Overview
New York: Late at night, the rain pouring down, a well-dressed woman in her sixties stands in a doorway, a gun in her purse, waiting for a senator to come home. Washington, D.C.: The phone rings on the desk of Blake Johnson, head of the White House department known as The Basement. The President wants him now. London: The Prime Minister sits thinking of Sean Dillon, the onetime terrorist, now his most effective, if not exactly most trusted, operative. It'll have to be Dillon, he thinks. There's no one else. Someone is killing off the members of a splinter group known as the Sons of Erin, normally not a cause for much concern, but the consequences are much greater than anyone realizes. For in these actions lie the seeds of disaster: the fall of two governments and the derailment of the Irish peace process. Dillon and Johnson must stop this unknown assassin, the heads of state agree, quickly, quietly, before all hell breaks loose... But they may already be too late. For in the Manhattan night, the silver-haired woman smiles, adjusts her rain hat more snugly on her head, and steps into the street. Four down, she thinks. Three to go.Synopsis
New York: Late at night, the rain pouring down, a well-dressed woman in her sixties stands in a doorway, a gun in her purse, waiting for a Senator to come home.
Washington, D.C.: The phone rings on the desk of Blake Johnson, head of the White House department known as The Basement. The President wants him now.
London: The Prime Minister sits thinking of Sean Dillon, the one-time terrorist, now his most effective, if not exactly trusted, operative. It'll have to be Dillon, he thinks. There's no one else.
Someone is killing off the members of a splinter group known as the Sons of Erin, normally not a cause for much concern, but the consequences are much greater than anyone realizes. For in these actions lie the seeds of disaster: the fall of two governments, the derailing of the Irish peace process. Dillon and Johnson must stop this unknown assassin, the heads of state agree, quickly, quietly, before all hell breaks loose...
But they may already be too late. For in the Manhattan night, the silver-haired woman smiles, adjusts her rain hat more snugly on her head, and steps out into the street. Four down, she thinks.
Three to go.
Beth Amos
Jack Higgins has been entertaining readers for years with his fast-paced novels of political intrigue and high suspense. His latest, The White House Connection , will be no exception. Back again are British brigadier Charles Ferguson, the director of an elite security group that operates just beyond the boundaries of the law, and his charismatic right-hand man, ex-IRA enforcer Sean Dillon. Joining them is Blake Johnson, who through an act of heroism that endeared him to the current U.S. President has been appointed director of the General Affairs Department of the White House, a cloak for the President's comparable secret entity, known as the Basement. Together, Blake, Ferguson, and Dillon, along with Chief Inspector Hannah Bernstein, try to discover who is systematically killing off the members of an underground IRA splinter group known as the Sons of Erin.
\ \ Lady Helen Lang is wealthy, titled, and well respected by members of both American and British high society. Yet ever since the death of her son three years ago and the death of her husband a few months later, she has found little joy or purpose in life. Then Tony Emsworth, an old friend with ties to the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), summons Helen to his deathbed. There he reveals a startling and horrifying secret: Helen's son, Peter, who was working as an IRA operative for the SIS at the time of his death and who was thought to have been killed in a car bombing, actually experienced a far grimmer fate. Due to a new information-sharing arrangement between Britain and the U.S., the identities and activities of Peter and the other four members of his covert group were provided to key personnel in the White House. The information was subsequently leaked to the Sons of Erin, who caught and killed the five-man team a short time later. Peter didn't actually die in a car bombing as was officially reported; rather he was captured and tortured by Jack Barry, leader of the Sons of Erin and a ruthless killer. When Peter didn't break under the torture, Barry had him stuffed into a concrete mixer at a highway construction site. The truth about Peter's death and the White House leak was covered up, and all the records related to the case were destroyed — except for a copy that Emsworth has, which he passes along to Helen.
\ \ Shocked and angered, Helen studies the file and carefully plans her revenge against the Sons of Erin with the assistance of her dedicated chauffeur and bodyguard, Hedley Jackson. One by one she begins to find, stalk, and kill the members of the now inactive group. She comes upon her fourth target, a London gangster named Tim Pat Ryan, just as he is about to kill Sean Dillon. Helen shoots Ryan in the nick of time, marking another name off her list and saving Dillon from certain death.
