Fawcett Gold Medal. Read the Gravetapping review.

Midnight Never Comes.  Published by John Long in 1965.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as by Martin Fallon.  It was issued in the United States as a paperback original in 1975 by Fawcett Gold Medal.  This is the fourth novel (of six) to feature Paul Chavasse.  This was extensively rewritten and published as On Dangerous Ground  in 1994; Sean Dillon replaces Paul Chavasse.  Read the Gravetapping review.

A Candle for the Dead.  Published by Abelard-Schuman in 1966.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as by Hugh Marlowe.  It was not printed in the United States until 2010 when it was issued as an ebook and a POD trade paperback by Open Road Integrated Media.  It was adapted as a film titled The Violent Enemy released in 1967.  The novel was retitled as The Violent Enemy and reissued as a paperback in the U. K. by Coronet in 1969. Read the Gravetapping review.

Brought in Dead.  Published by John Long in 1967.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was issued in the United States in 2004 as a paperback original by Berkley.  This is the second novel (of three) to feature Nick Miller. Read the Gravetapping review.

Dark Side of the Street.  Published by John Long in 1967.  It was originally issued as a hardcover as by Martin Fallon.  It was issued in the United States in 1974 as a paperback original by Fawcett Gold Medal.  This is the fifth novel (of six) to feature Paul Chavasse. Read the Gravetapping review.

East of Desolation.  Published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1968.  It was originally published as a hardcover as by Jack Higgins.  It was released in the United States as a hardcover by Doubleday in 1969.  This is the first use of the Jack Higgins pseudonym, and the first title published in the U. S. in hardcover. Read the Gravetapping review.

Hell is Always Today.  Published by John Long in 1968.  It was originally published as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was issued in the United States in 2005 as a paperback original by Berkley.  This is the third novel (of three) featuring Nick Miller.

In the Hour Before Midnight.  Published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1969.  It was issued as a hardcover as by Jack Higgins.  It was released in the United States as a paperback original by Lancer Books as The Sicilian Heritage in 1970.  Lancer later released an edition with its original title.

A Fine Night for Dying.  Published by John Long in 1969.  It was issued as a hardcover as by Martin Fallon.  It was released in the United States in 2007 as a paperback original by Berkley.  This is the sixth novel (of six) to feature Paul Chavasse.

Night Judgment at Sinos.  Published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1970.  It was issued as a hardcover as by Jack Higgins.  It was released in the United States as a hardcover by Doubleday in 1971.

A Game for Heroes.  Published by Macmillan in 1970.  It was issued as a hardcover as by James Graham.  It was released in the United States as a hardcover by Doubleday in 1970.  This is the first novel (of four) released under the James Graham pseudonym; interestingly Mr Patterson was a lecturer at James Graham College between 1968 and 1970.  

The Last Place God Made.  Published by Collins in 1971.  It was issued as a hardcover as by Jack Higgins.  It was released in the United States in 1971 as a hardcover by Holt.

Toll for the Brave.  Published by John Long in 1971.  It was issued as a hardcover as Harry Patterson.  It was released in the United States in 1976 as a paperback original by Fawcett Gold Medal.  This is the final novel Mr Patterson published with his long time publisher John Long.

The Wrath of God.  Published by MacMillan in 1971.  It was issued as a hardcover as by James Graham.  It was released in the United States in 1971 as a hardcover by Doubleday.  This is the second novel (of four) released under the James Graham pseudonym.  It was adapted as a film released in 1972.   

The Khufra Run.  Published by MacMillan in 1972.  It was issued as a hardcover as by James Graham.  It was released in the United States in 1973 as a hardcover by Doubleday.  This is the third novel (of four) released under the James Graham Pseudonym.

The Savage Day.  Published by Collins in 1972.  It was issued as a hardcover as by Jack Higgins.  It was released in the United States in 1972 as a hardcover by Holt.

A Prayer for the Dying.  Published by Collins in 1973.  It was issued as a hardcover as by Jack Higgins.  It was released in the United States in 1974 as a hardcover by Holt.  It was adapted as a film released in 1987.

The Run to Morning.  The U. K. title is Bloody Passage.  Published by MacMillan in 1974.  It was issued as a hardcover as by James Graham.  It was released in the United States in 1974 as a hardcover by Stein & Day.  It was reprinted with the title Bloody Passage in the United States by Open Road Integrated Media.  This is the fourth novel (of four) released under the James Graham pseudonym.