CONFESSIONAL

by Jack Higgins ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 15, 1985

Higgins' latest spy-chase begins, circa 1982, when British spymaster Ferguson (Exocet, etc.) learns--from a Soviet defector--that there's a KGB super-agent at work in Ireland! Could this deep-cover agent, code-named ""Cuchulain,"" be the ruthless assassin who's been heightening Catholic/Protestant tensions with outrageous murders? Of course. So, in the first half of this ragged, lively thriller, Ferguson and sidekick Fox set out to unmask Cuchulain: they enlist the aid of ex-IRA mastermind Liam Devlin (The Eagle Has Landed, Touch the Devil); they persuade young concert pianist Tanya Voroninova to defect to the West--because she is the one person alive who can identify Cuchulain. (Back in the USSR, 20 years ago, he killed her father.) As the reader soon knows, however, Cuchulain just happens to be the unsuspecting Liam Devlin's best friend: Catholic priest Father Harry Cussane!! Which means that the priest/spy is in a perfect position to sabotage--or at least delay--Tanya's defection scheme. And when Tanya nonetheless arrives safely in Ireland, immediately recognizing Cuchulain, the unmasked agent flees--especially since he's now marked for death by the KGB (which finds him an expendable embarrassment). End of story? Not quite. Because the fugitive priest/spy is suddenly determined, for not-very-convincing reasons, to assassinate Pope John Paul II during the papal visit to Canterbury. (""If I've got to die, I might as well go down doing something spectacular."") So the final chapters here become a sort of mini-Day of the Jackal as Father Harry makes his way from Ireland to England--surviving several captures and escapes, doing a few good deeds to redeem himself. . .and finally meeting up with the Pope (and a brave policewoman) in the famed Stokely chapel. As usual, Higgins barely sketches in characters and backgrounds; much of the dialogue is comic-book corny; the disjointed plot is marbled with implausibility. Still, by making sure that things move along at an uncommonly brisk pace, Higgins once again offers easygoing, sure-fire entertainment--packed with ambushes, murders, showdowns, disguises, and one chase sequence after another.

Pub Date: July 15, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1985

Categories: FICTION