Storm Warning

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Storm Warning by Jack Higgins a tale that makes you think about what exactly is important in this life. The basic faith in and responsibility to humanity regardless of politics and nationality is ever present in this novel. This story begins with a group of German nationalists who commandeer a 19th century sailing ship to try and sail from Brazil to their families in war torn Germany, by the way of the North Sea at in the final year of World War II. The vessel is the Deutschland, Captained by Eric Berger. The crew includes members of the German Kriegsmarine (Navy), an ambassador and his wife and a group of nuns all looking to go home. Then we have an American Admiral who is convalescing on the Scottish Hebrides island of Fhada where we see a Scottish community so far removed from the front yet very affected by the ravages of war in that they now only have old men and many women widowed or waiting in the village. The young are at war and some never to return. Add to this the young American crew of a Gunboat on patrol around the islands and a German U-Boat Captain who is a POW in Britain. All paths collide in the seas off Fhada and all sides shift to the age old battle of man against the sea. The character development of this story is great and the glimpse into the everyday life of each leaves you wanting to know more. Each person is real, tangible and believable. My personal favorite is Old Murdoch Macleod, Coxswain of the Fhada Lifeboat and self made conscience of the islanders. I could smell the peat burning and smell the whiskey. Captain Berger and his crew aboard the Deutschland battle all the elements, dodge allied navies and over come doubt to strive forth. With each page turned you try to will them on all the way to their homes. Great story telling and exceptional tale.

This is truly a classic tale of heroics, patriotism, adventure, and even romance. It is great. Jack Higgins has done it once again with this novel. I, myself, have only read the Readers Digest condensed novel, but even it was excellent. I have always been looking for a great Navy adventure, I think I have found just that. I would recommend this book to everybody and anybody, because it has something for every one. Carey Reeve is a great main character, and the action scenes are quite suspenseful.

This is a reprint of a novel originally published in 1976. The story is set in August-September 1944. A group of German naval officers and seamen, stranded in Brazil, steal the aged 3-masted barkentine "Deutschland" and, using false Swedish papers, set out on a voyage from Belem, Brazil, in an attempt to reach Germany. They have unexpected passengers - a group of five German nuns from a nursing order attempting to return home. Their biggest danger is the weather as storms batter the sailing vessel (they neglected the fact that September is the peak season for Atlantic hurricanes). The voyage becomes an epic battle against the elements, and leads to heroism, sacrifice, tragedy, and unexpected compassion. I personally believe that this is one of Higgin's best novels, if not the best. There are some intertwined plots as events come together to reach a final climax to the story.

As a fan of naval adventure fiction, I usually follow the Forester, Obrian, Kent novels of nautical derring-do in the Age of Sail. Thus the jacket blurb on this Higgins book attracted me. I was not disappointed. Briefly, the book involves the fates of passengers and crew of a 19th century three-masted barkentine as it tries to return German nationals from Brazil to the homeland as Germany faces certain defeat. It's a five-thousand mile journey to round the Shetlands to enter the Skageraak and head for home. The Atlantic is controlled by the British and American fleets. This danger, however, is not the main enemy, which is the sea and the weather. The amazing seamanship exercised just to hold the creaking 60-year old vessel together in the teeth of terrible storms may stretch credulity; however the nautical exploits are convincingly described and it's obvious that Higgins knows his naval details down to the way in which sails had to be reefed, masts lashed, hulls braced, etc. The passengers include an admirable collection of nuns who must abandon the order in Brazil due to the fact that Brazil has just become a formal ally of the United Nations effort to defeat the Nazi regime. The stifled romance between a wavering novitiate nun and a strongly etched member of the ship's crew is well drawn, not too maudlin and deftly handled. So too are the British and American characters on a remote island in the Hebrides, who are to become entangled in the fate of the imperiled _Deutschland_. Even the captured U-Boat commander Gericke avoids the usual black and white "German = Nazi" stereotyping.I would have liked to see the subsequent fate of the surviving main characters brought to light. Any screenplay based on this novel (which is a natural for the cinema) should try to tie up these loose ends. Highly recommended.

this book has it all. great start and wow!, what an ending. Higgins is the master.