\ \ Though Dillon exchanges a few words with his mysterious female benefactor, she disappears before he has a chance to see her. Intrigued, he tries to find out who she might be and, in the course of his investigations, discovers the shooting deaths of several other men — deaths that appear to be readily explainable and unrelated to one another, yet that all lead back to the same gun that killed Ryan. Once Dillon realizes all the dead men were members of the Sons of Erin, he brings his American counterpart, Blake Johnson, in on the case, since one of the few members of the splinter group who is still alive happens to be a U.S. senator. Together they try to keep the senator alive and catch the mysterious killer, but their efforts are compromised by the still unknown White House connection.
\ \ As Lady Helen continues to work her way down her list, Dillon, Blake, and the rest of the team try to find out who she is and apprehend her. Their task is complicated by the fact that she has single-handedly eliminated some of the top names from both U.S. and British most-wanted lists — men whose deaths few will mourn — yet her actions threaten the delicate balance currently in place in the Irish peace process. Once Dillon and Blake finally do figure out who she is, her position, nature, and stature only muddy the waters that much more.
\ \ Eventually Helen whittles her list down to two men: Barry and the White House connection. By the time the identity of the White House connection becomes known, the wheels of chaos are set in motion. The end result is a heated race to a deadly finish, one in which several will pay the ultimate price.
\ \ Higgins is a master at crafting likable heroes and antiheroes whose motives and methods teeter on the edge of the morally just. The White House Connection poses a complicated scenario in which there are no easy answers and many of the issues are colored in shades of gray. Higgins is careful to avoid pat, trite solutions, opting instead for an ending that befits his complicated characters: complex, uncommon, yet wholly satisfying.
\ \ — barnesandnoble.com \
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
Onetime terrorist Sean Dillon and ex-Marine Blake Johnson are in for the fight of their lives as they track a ruthless female killer who seeks retribution for her son's brutal death. If left unabated, however, her actions will cause governments and the fragile Irish peace process to crumble.Beth Amos
Jack Higgins has been entertaining readers for years with his fast-paced novels of political intrigue and high suspense. His latest, The White House Connection , will be no exception. Back again are British brigadier Charles Ferguson, the director of an elite security group that operates just beyond the boundaries of the law, and his charismatic right-hand man, ex-IRA enforcer Sean Dillon. Joining them is Blake Johnson, who through an act of heroism that endeared him to the current U.S. President has been appointed director of the General Affairs Department of the White House, a cloak for the President's comparable secret entity, known as the Basement. Together, Blake, Ferguson, and Dillon, along with Chief Inspector Hannah Bernstein, try to discover who is systematically killing off the members of an underground IRA splinter group known as the Sons of Erin.\ \ Lady Helen Lang is wealthy, titled, and well respected by members of both American and British high society. Yet ever since the death of her son three years ago and the death of her husband a few months later, she has found little joy or purpose in life. Then Tony Emsworth, an old friend with ties to the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), summons Helen to his deathbed. There he reveals a startling and horrifying secret: Helen's son, Peter, who was working as an IRA operative for the SIS at the time of his death and who was thought to have been killed in a car bombing, actually experienced a far grimmer fate. Due to a new information-sharing arrangement between Britain and the U.S., the identities and activities of Peter and the other four members of his covert group were provided to key personnel in the White House. The information was subsequently leaked to the Sons of Erin, who caught and killed the five-man team a short time later. Peter didn't actually die in a car bombing as was officially reported; rather he was captured and tortured by Jack Barry, leader of the Sons of Erin and a ruthless killer. When Peter didn't break under the torture, Barry had him stuffed into a concrete mixer at a highway construction site. The truth about Peter's death and the White House leak was covered up, and all the records related to the case were destroyed — except for a copy that Emsworth has, which he passes along to Helen.
\ \ Shocked and angered, Helen studies the file and carefully plans her revenge against the Sons of Erin with the assistance of her dedicated chauffeur and bodyguard, Hedley Jackson. One by one she begins to find, stalk, and kill the members of the now inactive group. She comes upon her fourth target, a London gangster named Tim Pat Ryan, just as he is about to kill Sean Dillon. Helen shoots Ryan in the nick of time, marking another name off her list and saving Dillon from certain death.
