The Eagle Has Landed (Liam Devlin)

And of course, like most of our former, reviled enemies in war, we’re colleagues and friends with Germany!! Wish our species could just STOP with these territorial wars! We’re still so unevolved!Nevertheless, the novel was riveting and well written…..

The movie was good, but this book is better. The characters are eloquently defined and so described, to the extent, that even the German enemies become, as likable, as the British. Moreover, the Irish rebel Devlin is also portrayed as a figure of empathy, adventuresome, romantic. An engrossing tale illustrating the burdens of Honor and Duty, notwithstanding the nationality.

I have yet read a Jack Higgins novel that I did not enjoy. Interesting characters that draw the reader into the plots

I can't resist saying this. This book was fun. It was also captivating in that once picked up, I couldn't put it down. I don't re tell story lines in my reviews, but when I found out that this read was an attempt to kidnap the British PM, Winston Churchill, I was hooked. I am a WWII buff of the war in Europe, so an attempt by the Germans to pull off such a "heist" was just too much to resist.The book is touted by the author as having been well researched as a factual event, yet we are told that we must allow some literary license so as to give the story some flow when we read from the perspective of the antagonists who plotted the kidnapping. The story takes place in 1942, so it's fair to presume that some latitude had to be given when we are being told how the event is to be carried out by the German High Command.I confess that there was some confusion with names in that some of the Germans had first names that could have been names by the allies. So, particularly at the end, I had to pay close attention as to who was talking, a German soldier or an Allied soldier.The story has a great ending, which I cannot in good conscience divulge, but going along for the ride as the climax unravels, it is a great story unto itself.I happened on this book based on my genre of interest, but more importantly, I have found a new author to follow.Read this book. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Very enjoyable introduction to Jack Higgins. I've heard/read that this is considered his high point and his portfolio starts to decline in quality from here. Well that's a shame.This work of historical fiction has a team of German paratroopers landing in England during 1943. Their mission is to kidnap (alive or dead) Winston Churchill. Lofty goal but Hitler felt he needed a massive propaganda victory given recent defeats in Eastern Europe and Africa.This is a wonderful yarn in which the Germans are portrayed in a mostly positive light and, you'll almost find yourself rooting for them. There are rich characters littered throughout the book (Devlin, Steiner) who you'll latch onto. Higgins writes in a very straightforward way. There's not a lot of coloring in but more information pertinent to the main thrust of the book. I like his style.In summary, this is a great book to get lost in and enjoy. I believe "Storm Warning" runs a close second in quality so, we'll give that a try next.

This was a phenomenal book. That the movie was Almost word for word of the book was great.I just wish the few parts of the book that were left out were in the movie. But books always have to be better than the movie.Long live Kurt Steiner.

It pains me to give this only 3 stars — because for the WW2 action drama of books, it’s well-paced and an easy read. Some reviewers here complain it’s so. Nothing is further from the truth. It’s for action, suspense, romance or humor on almost every page.So why three stars? First, the characters are just caricatures. The wise-cracking Liam Devlin’s constant patter gets old quickly. And he’s truly reprehensible morally.Second, the plot has holes big enough to drive a Panzer tank through. But that doesn’t stop Higgins from plowing ahead. It gets laughable toward the end of the book. A hero gets shot in the shoulder and not only continues running away, but has the strength to help his injured comrade escape, too. In reality, the human shoulder has 6 major blood vessels. If a bullet tears any one of those, a person will bleed out and die without a surgeon’s help.Third, I just could not get over Higgins’ portraying the Germans (and their Irish pro-IRA ally) as so likeable and even honorable. Just why? At one point, an English woman actually apologizes to German shoulder after a member of his team has shot her husband in the forehead!!Sorry, but I don’t need sympathetic portrayals of men who fought for Hitler and were carrying out the orders of the head of the SS.

I have never read Jack Higgins, believing his books were too full of military strategy instead of plot. I was so wrong! At least with this book as I've not as yet read another of his. I absolutely loved this book and could not put it down! The story takes place in WWII which is a huge interest of mine and includes many famous, and infamous people. The plot is fantastic, extremely well-written, and had me ignoring everything else as I couldn't put it down. And you will find yourself cheering for a side you never thought you could! It strongly depicts the humanity of all people during war, regardless of which side you were on. The book was exciting to read, and I loved reading the final pages where the priest reveals something about the whole story that makes you say, "no way", "unbelievable" !! I would give this book more stars if I could! If you love WWII history and a very unique plot, you must read this!

