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Back Graveyard to Hell Save as PDF
Chapters (69)
  1. Cover
  2. Epigraph
  3. INTRODUCTION
  4. BOOK ONE
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. BOOK TWO
  30. 1
  31. 2
  32. 3
  33. 4
  34. 5
  35. 6
  36. 7
  37. 8
  38. 9
  39. 10
  40. 11
  41. 12
  42. 13
  43. 14
  44. BOOK THREE
  45. PROLOGUE
  46. 1
  47. 2
  48. 3
  49. 4
  50. 5
  51. 6
  52. 7
  53. 8
  54. 9
  55. 10
  56. 11
  57. 12
  58. 13
  59. 14
  60. 15
  61. 16
  62. 17
  63. 18
  64. 19
  65. 20
  66. 21
  67. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  68. Also by Jack Higgins
  69. About the Publisher

Yet the stories in Graveyard to Hell were not written as social commentary – though the author was one of the earliest sociology graduates in the country – they were written as thrillers, and Jack Higgins thrillers at that, which guaranteed rapid, no-frills action and excitement.

Even if they were a departure from the tales of high adventure in exotic foreign lands for which he was already well-known (and which he was to continue writing with great success), all the familiar Jack Higgins trade-marks are present and correct: the underlying romantic tendencies in even the toughest characters, the adoration of ‘the old country’ of Ireland and the former criminal seeking redemption, personified no better than by ‘Gunner’ Doyle in Hell is Always Today.

If early fans of the Nick Miller books yearned for a longer series, they were to be frustrated. Higgins moved on to write more character-driven – though no less exciting – thrillers such as the highly-rated A Game for Heroes and A Prayer for the Dying before the gigantic success of The Eagle Has Landed and a clutch of bestsellers with Second World War themes: To Catch a King, Storm Warning and The Valhalla Exchange. He also showed that he could strike a topical nerve, controversially so, as with his spy novel Exocet, which appeared in 1983 in the wake of the Falklands War.

Apart from global fame and sales of his books now being measured in hundreds of millions, that eagle which landed in 1975 left another legacy in the shape of rogue Irish gunman Liam Devlin, a hugely memorable character. After four novels putting Devlin centre-stage, Higgins created a younger, contemporary version in Sean Dillon and those fans who prefer their heroes to feature in a long-running series of adventures certainly got their wish, with Dillon appearing in more than twenty bestselling novels.

Today, Sean Dillon and Liam Devlin are undoubtedly Jack Higgins’ best known characters. Nick Miller may be a new name to many of his readers, despite his inception more than fifty years ago, but if they are fans of Jack Higgins, they will not be disappointed.

MIKE RIPLEY

April 2021

Mike Ripley is the author of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, a history of the British thriller from Casino Royale to The Eagle Has Landed, which won the 2018 H.R.F. Keating Award for non-fiction.

Central Index POLICE DEPARTMENT Form No. 272
30/3B/112 File No.
SERVING OFFICER’S RECORD CARD 372/1/6

NAME: MILLER Nicholas Charles NUMBER 982

ADDRESS: ‘Four Winds,’ Fairview Avenue

DATE OF BIRTH: 27th July, 1939

AGE ON JOINING DEPARTMENT: 21

OCCUPATION ON JOINING DEPARTMENT: Student

EDUCATION: Foundation Scholar at Archbishop Holden’s Grammar School

Open Exhibition to London University 1956

London School of Economics

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT: Bachelor of Law with Second Class

Honours, University of London, 1959

SERVICE RECORD: Joined Department, 1/2/60

Passed out District Training centre, 1/5/60

Certified as passing probationary year satisfactorily, 1/2/61

Appointed to Central Division, 3/3/61

Appointed Detective Constable and transferred to ‘E’ Div. on 2/1/63 (See File National Bank Ltd., 21/12/62)