Jack Higgins—Genre Giant

 

On April 9, 2022 Jack Higgins, (born Henry Patterson) died. His novel, The Eagle has Landed, cut the trail for the modern historical thriller and revitalized the larger thriller genre. His successive books would dominate the thriller shelf for decades. 

 

Born in England, Higgins was raised in Northern Ireland, during the armed-camp years leading up to the Troubles, (the Northern Ireland Conflict). The siege atmosphere and hostility would inform his writing. Indeed, Higgins would take his nom de plume from his uncle Jack Higgins, a militant Orangeman. In interviews, Higgins recounted watching his uncle unpack and lock away three handguns every time he came home.

 

But as much as sectarian strife stoked his imagination, it was the isolation (his father abandoning mother and child would have shamed the family) influenced his reading. Indeed, young Higgins read everything he could find in his grandparent’s home. His love of reading would remain the one constant in his life. 

 

Writing was a near-constant and like many writers, Higgins fumbled with one job or another—soldier, truck driver, and teacher—until he found his way to his true vocation. He published his first novel in 1959 and found modest success with compact thrillers stocked with world-weary protagonists, as was the standard for post-war genre fiction. 

 

Higgins wrote under no less than four pen names. The names were more than affectation. He was highly productive, often publishing four books a year. 

 

But in 1975, Higgins struck gold with The Eagle has Landed. The story of Nazi commandos, an IRA poet-turned-killer named Devlin, and a desperate plan to kidnap Churchill, TEhL captured imaginations around the world. 

 

“How successful was it?” You ask? Higgins fled England (and English taxes) after making £1mm, (about $11mm in 2022 USD) in the first year of publication. That was before the 1976 movie.

 

It’s easy to nod in approval of the “eventual” success of such a prolific penman. But TEhL was Higgins’ 36th book. And it bears mentioning that in the jaded years at the tail end of the Vietnam war, TEhL was an improbable—Dad’s war—success. 

 

With the mold cast, Higgins could’ve insured a lucrative industry by simply churning out TEhL clones. Instead, he explored themes that interested him: Cold War intrigue, political assassination, and the enduring legacy of the Troubles. Improbably he wrote Irish Catholic antagonists. Improbable as he was protestant English, raised in a staunchly loyalist household. 

 

An admirer of Wole Soyinka, and fiercely iconoclastic, Higgins viewed both, the Church of Rome and the Church of England, as morally bankrupt and oppressive. Higgins sought out dramatic characters that readers would empathize with. 

 

“My goal was to write books that made money,” Jack Higgins

 

Liam Devlin, Irish Republican Army gunman-cum-paladin, helmed several of Higgins’ works.  Devlin remains Higgins’ most popular character. Sean Dillion, Devlin’s protege and spiritual successor, is probably a close second. Higgins’ care in writing the “other” resulted in many Irish Catholics (and quite a few American Catholics) believing that Higgins was catholic himself. 

 

Yet Higgin’s most enduring legacy may be the long line of writers who’s books succeeded based in no small part for the success of TEhL. Ken Follet, Frederick Forsyth, and W.E.B. Griffin immediately springs to mind. However, Robert Ludlum, David Baldacci, and even Vince Flynn owe a HUGE debt to the road paved by Higgins’ wealth of work.

 

If not readily apparent, I’m a fan. Even with my father’s attempts to explain, ten-year-old me could not understand John Sturges’ film version of TEhL when I first watched it. But two years later, I found the paperback on a hospital library cart. I then proceeded to read everything by Higgins I could get my hands on. The Devlin books remain favorites but that is akin to picking your favorite candy. It’s all wonderful.

 

Jack Higgins was a splendid story teller. If his books failed to reflect the times in which he wrote them, if there is a dearth of social or political commentary, that’s not what you read Higgins for. Higgins stories are just plain fun and that’s enough. 

 

Henry Patterson, aka Jack Higgins et al, was a genre giant. Often dismissed as just a genre hack, he pushed forward when even his agent and publishers lost faith in him. It's worth noting that Simon and Schuster, (Higgin's publisher) is owned by CBS and Higgins didn't even get a mention on CBS Sunday Morning's "Noteable Deaths" segment. 

 

The takeaway for writers is simple: believe in your story. Someone out there cannot wait to read it. His books are tremendously successful because they were tremendously entertaining. 

 

The takeaway for readers is equally simple: read what interests you. I have loathed books, (that shall remain nameless) celebrated by the critics and I have LOVED books critically panned, (e.g. Higgins). If you like Lee Child, check out Jack Higgins. If you like Daniel Silva, check out Lauren Wilkinson. If you like Paul Vidich, check out Karen Traviss. Jack would most certainly approve.

The image at the top, The Eagle Has Landed movie poster is the property of ITC/Cinema International Corporation. Its use here, for educational/instructional purposes is covered by the Fair Use Doctrine.