Comes the Dark Stranger

by Harry Patterson, Jack Higgins

The New York Times–bestselling author of The Midnight Bell delivers a searing novel of psychological suspense in which the past and present collide.
 
Martin Shane is looking for someone to kill. He just doesn’t know who . . . yet.
 
Eight years earlier, Shane and five other soldiers were captured in Korea. Tortured by a sadistic Chinese colonel, they vowed to stay strong. But one of them broke, revealing all he knew in exchange for his own life. Before Shane could uncover the traitor, explosive shrapnel shredded his brain—and his memories.
 
Then, after years in a mental institution, a fateful slip awakens Shane’s mind. He’s not sure what happened to him; it feels like the war happened only yesterday. The only thing he knows is that someone has to pay.
 
Now, returning to the town where they all enlisted together, Shane is going to do whatever it takes to discover the truth and exact his revenge—even if it destroys everything he thinks he knows about the war, his brothers-in-arms . . .and himself.
 
In this compelling and intense novel, author Jack Higgins delves into the darkness of one man’s shattered mind and flexes his prodigious talents far beyond his legendary action thrillers and into the realm of psychological drama and suspense.
 

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Espionage, Action, Ebooks

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

One of the many pseudonyms used by Henry Patterson. See Jack Higgins for more complete information.

Reviews

[John Mcpheat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to read a lot of Jack Higgins, but I found myself less and less interested in the adventures of Sean Dillon and gave up about 15 years ago. I've recently found a bunch of old Jack Higgins books and have quite enjoyed them. Like this one they're short, easy to read, stick to a similar formula and don't have a great level of sophistication. But what I like about them is the atmosphere Higgins creates. In this case it's the seedy hotels and strip clubs, fog and rain of the town of Burnham; the late 50s/early 60s setting is most evocative. There's the usual damaged main character; rough as guts but deep down a good man. There are bad guys, friends and women. I shouldn't have enjoyed this book, but I did.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good suspense book with a nice twist. For me, the romance detracts from the story

[George Goodale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Implausible

The plot line is implausible, the characters two dimensional, the heroic actions of the main character read more like those of the protagonist in a cheap detective novel. All I all a waste of time.

[Michael David · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I were to describe this novel in one word, it would be serviceable. It's neither excellent nor horrible, it just gets the job done, just like Martin Shane did.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Shane fought in Korea. He joined up with a few men from the same town. There were the usual losses and serios injuries. The story begins when Shane wants to tell his friend's father about the death of his son. Shane gets into all kinds of trouble, eventually ending up in a local parish church, where he recognises the priest, Father Costello. Shane tells the Father his story so far. Martin Shane also suffers blinding headaches, due to a small piece of shrapnel being left in his brain after surgery to remove the other pieces from his head.
After being led around the houses on a wild goose chase, Shane eventually gets the situation sorted. He finds himself in a hospital, where an eminent surgeon has managed to remove the remaining pice of shrapnel from Shane's brain.
Another brilliant Jack Higgins novel. He's my favourite author to read when I don't know what I want to read. I know I'll always enjoy the experience.

[rachid idjiou · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this amazing novel so much. Martin Shane met Simon Faulkner, they met in a bar where they both drank and became friends. They joined the British Army. When soldiers attacked Korea, the Korean army caught them, someone delivered information to colonel Li. Simon Faulkner was shouted at in public by Mr Li, Martin Shane didn't understand what had happened? But he suspected four people: Reggie Steel, Charles Graham, Joe Wilby, and Adam Crowther. The loss of his mate made Martin unbalanced they put him in a Madhouse. One day he escaped, he went to Burnham where the person behind the killing of his friend Simon lived, Maybe he will take revenge for Simon's death and kill the guilty one, or he will investigate h! How could Martin Shane who got troubles on his mind manage alone? His memory loss of seven years how could he succeed in his mission?

[Mr P Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comes the Dark Stranger

A classic best-seller in the early works of my favourite author. Higgins is a master of writing books that you just can't put down! The plot rattles along with twists and turns right up to the end. I can't believe that I have missed this one before! Brilliant as always.

