From Publishers Weekly
Some writers can surprise their fans and win new admirers with a change of pace; this slender yet interminable coming-of-age tale by immensely popular suspense novelist Higgins suggests only that the author shouldn't abandon his career in genre fiction just yet. The abrasively sentimental (and apparently autobiographical) narrative concerns Oliver Shaw, an eager young soldier just out of the British army in 1949 and ready for action of a different kind. " . . . and so," begins the novel, "I decided to devote myself exclusively to the pursuit of women." In this case, it's a fairly trivial pursuit--although Shaw vividly recalls his first time (in fact, his first seven times), the women are an undistinguished, coldly depicted lot--mostly coarse, hard-bitten and insensitive, their unifying characteristic and saving grace seems to be willingness. Between liaisons, Higgins works in a subplot about Shaw's experiences as a schoolteacher and resuscitates a score of postwar cliches. Shaw is also an aspiring novelist, but this self-portrait of the artist as a young stud suggests a fairly mediocre future for him. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Higgins, author of many best-selling titles, the most recent being Night of the Fox (LJ 1/15/87), here reveals himself as the Julio Iglesias of thriller authors. This thinly disguised autobiographical novel is essentially a catalog of Higgins's remarkable number of sexual conquests in postwar England (were women then really this willing?). The author has been excused flimsy characterization in the past because his plots are so exciting, but here his weakness is glaringly obvious. However, this short memoir cum novel will be sought by the author's many fans to fulfill their curiosity. The casual browser will pass it over as yet another sophomoric reminiscence, barely above locker room conversation.
- Nora Rawlinson, "Library Journal"Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
