Jack Higgins Books Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sean Dillon

Sean Dillon appeared in many books by Jack Higgins, but begins working for Charles Ferguson in "Thunder Point". He attended RADA before giving it up for the "Theatre of the streets" when his father was gunned down in a firefight between the IRA and British Paratroopers. He lost faith with the cause due to the bombing campaign killing many innocent people, and worked as a mercenary for the PLO, the Israelis and many more. He ended up working for Ferguson after he was captured by the Serbs flying medical supplies into the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, "a good deed in a naughty world", but was unaware there are Stinger missiles hidden underneath. He was blackmailed by Ferguson to join him in order to save himself from the firing squad.

He was an educated killer who drank Krug non-vintage Champagne (because of the grape mix) and Bushmills Whiskey by preference, played the piano, spoke several languages, and was a master diver and pilot.

Answer: An attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill

The "Eagle has Landed" is the story of an attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill.

Following a joke from Hitler about kidnapping Winston Churchill, Himmler does a feasibilty study on whether in would be possible with the help of Max Radl of the Abwehr. It is deemed to be possible and they find the perfect man to lead it. His name is Kurt Steiner, educated in England and fluent in the language, but, following a court-marshall (for trying to save a Jewish girl), he and his unit are imprisoned on a penal colony in the Channel Islands.

The main protagonists in the book are Colonel Kurt Steiner and his men and Liam Devlin, an IRA activist. They are dropped in the town of Studley Constable where they masquerade as Polish soldiers training in the area (and Devlin as a Marsh Warden). The attempt fails when one of Steiner's men dives into a river to save a small child; when he gets stuck in a water wheel, his German uniform becomes visible under the disguise and their cover is blown.

Steiner and his second in command escape from a firefight in the church in which all the other German paratroopers are killed, and sets off to complete his mission.

In the end Steiner kills the man he thinks to be Churchill, who is in fact a cabaret artist who is one of Churchill's doubles. The real Churchill is in Yalta meeting Stalin and Roosevelt.

Answer: Grimshaw

Atkinson Grimshaw is one on Liam Devlin's favourite artists despite his English background (he was from Yorkshire). The Grimshaw hanging in Devlin's living room is commented on by numerous characters visiting his house in Kilrea for information from the "living legend of the IRA."

Grimshaw paintings also appear to be liked by Sean Dillon, a friend of Liam Devlin's in the past. In fact, Dillon has a Grimshaw, which was a present from Devlin, in his house in Stable Mews.

Answer: Jake Cazalet

Jake Cazalet appears in many of the Sean Dillon books and is a regular character. His daughter is even kidnapped in one of Higgin's books, "The President's Daughter", and he plays a role in many of the books about Sean Dillon and the Prime Minsiter's Private Army. He also breaks the news of his ex-wife's death to Blake Johnson in "The Day of Reckoning". He served in Vietnam along with Blake Johnson, and since then has smoked cigarettes. He is frequently reminded by his staff about how many votes he would lose if the voters knew.

Cazalet generally appears when the story involves U.S territory, along with the head of the Basement (a security outfit which answers only to the President of the day), Blake Johnson. Cazalet also often appears with his favourite security guard, Clancy Smith.

Simon Carter is the head of the security services in Britain in many of Higgin's books and we later find out he is also the infamous Broker. George Bush was actually President of the United States, not a fictional character.

Answer: Mini Cooper

Sean Dillon has a taste for the finer things in life, such as Krug champagne, and could afford a flashy sports car, like the Bentley driven by the Salters or a classic E-Type Jag. He actually chooses to drive a red Mini Cooper, probably because it fits in more easily in general traffic and is therefore less conspicuous, which is useful in his line of work.

Answer: Kim

Kim is the Brigadier's Gurkha manservant at his home in Cavendish Square, who appears in several books, usually in very small roles. In one of Higgins's books, Kim leads the General and Sean Dillon on a deer hunt. He is an able tracker, good at surveillance when needed and, as a Gurkha, he is useful with a firearm when the situation necessitates one.

He is also an excellent cook as well as a manservant, and is clearly a man of many talents.

Answer: Jack Fox

Jack Fox has Blake Johnson's ex-wife Katherine murdered after she gets too close to finding out the truth about him at the beginning of "The Day of Reckoning". Jack Fox's mother was the niece of Don Marco Solazzo, but he is a decorated war hero (from the Gulf War) and a respected Harvard-educated lawyer. He is the new, seemigly more legitimate, face of the Mafia, but as the book develops you realise that description could not be more wrong.

Blake Johnson and Sean Dillon then set out to destroy him with the help of Brigadier Ferguson, Hannah Bernstein, Major Giles Roper as well as Harry and Billy Salter. They find out that Fox lost millions in the Asian market crash, using money from the family without the Don's permission. Blake Johnson and Sean Dillon methodically ruin all his chances of making that money back, while Jack Fox digs an increasingly big hole for himself. In the end Blake is kidnapped by Jack Fox and Dillon finishes off Fox and his cronies, saving Blake Johnson from a dire fate at the Cornish property called "Hellsmouth".

Max Santiago is the villain in "Thunder Point". Aldo Russo is a Mafoiso working from Ibiza who helps Dillon and Billy track Dermot Fitzgerald, an IRA gunman who has fled from the U.K in the book "Without Mercy". Falcone is one of Jack Fox's assisstants, but in the book is not called Giovanni.

Answer: Murchison

Murchison is a flat coated retreiver owned by President Jake Cazalet. He is an unusually intelligent dog, which is commented on by numerous characters, and he even saves Cazalet from assassination by members of the Rashid family (The Lairds and Lady of Loch Dhu).

He loves the runs through the marshes with the President (although they also seem to be an opportunity for the President to have a cigarette) in his brief getaways to Nantucket. Murchison loves splashing around in the salt water, which the President regularly comments is not good for his skin.

Answer: Greta Novikova

Greta Novikova is a GRU captian who appears for the first time in "Dark Justice" alongside her compatriot Yuri Ashimov. Working for Belov International, they get embroiled in conflict with Ferguson and the Prime Minister's Private Army.

The book ends with the explosion of the IRA owned boat "The Kathleen" (with Josef Belov, Todd Murphy and Greta Novikova on board). It is sunk by Sean Dillon using a remote device called a "howler" to set it off and a few blocks of Semtex. Greta is blown over the side and survives by chance, which we find out in following book "Without Mercy." In this book Greta is captured in the Khufra Marshes in Algeria during the hunt for IRA gunman Dermot Fitzgerald, and ends up working for Ferguson like so many others.

Answer: Martin Bormann

The plot of "Thunder Point" is based on the many stories that Reichsleiter Martin Bormann escaped Berlin in the last days of the Third Reich and ended up in South America. As an important member of the leadership of the Third Reich, he is entrusted by Hitler with the "Windsor Protocol" and the "Blue Book". The "Windsor Protocol" is an agreement signed by Edward VIII (later the Duke of Windsor) to take over as King of England in the event of a successful German invasion of Britain. The "Blue Book" contains the names of high ranking people in Allied society who are sympathetic to the Nazi cause, including two rather important ones in the story.

In the story, Bormann travels by submarine to the Virgin Islands where he goes ashore, and the submarine containing the Windsor Protocol and a list of important Nazi sypathisers sinks in a storm. When the submarine is found by a local diver, Henry Baker, who is subsequently killed, there is a race against time for Dillon and Ferguson to recover the documents lest they fall into the hands of the evil Max Santiago.