Luciano's Luck

In the darkest days of World War II, an American Mafioso is the Allies’ only hope to tip the scales of victory

The classic Jack Higgins thriller

As the Allies struggle to gain a foothold in Italy in 1943, American gangster Charles “Lucky” Luciano is pulled from his prison cell in New York by the U.S. military and handed a top-secret mission. Lucky must go to Sicily to persuade a distrustful Mafia to revolt against the island’s fascist occupiers. If successful, Lucky’s mission will pave the way for a full-scale invasion of Italy and aid the advancing Allied forces in breaking Hitler’s grip on the nation once and for all. But if he fails, the toll in human blood will be higher than anyone can imagine.

In the Summer of 1943, the Allies were poised to invade Sicily. Yet the price would be high in blood and time – unless the island people rose in revolt against their Nazi oppressors.

But only the Mafia could command an uprising, and Mafia supremo Antonia Luca hated everything American. Someone very persuasive indeed was needed to change his mind.

And they didn’t come any more persuasive than the man known as Lucky Luciano…

“100 percent proof adventure” – New York Times
“Total credibility…a thundering climax… Jack HIGGINS HAS DONE IT AGAIN” – Yorkshire Post

Library Journal

Dove Audio goes to the head of the pack with this exciting, unabridged rendition of Higgins's (Sheba, Audio Reviews, LJ 2/15/95) story of an Allied plan to release Lucky Luciano from prison. Luciano is slated to join a team that includes the granddaughter of Luciano's Mafia counterpart in Sicily and a crack Special Services operative. Their objective: to persuade the Don to rally the people of Sicily to aid the Allies in their effort to run the Axis forces off the island, paving the way for the Allied invasion of Italy. The action builds to a riveting climax and concomitant bloody conclusion. British actor and former Avenger Patrick Macnee is required to juggle Sicilian, German, American, and Ukrainian accents and does so superbly. Best of all, this unabridged recording is reasonably priced. Recommended for most public libraries.Mark Pumphrey, Polk Cty. P.L., Columbus, N.C.

Since The Eagle Has Landeda "one of the biggest-selling thrillers of all timea "every novel Jack Higgins has written, including his most recent works, Bad Company and Midnight Runner, has become an international bestseller. He has had simultaneous number-one bestsellers in hardcover and paperback, and many of his books have been made into successful movies, including The Eagle Has Landed, To Catch a King, On Dangerous Ground, Eye of the Storm, and Thunder Point.
He has degrees in sociology, social psychology, and economics from the University of London, and a doctorate in media from Leeds Metropolitan University. A fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and an expert scuba diver and marksman, Higgins lives in Jersey on the Channel Islands.

Patrick Macnee was born in 1922 in London, England, into a wealthy and eccentric family. Macnee first appeared on stage and made his film debut as an extra in Pygmalion. After World War II, he resumed his stage and film career, with bit parts such as Young Jacob Marley in Scrooge. The role that brought him worldwide fame and popularity was the part of John Steed, in the classic British television series The Avengers. During the 1980s and 1990s, Macnee became a familiar face on American television in such series as Gavilan, Empire, Thunder in Paradise and Night Man. In the past decade, Macnee has also made several audio recordings of book fiction.