Highly recommended and terrific book from Higgins... ever time classic ... just great, looks real... hats off to him...thanks to Higgins

I first read this book not long after it came out, when it found its way into my Christmas stocking as the sensational new thing to read. I had recently discovered Frederick Forsyth, and this struck me then as another good example of the it-could-be-true type of thriller. As with Forsyth’s ‘Day of the Jackal’, you know the target was not actually assassinated, and what keeps you reading is that the plot is so ingenious you can’t see how it’s going to fail. Briefly, the Germans work out that Churchill will be within a few miles of the coast one weekend in November 1943 and they hatch a dastardly plan to drop in, kidnap him, and take him back to Germany.It’s very much a 70s-era ripping yarn, and to start with the problems so as to get them out of the way, it has quite a few historical and internal mistakes in it. It’s set in 1943, but one German character describes the war as having gone on for five years. The steely German paratroopers are supposed to have helped the encircled army escape from Kiev in January 1943, but Kiev was not surrounded until a year later, in 1944 - after the timeline of this book. There were no Hurricanes still defending Britain by late 1943. Aircraft did not identify each other night by flying up to each other and looking at their markings. They had IFF to do this, so the whole subplot involving the captured Dakota is spurious. If a German aircraft wanted to pass for a British one, all it needed was a salvaged and repaired British IFF unit on board. German paratroopers were in the air force, not the army as in other nations, so there is no way anyone would have described paratroop colonel Steiner as"an officer of the German Army". Someone in Warsaw refers to there being a death camp at Treblinka, but the fact that there were such places was carefully concealed. The bit where the Germans ride a torpedo out to attack a lone British merchant ship a few miles from Alderney is also nonsense; Britain abandoned Channel convoys in 1940, never mind unescorted independent sailings, and they didn’t resume until all the U-boat bases were taken by early 1945. There was no Polish squadron of the SAS, and no Polish parachute unit of any kind formed until September 1943. Rather weirdly, when during a parley the US officer is telling the Germans they've blown it and Churchill's safe, he also tells him exactly where Churchill now is - thus making him not safe any more. The author also keeps talking about the Norfolk coast south of the Wash, when it runs east-west at that point, of course. And so on.These boo-boos do not really detract from the action, and the author gets a remarkable amount right. November 6th 1943, the day the Germans drop in, was indeed a Saturday, and there was indeed a convenient quarter-moon. The geography is also very interesting. I have re-read this book because I thought its set-pieces would make for a few good wargame scenarios. It is evident that the setting of Studley Constable is somewhere between Glandford and Blakeney; Meltham House, where the US Rangers hang out, is probably in Cromer, and Studley Grange is somewhere like Gunthorpe Hall, which is five miles from where Studley Constable must be and eight miles from the sea. Hobs End is at Blakeney Point. The actual layout of the village is a lot less clear and defies attempts to map it, so if you can’t follow what’s going on in the action scenes, it’s not you, it’s the book. I've subsequently acquired a hard copy first edition of this book which has maps in the endpapers, and I can confirm that the action scenes don't conform to the topography in those either. But never mind - these scenes are good value, exciting and well-thought-up because, having set the Germans up as likeable good guys, the author faced a problem if they then had to mow down British troops. He solved this by having the Germans roundly thrash some hapless cocky Americans instead, then letting the Americans get even.What this cries out for is an updated Netflix or Prime adaptation where it plays out over 5 or 6 60-minute episodes. The poor 1976 film, with its elderly cast, omitted the sub-plots involving the Birmingham gangsters and the CID looking for Devlin, the IRA man. It also omitted the British traitor Preston, which was particularly unfortunate because of the contrast between him, the Boer spy Mrs. Grey, and Devlin, who are all passing among their enemies as friends. This is quite an important contrast to omit, because while Preston's an odious fake, what he's doing is fundamentally not so very different from what the other traitors are doing. Meanwhile Steiner and his band, who come across as profoundly honourable fighting men, are forced to work with and rely on three turncoats, plus an aircraft and ship in false markings for their scheme to stand a chance of working. And yet it's not the traitors who mess it all up.It’s of its time, but it’s a great example of the 70s thriller, excellently paced, not bogged down with backstory and worth your time. The latest version on Kindle has an epilogue chapter not found in the original story. It didn't add a lot for me, because I thought it was fine as it stood, but if you like to hear about aftermaths it's all there.As a lot of the characters keep saying: “Really excellent.”

The second Higgins book I've read and it came up to expectations, a "can't" put down book

Esse livro, muito bem escrito, descreve uma aventura na segunda guerra mundial em uma trama envolvente e dinâmica. Somos levados a viver as emoções de um missão impossível cujo desfecho mostra ânimo sequência de quem acredita que o poder não tem limites.

An incredible story.