The Eagle Has Flown

by Jack Higgins

1991

Status

Available

Publication

Pocket Books (1991), 336 pages

Description

The "engrossing follow-up" to the New York Times-bestselling author's classic WWII spy thriller, The Eagle Has Landed (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Germany, 1943. As an increasingly isolated and insane Hitler pursues his hopeless war, betrayal and treachery reach the highest levels of the Third Reich. German intelligence knows that SS colonel Kurt Steiner survived "Operation Eagle," the bungled assassination attempt on Winston Churchill, and is now a POW somewhere in London. For his own nefarious reasons, Reichsf�hrer Himmler wants him back-at any cost. In charge of the perilous rescue mission, SS general Walter Schellenberg recruits Steiner's former accomplice, the charismatic IRA hit man Liam Devlin. Racing from the nightclubs of Lisbon to Hitler's opulent country retreat to the damp streets of London, Schellenberg and Devlin get closer to their target-and to the shattering true objective of their mission.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member john257hopper

Not as good as The Eagle Has Landed, but a gripping thriller nonetheless, full of contradictory characters that confound our expectations such as the anti-Nazi German patriot Steiner himself, or the pro-Hitler upper class English Shaws. It is this aspect that gives it a moral ambiguity that

straightforward WWII thrillers often lack and made me want the plot to rescue Steiner to succeed, despite this benefitting the Germans.

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LibraryThing member ponsonby

Moderately good sequel to The Eagle has Landed, and perhaps slightly more convincing because of a tighter plot and a more believable situation. The basic story is whether one of the main characters of the previous book can be sprung out of jail. Rather irritating is Higgins' insistence on framing

his books with nonsense about how he 'obtained' his story. But it's a good relaxing read, although lacking the detail and plotline control of writers like Tom Clancy

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LibraryThing member abhidd1687

a deserving end to the prequel "the eagle has landed" this book brings bak the mischievious liam devlin bak and that too with a bang and panache...

LibraryThing member DeaconBernie

In this instance, the sequel is clearly better than the original. Higgins keeps his heroes hopping around from Germany to France to England and Ireland. Ireland continues to be the land of milk and honey. In this work, the German commander gunned down at the conclusion of The Eagle Has Landed, has

miraculously survived and is now to be rescued for an unknown purpose, but, wait, a purpose develops in the closing chapters, when he does his work and then flies off to Ireland with Liam Devlin. While this is going on, a suitable number of bad people are dispatched one way or another, along with a few good people who just have to be removed to tidy up the scene. A clear hallmark of Higgins is that there is never a dull moment, and that is no less true here.

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LibraryThing member SeriousGrace

At the end of The Eagle Has Landed a German plot to kidnap Prime Minister Winston Churchill had failed horribly and a massacre ensued. Left in suspense, readers didn't know if antagonists Liam Devlin and Kurt Steiner survived. Now, in the much-anticipated sequel we learn Steiner did survive. He is

being held prisoner in the Tower of London. And who better to rescue Steiner than Liam Devlin who also survived the botched kidnapping? Yes, he survived. Of course he did, he's the center character. Devlin is the bad guy we all love to hate: poet, daredevil, ruggedly handsome gunslinger, a scholar and, as a member of the IRA, a man who stands by his convictions. He claims to be neutral but wants a united Ireland; he couldn't care a lick about Nazi Germany but will chose the side with the biggest payout. General Walter Schellenberg is sent to recruit Devlin to the task, but standing in his way is Brigadier Dougal Munro of British Intelligence. He has a few tricks up his sleeve as well and what ensues is a fast paced chase across Europe. True to form, behind every Higgins plot there is an astonishingly resourceful and brilliant woman. This time there are a few. True to Higgins form, expect a twist at the end.

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