The Heights of Zervos

by Colin Forbes

`The downward gradient increased as he pressed his foot harder and prayed - prayed against two catastrophes... ` April 1941 - the monastery on the heights of Zervos takes on a crucial new significance as the Germans prepare to invade Greece. A Scots secret agent, a Greek patriot and two English soldiers face tremendous odds as they race against time to dent crack Nazi troops the use of this vital observation post. The action begins at sea and continues non-stop overland in a murderous mind-killing creep up the ice-bound mountain, culminating in a sensational, breathtaking, nail-biting finish... Colin Forbes `Has no equal` Sunday Mirror

Genres: Thriller, War, Fiction, Adventure, Historical Fiction, World War II

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Raymond Harold Sawkins was a British novelist, who mainly published under the pseudonym Colin Forbes, but also as Richard Raine, Jay Bernard and Harold English. He only published three of his first books under his own name.Sawkins wrote over 40 books, mostly as Colin Forbes. He was most famous for his long-running series of thriller novels in which the principal character is Tweed, Deputy Director of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Sawkins attended The Lower School of John Lyon in Harrow, London. At the age of 16 he started work as a sub-editor with a magazine and book publishing company. He served with the British Army in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Before his demobilization he was attached to the Army Newspaper Unit in Rome. On his return to civilian life he joined a publishing and printing company, commuting to London for 20 years, until he became successful enough to be a full-time novelist.

Sawkins was married to a Scots-Canadian, Jane Robertson (born 31 March 1925, died 1993). Together they had one daughter, Janet.Sawkins died of a heart attack on August 23, 2006.

Sawkins was often quoted as personally visiting every location he features in his books to aid the authenticity of the writing. As a result, there is detailed description of the places where the action in his books takes place.

Fury (1995) was inspired by the courage of his wife before she died, and he set it apart from his other novels “because of the strong emotion and sense of loss that runs through it”.

Just one of Forbes' novels was made into a film: Avalanche Express, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw, which was released in 1979 to generally poor reviews.

Reviews

[Richard P · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoyed Alistair MacLean adventure books, you will be thrilled to explore Colin Forbes! IMO, where as MacLean early books were his best, his later writing never reached the success he was known for achieving. Forbes is an accomplished writer in character, scene/landscape and plot lines. From the opening pages you will be hard pressed to put the book down, non-stop action from beginning to the end of the book. Such a joy to find another Author in this genre the deserves more appreciation! Off to "Tramp in Armor" the second novel chronologically as written. Many hours of pleasurable reading awaits, enjoy!

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in the 70s

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A predictable but nonetheless enjoyable thriller, which only required limited attension, which is just what I wanted.

[Bjørn Hoenvoll · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jeg har lest mange romaner fra 2. verdenskrig, men jeg tror denne er den svakeste og langsomste jeg har lest. Det er vel det man kaller å koke suppe på en spiker. Man merker godt at den er skrevet for 35 år siden.
Hovedpersonen er fra Scotland, og jeg tror ikke et sekund på at han kan opperere i Tyskland og utgi seg for tysker, selv om han snakker godt tysk. Han ville blitt avslørt med en gang

[Mik Kjølsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book with a surprising ending

[Matt Boak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book kicks off with an opening like a Bond movie and continues from scene to scene at pace with lots of drama… up until the final third, where I thought it foundered a bit, became pretty predictable and all a bit boring. Ended up skipping through the final few pages… there’s only so many paragraphs of icy hill climbs and mortar explosions on frozen lakes you can manage.

Also found the lead character a little bit overpowered, given he seems to have had next to no sleep the entire way through the book and yet still manages to maintain a high pressure cover situation with elite German troops in three different languages. Entertaining enough but probably wouldn’t recommend.

[Kayleigh van der Woude · Rating 4 out of 5]

The whole book was filled with plot twist, and I read it in not even a month so it really made me wanna continue reading.

However, I gave it only 4 stars because the ending, to me, is really vague. I don’t like that kind of vagueness at the end of a book when there is no next book about it. I am left with a lot of questions.

[Tobias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought it as a blind buy. Written in 1970 it’s starting to age and it shows. The main character is a little one-sided and some parts of the story feel cliche or “slow” compared to modern storytelling.
When all that is said, if you’re ready to accept that the book is written more than 50 years ago, it will be like enjoying one of the old classic spy movies. It has a certain feel and it certainly still has its kickass moments.

[Peter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too slow DNF.

[Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like actually a great time, this thing needs to be made into a movie!
Dream casting for Macomber: Maybe Henry Cavil? 10 years ago Gerard Butler? Ian Glen if he put of 50 kg of muscle?