A quick, by-the-numbers thriller that retains a sort of freshness from the immediacy of its writing (it was published less than a year after the Falklands War itself). To be honest, this is its only saving grace, as the characters are sketchily written and the dialogue is clunky (including foreigners talking with English idioms). The plot was intriguing – preventing the Argies from acquiring any more of the infamous Exocets from the French – but slightly disappointing in its execution.

My disappointment came partly from the lack of meat on the bones of Higgins' thriller, and partly from the fact that the real-life stories – not only from the South Atlantic arena itself, but the stories of British secret services disrupting the international arms trade's services to Argentina – are more fascinating than Higgins' routine brew. The Falklands War was such a fascinating microcosm of conflict, and it's a shame that there's not more fiction about it. There are a lot of good histories, including one by Max Hastings, as well as great narrative non-fiction like Rowland White's Vulcan 607, but for various reasons, fiction writers have taken the Exclusion Zone to heart. ( )

Exocet - Jack Higgins ****

Anyone who is familiar with Higgins will find all his usual trademarks here: the second shot that smashes the spine, the pianist that plays 'A Foggy Day in London Town', alcohol by the bucketload, a trained killer that feels life is a game and the ruthless commanding officer who uses his employees like pawns in a game. There are no real surprises to be found here, although there is a reduction in the amount of violence we normally find in a Higgins' novel.

The story centres around Gabrielle, a stunningly beautiful British agent, who is assigned with a mission to get close to a decorated Argentinian officer Raul Montera. Things become complicated when they fall in love, but one or the other must choose loyalty to either their country or their hearts. The famous Exocet missile is also a prominent feature with Argentina desperately trying to get their hands on more in an attempt to swing the war more favourably in their direction. Throw in some Russian involvement and you are left with a sort of cold war/love story/boy's adventure.

Exocet as far as I am aware is Higgins' only book that is set during the Falklands war and was actually released in the same year as the conflict. Although this meant that Higgins was able to integrate real life events into the plot, it also unfortunately allows the book to have a rushed feel to it. Fans of the Sean Dillon series will find many of the novel themes and traits start to come to fruition here, including General Ferguson.

Worth a look for fans, but not somewhere I would recommend a new reader start as an introduction to the author. Maybe this is the point where the storylines started to become slightly generic? I am unsure but it definitely has a déjà vu feel to the writing. ( )

England under Falklandskrigen, 1982.
Harvey Jackson og Tony Villiers laver et raid mod Buckingham Palace og tager et billede af dronningen som bevis. De arbejder for brigadegeneral Charles Ferguson i antiterrorkorpset. Tony er nyligt skilt fra Gabrielle Simonde Legrand. Garielle er 27 år og både køn og klog. Ferguson pudser hende på en argentinsk pilot, oberst Raul Carlos Montera på 45 år. Han forelsker sig hovedkuls i hende og hun hader sig selv fordi hun bare er lokkedue for Ferguson. Montera bliver pludseligt kaldt tilbage til Argentina, hvor man skal bruge ham som pilot, fordi Falklandskrisen er tæt på at udvikle sig til krig. Argentinerne besætter øerne. Briterne sender flåden og det kommer til hårde kampe, der koster briterne nogle skibe og argentinerne et meget stort skib, en masse fly og en stor del af deres piloter.
Argentinerne er desperate efter at få fat i Exocet-raketter. En af deres topfolk Garcia kontakter russerne for at få lidt mere hjælp. Officielt er russerne neutrale, men de spekulerer i via en plantet agent Felix Donner - der faktisk hedder Victor Marchuk - at give Argentina raketterne, men samtidigt at få juntaen til at træde i spinaten i en grad, så det vil koste magten.
En fransk professor Bernard hjælper argentinerne med at få Exocet missilerne startklare, fordi han har noget imod englændere generelt. Donner har planer om at gøre Bernard til syndebuk.
Gabrielle håber at Raul ikke bliver skudt ned og hun håber samtidigt at hendes halvbror Richard på 22, som er ombord på et britisk krigsskib, heller ikke bliver dræbt. Argentinas leder, general Leopoldo Fortunato Galieri, er orienteret om planerne, men via CIA får Ferguson ret omgående nys om dem og kigger nærmere på Donner, som han hurtigt gætter på kan være en plantet russisk agent..
Ferguson pudser Gabrielle på Donner og Raul, mens Villiers bliver trukket hjem fra en SAS operation på Falklandsøerne for at lukke munden på professor Bernard og for at passe på Gabrielle. Donner fortæller Raul at Exocet missilerne bliver fløjet ind, men i virkeligheden planlægger han et storstilet angreb på en fransk testbase for missilerne og han har tænkt sig at efterlade en masse lig, heriblandt Raul, og lade argentinerne få skylden.
Villier forpurrer imidlertid det hele og Donner og en masse andre dør. Resten lever lykkeligt til deres dages ende eller sådan noget.

Bogen er skrevet i 1983 lige ovenpå Falklandskrigen, hvor briterne havde megen smerte og besvær ud af argentinernes exocet-missiler.
Plottet er godt skruet sammen, Ferguson, Thatcher, Donner og russerne forsøger alle at spille de andre ud mod hinanden. ( )

What can I say? Jack Higgins at his best. This is one of his older works and brings together a cast of characters that has survived to live in another novel.

Good girl gets pushed into betraying the man she loves and is protected by her ex-husband who finally realizes he must let her go. Ferguson does what he does best - convincing people to help him who don't really want to.
Certainly a different perspective on the Falklands War. If you are a Higgins fan, this book is for you. ( )

This seems to be a very early appearance of Charles Ferguson; predating Dillon. Typical superheroic characters and an ingenious plot written in his highly readable style. ( )