ON DANGEROUS GROUND (SIGNET)

Jack Higgins, the bestselling author of The Eagle Has Landed and Angel of Death, presents an explosive and timely thriller about the uncertain future of Hong Kong, China, and the world… 1944. Mao Tse-tung signs a secret document that could delay the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong for an additional one hundred years. But all copies of the document disappear in a plane crash. 1993. As Hong Kong prepares to be restored to China in 1997, England’s prime minister learns of the existence of Mao Tse-tung’s lost document. Former terrorist Sean Dillon is given direct orders to keep the document from coming to light – at all costs. One copy still exists, hidden in the wreckage of a plane on the bottom of a Scottish Loch. But Dillon’s not the only person searching for it. There are powerful business interests, including the Mafia, that will do anything to retain their power over Hong Kong – even if the delicate balance of world power is destroyed…

From Publishers Weekly

Having turned former IRA terrorist Sean Dillon into a hero in Thunder Point , Higgins refines his portrait of that deadly little man even further here by allowing him to acquire almost mystical kung-fu skills. This latest thriller opens with a prologue set in Chungking, 1944, during which Mao Zedong and Lord Louis Mountbatten sign the mysterious Chungking Covenant--a promise by Mao to extend the treaty giving Britain control of Hong Kong by 100 years. With Hong Kong due to be returned to China in 1997, the existence of such an agreement could destroy delicate international relationships. One copy of this vital document may still exist, supposedly hidden in a Scottish castle known as Loch Dhu ("Place of Dark Waters"). American billionaire Carl Morgan, determined to locate the document so that he and his Mafia associates might have leverage to protect their operations in Hong Kong, takes up residence in the castle with Asta, his stepdaughter. On the scene to foil their designs are Dillon, Brigadier Charles Ferguson and his Chief Inspector, Hannah Bernstein. Following a path from the castle to a villa in Sicily to a final confrontation in London, the search leaves a bloody trail. Unfortunately, revelation of the novel's most duplicitous villain will come as no surprise to most readers. Nevertheless, Higgins compensates for a less than elegant style with his signature unrelenting pace. BOMC main selection. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Special agent Sean Dillon seems genetically engineered for the 1990s. As a former IRA operative, he's terrorist chic, but since he's killed no women or children, he's also very PC. In any case, Dillon returns from Higgins' Thunder Point and Eye of the Storm (1992) to help British intelligence locate the Chungking Covenant, a 1944 document in which Winston Churchill agreed to assist Mao Tse-tung against the Japanese for Mao's promise to extend Britain's lease of Hong Kong for another 100 years, to 2097, should his revolution succeed. For some reason, the Mafia--and not the all-powerful Chinese triads?--are most interested in exposing the document and thus sustaining their lucrative Asian drug trade another century. However, Britain fears that revealing the covenant would strain already-delicate relations among the UK, China, and the U.S. This is pure espionage pulp from its far-fetched plot to its cut-out characters. But Higgins keeps the action too crisp and the settings too luxuriant for us to worry much about that. Alan Moores --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From AudioFile

A missing silver Bible and a secret document signed by Mao Tse-tung and Lord Mountbatten extending the Hong Kong Treaty lead the British Secret Service and the Mafia on a race to the Scottish Highlands. Macnee gives a sparkling performance as he gives life to each of the story's characters. His accents, Scottish, Irish, Italian and English, are superb. And his rich voice adds to the performance as this adventure weaves a web of excitement and danger right down to the very last scene. D.L.V. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Back in 1944, Lord Mountbatten succeeded in getting Mao Tse- tung's signature on a promise to extend the British lease on Hong Kong for another hundred years if Mao came to power in China. Now, with the months ticking down on the original lease, a race is on for the last surviving copy of the Chungking Covenant. Sound familiar? It's a virtual rehash of Higgins' last, Thunder Point (1993)--but don't tell that to stalwart, nondescript Brigadier Charles Ferguson or his dashing one-time IRA enemy and present right- hand man Sean Dillon, fresh from thwarting an assassination attempt against the American President in London. (This preliminary plot winds down so rapidly that you just know the assassins weren't really trying.) Now Ferguson and Dillon are detailed to retrieve the Chungking Covenant from among the personal effects of its late courier, Major Ian Campbell, so that the Prime Minister can burn it before it throws the Hong Kong political situation into chaos. Meantime, though, Palermo's capo di tutti capi, Don Giovanni (!), gets wind of the document and, determined to extend the season on the Mafia's Hong Kong resort interests, deputizes his polo-playing, construction mogul nephew Carl Morgan and Morgan's stepdaughter Asta to grab the Covenant before Her Majesty's authorities can destroy it. The Morgans lease Campbell's manor house from his elderly sister, Lady Katherine Rose; Ferguson, Dillon, and Inspector Hannah Bernstein lease the adjoining hunting lodge. Now begins a battle of wits and nerves, with each side cultivating the other's matey acquaintance and assiduously leaking disinformation about its plans. By the time Lady Katherine suddenly remembers what really happened to her brother's personal effects, the stage is set for one of Higgins' kitchen sink finales, with the principals scuba diving, stealing, kidnapping, parachuting, and assaulting their way into your hearts still again. Nowhere near the top of Higgins' form, but his hordes of devoted fans won't mind this dog-and-pony show one more time. (Book-of-the- Month-Club Main Selection) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Since The Eagle Has Landed―one of the biggest-selling thrillers of all time―every novel Jack Higgins has written 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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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