\ \ Though Dillon exchanges a few words with his mysterious female benefactor, she disappears before he has a chance to see her. Intrigued, he tries to find out who she might be and, in the course of his investigations, discovers the shooting deaths of several other men — deaths that appear to be readily explainable and unrelated to one another, yet that all lead back to the same gun that killed Ryan. Once Dillon realizes all the dead men were members of the Sons of Erin, he brings his American counterpart, Blake Johnson, in on the case, since one of the few members of the splinter group who is still alive happens to be a U.S. senator. Together they try to keep the senator alive and catch the mysterious killer, but their efforts are compromised by the still unknown White House connection.
\ \ As Lady Helen continues to work her way down her list, Dillon, Blake, and the rest of the team try to find out who she is and apprehend her. Their task is complicated by the fact that she has single-handedly eliminated some of the top names from both U.S. and British most-wanted lists — men whose deaths few will mourn — yet her actions threaten the delicate balance currently in place in the Irish peace process. Once Dillon and Blake finally do figure out who she is, her position, nature, and stature only muddy the waters that much more.
\ \ Eventually Helen whittles her list down to two men: Barry and the White House connection. By the time the identity of the White House connection becomes known, the wheels of chaos are set in motion. The end result is a heated race to a deadly finish, one in which several will pay the ultimate price.
\ \ Higgins is a master at crafting likable heroes and antiheroes whose motives and methods teeter on the edge of the morally just. The White House Connection poses a complicated scenario in which there are no easy answers and many of the issues are colored in shades of gray. Higgins is careful to avoid pat, trite solutions, opting instead for an ending that befits his complicated characters: complex, uncommon, yet wholly satisfying.
\ \ — barnesandnoble.com \
Library Journal
Higgins's novel of British and American undercover security forces collaborating to stop Irish terrorists, identify a killer, and locate a mole in the White House is stronger on violence than suspense, yet it comes across well as an audiobook. When not killing people, the characters are swilling whisky, chain-smoking, and pondering past and future atrocities while nominally trying to bring peace to Northern Ireland. Reader Dick Hill has fun with character voices and gives the listener a feast of sound: the musical Irish accent of reformed terrorist Sean Dillon; the deep-pitched, thick, brutal voice of professional terrorist Jack Barry; the crisp, clean accent of hero Blake Johnson; the slightly Caribbean lilt of a Harlem cop; and the Boston clip of aristocratic and determined Lady Helen. Recommended for popular collections.--Juleigh Muirhead Clark, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Lib., Williamsburg, VA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.\Kirkus Reviews
The Irish peace process is at risk in a listless thriller short on twists and devoid of tingles. Somebody's been gunning down the Sons of Erin, a terrorist group famous for gunning down others. In the interests of the peace process, this has to be stopped, say the American President and the English Prime Minister. Call out the clandestine hotshots. On the British side, that means Brigadier Charles Ferguson, cool of manner, clipped of speech, plus the redoubtable ex-terrorist Sean Dillon and Chief Inspector Hannah Bernstein, who have helped save Western Civ in several of Higgins's 29 novels (Flight of Eagles, 1998, etc.). It soon becomes evident that there is nothing political about the Sons of Erin offings. Those boys are being done in by Lady Helen Lang, a widow of mature years and the mother of an intelligence officer brutally slain by the group she is decimating. Lady Helen is not only lethal and determined, she also has remarkable ears. She overhears President Cazalet and his chums discussing the identity of an inner-circle spy. The President is in his apartment; Lady Helen is outside, below in the garden shrubbery. (Come now, Mr. Higgins!) Early on, Higgins deserts what there is of plot, yielding to a career-long passion for chases and shoot-outs. The current quarry is a villainous terrorist named Jack Barry. But he's one of those Moriarity-like villains, endlessly elusive. Finally, the ailing Lady Helen (a dicey heart) entices him to meet, man to woman, at her Norfolk estate. She has him in her gun-sights, and then, yet again, Dillon, that nine-lived devil, does his thing. But trust him to see to it that Lady Helen can die happy. At final curtain, Dillon says to Bernstein, "Doyou ever feel tired, my love? Really tired?" It's a question that might, with relevance, be put to the author. (Book-of-the-Month Club main selection)\