Night of the Fox

January 1, 1987
An American colonel who knows the secrets of forthcoming D day has washed up, wounded, on the German-occupied island of Jersey, off the coast of England, and must be rescued. Thus the basic premise of Higgins's most tingling thriller since The Eagle Has Landed. An ex-philosophy don of part-German descent is assigned to effect the rescue, disguised as a special envoy of the dreaded Himmler and accompanied by his "mistress.'' Enmeshed in this complex situation are the activities of Rommel, who sends a Jewish actor (somewhat improbably, also a Wehrmacht corporal) to impersonate him on an ``inspection tour'' of Jersey's defenses, while he secretly meets with other top generals bent on assassinating the fuhrer. Caught up in the deadly game of ``who's-fooling-whom and for how long?'' are an amorous Italian count, a Finnish air ace and a hero of the Irish cause, while in the background loom Eisenhower and Hitler himself. Speed, surprise and suspense are Higgins's long suit, rather than convincing characterization, but engrossed readers are not likely to mind. Paperback rights to Pocket Books; Reader's Digest and Condensed Books book club selections; BOMC alternate.