A rousing, globe-trotting adventure--the kind of novel in which the hero is a world-weary war vet named Jack Savage and the love interest is a scathing nineteen-year-old beauty with a penchant for provocative clothing. That being said, this isn't nearly as lowbrow as one might suspect. NIGHT JUDGEMENT AT SINOS may be poorly titled and paced like a rocket, but it's also an incredibly intelligent little book. I can't recall ever having so much fun reading Higgins. Maybe it's all the diving...I'm a sucker for anything with scuba in it (Heck, I even love that Jessica Alba movie, INTO THE BLUE). Jack Savage makes for a great main character--I honestly prefer him over Higgins' mainstay, Sean Dillon--and I would've LOVED to see him get his own series. I also appreciate that this book was less sparsely written than later Higgins novels like ON DANGEROUS GROUND, which was dialog-heavy to the point of resembling a screenplay. Sure, NIGHT JUDGEMENT AT SINOS is unmistakable as anything other than B-grade pulp...but in the best way possible.
I was disappointed with Night Judgement at Sinos. I have read several other Jack Higgins novels and they were all enjoyable, fast-paced adventures. This one drags in too many spots. The first hundred or so pages (out og 289) are mostly character exposition with a few quick adventure-ish interludes. In fact we don't even find out what the mission on Sinos is until around page 120, and then it doesn't really start moving for another 70 or so pages. When the time eventually arrives for the mission, it is a bit of a disappointment - easy in, easy out, one enemy killed. The book wasn't so bad that I gave up in disgust in the middle, but I wasn't sad or upset because it was over when I reached the last page.