[Neil · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story is fine but it is how the story unfolds and the actions taken to investigate is so 1960's. Too outdated and should be put on the shelves as there are much better books to spend you limited time reading

[Greg Scharfstein · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointed

For me there was to much description. By the time you got to the dialogue it was 3 paragraphs later. Which made it very slow moving. I was unable to finish the book

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it a lot. Marten Shane is a Korean War vetaran who spent six years in a coma with shrapnel in this brain.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Jack Higgins,/Harry Patterson books

[Becki Sims · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this thrilling mystery. It was a quick read with a storyline that kept you hooked the whole way through.

I’ll definitely be trying out some other titles by this author.

[YOLY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hope to read more of his books

Interesting and entertaining. Good plot and easy to follow although at times it came repetitive. Ready to read the next book by the same author.

[Nathan Woll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic Higgins, decent mystery

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable intrique

[Random Hodgepodge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure there are many other readers who will enjoy this book. Somehow, it just didn't appeal to me.

[Ted Barringer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early Jack Higgins - he is just beginning to perfect his craft - read this and the rest of his stuff - Sean Dillon will drive you nuts though.

[Amucheazi Nneka · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay.

[Rhona Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The betrayal of a comrade is worst than dying.

[Stephen frankel · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful

I only read Jack Higgins books to read about his hero Sean Dillon but now realized I have been missing out on his other great books!
Well done Mr Higgins
Regards
Stephen Frankel

[James Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a quick read - but about halfway through I started to second guess my choice. By the end, I was really very frustrated. Two things happen in this nearly unsubstantiated hunt-with-intent-to-kill:

1. Shane explodes with anger.
2. Shane becomes extremely tired.

These two things happen over and over again - becoming both irksome and predictable. The plot twists are staged with a general lack of creativity - and at one point, I actually wanted to scream at the author, "WHY would any well-written character reveal that much information?!" (The answer is, a well-written character wouldn't.)

It's a shame, really. Jack Higgins might be a fine author - but I'm not likely to pick up anymore of his books based on this effort.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another of the older Jack Higgins books that have been be released.

According the copyright page inside the cover it was originally issued in 1962 under the name John Long (Higgins has published books under different names including Harry Patterson, Simon Graham and now John Long).

This book wasn't actually bad. The storyline was okay. It was a little disjointed, but I think that was to reflect the mindset of the protagonist where you weren't sure what was real and what was not. It was an easy read, it didn't drag and I found myself wanting to know what happened. However, overall it for me was not one of Higgins better books and I found he got better as he went along.

3 stars, I finished it, it was okay nothing to shout about.

[Harold Crowder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable, suspenseful, what's gonna happen next, twists.

Haven't read Higgins for a few years but glad this one came along.

Not everything in life has readily available explanation; it's okay if everything detail doesn't make perfect sense -- such is life.

Oh! the reason it took so long to plough through was/is that a bit of a project, bath remodeling, has taken up a lot of my time ;-)

[Corinne · Rating 3 out of 5]

🎧 Bit of a slow burner but an easy listen. Nothing hugely different compared to other storylines. Simple plot but played out as it should and all came together as it should. The mystery side of the plot was well written. It held my attention for sure. Really liked Martin Shane as a character, he’s very straight and takes no prisoners. His character was well developed compared to some of the others. Worth a listen for sure.

[Walt Mccluskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comes the Dark Stranger

A dark, slow starting story that definitely had me wondering if the main character was hallucinating for a big part of the read. The ending was totally unexpected and would have been better if spread out over a little more of the time as the "reveal" period of interaction. I don't know if I will soon try another Higgins novel.

[Jeff Crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keeping all of the 1960s Harry Patterson novels straight is a challenge. He frequently published multiple novels a year using various pen names until he hit the bestseller lists as Jack Higgins.

The new cover implies this is part of a series featuring Martin Shane, but Fantastic Fiction lists it as a standalone. I remain confused.

[Linda Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linda Jones

As always I enjoyed reading another of Jack Higgins stories. Like most of his books once I started reading I had to finish it non-stop. You can never go wrong reading his books. I am always impatiently waiting for his next book.

[Carl Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kept my interest

I love all the Jack Higgins books. Every one I've read has been a page turner.
I must say I do miss more of his Sean Dillon books. I've read every one of them
His new characters are interesting as well.

[Hanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jätti vähän ristiriitaisia tunteita, sillä ei sisältänyt periaatteessa juuri mitään äärimmäisen yllättävää tai uutta, mutta oli siitä huolimatta hyvin kelvollista keskitasoa.