I am waiting on some library books ordered to arrive, so I have been scrounging my bookshelves for novels not yet read. Found Thunder Point by Jack Higgins. It was another enjoyable thriller. I find myself reading a lot these days as there is only drivel on the television.
The plot starts with Martin Bormann, head of the Nazi Party Chancellery and Secretary to Adolf Hitler escaping from Berlin in the final days of the WWII and attempting to flee to Venezuela aboard a Type VII U-Boat. Bormann, as per Hitler’s directive, carries a list of Nazi Party sympathizers in the Allied countries and foreign bank codes to continue the Nationalist Socialist movement following Germany’s defeat. During the voyage to Venezuela, the U-Boat is sunk off St. John in the American Virgin Islands by hurricane.
In modern time, 1992, the U-Boat is discovered by a retired American publisher who retrieves a waterproof briefcase containing the diary of the U-Boat captain. From the diary, the publisher is able to discern the secret voyage and implications of what is still contained in the submarine. Before he can reveal the location of the U-Boat to his ex-comrade, a British Admiral, he is struck down by a bus.
The story then becomes a race to find and retrieve the documents in the sunken U-Boat against the children of the Nazi sympathizers. Sean Dillon, an ex-IRA member, is recruited to by British Government to find and return the documents.
Thunder Point was a good action thriller. The story was straight forward without any plot twists. My only complaint was the main character, Sean Dillon, was hard to sympathize with since he was an IRA terrorist. While he was supposed to have been a ‘good’ terrorist, I don’t think there is such a thing. The end never justifies the means. I do look forward to reading more of Jack Higgins novels as he appears to be very prolific.
