Midnight Never Comes

Paul Chavasse #4

by Martin Fallon, Jack Higgins

Paul Chavasse had everything a good agent needed. Flair, ingenuity, a superb intelligence, common sense plus a willingness to kill...

Now he was part of the walking wounded. So badly hurt on his last mission they figured he was through.

But Chavasse was far from through. A few months of special training and he was ready to take on one of the most dangerous men in the world. Max Donner. A millionaire with his own private army and a plan for stealing Britain's newest secret missile.

Paul was ready for Max Donner. But he was not ready for Donner's beautiful young stepdaughter, Asta.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Action, Adventure, Espionage

Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

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

Reviews

[Serdar Poirot]

Paul Chavasse Arnavutluk görevinden döndükten sonra sağlık taramalarına girer ve sağlıklı bulunmaz. Görevden el çektirilir. Şefi Mallory'nin eski işi olan üniversitede dil bilimi hocalığı teklifini de reddeder. Bir Çin lokantasına girer ve burada bir kaç serserim ile cebelleşir. Adamlar bunu iyice dövecekken lokantanın sahibi olan Bay Tao hepsini devirir. Chi adı verilen güçle yaptığını söyler. Chavasse'yi 2 ay boyunca eğitir. Güçlenen ve gençleşen Chavasse 3 ay sonra kaçırılır. Kaçıran Kişi Mallory'dir ve ona göreve geri döndüğünü müjdeler. Max Dunley adında bir adamın peşine düşecektir. Asta Svensson adında bir üvey kızı ola bu milyonerin hayatında 6 yıl eksiktir ama yaşadığı yerlerde sürekli İngiliz ajanları kaybolmaktadır. Şimdi satın aldığı yerde ise Firebird adında bir füze denemesi yapılmaktadır. Bir şekilde Asta ile tanışan Chavasse onu Fergus Munro adında bir serseriden kurtarır. Böylece aile ile yakınlaşır. Albay Craig'in amcası olduğunu söyler ve Asta'yı geyik takibine götürür. Bir Rus bilim adamının peşindedir ve gizlice gittiği bir yerde onu bulur. Ama bilmediği Max'in aslında bir Alman ajanı olduğudur. Firebird ve bilim adamı ile gidecektir. Yardımcıları Murdoch ve Stavrou da pis işlerini yapmaktadır. Fergus'u öldürmüştür. Hapsedilen Chavasse Hector Munro ve Rory Munro ile görüşüp Fergus'un cesedini gösterince onu salarlar. Hapisteki Von Bayern adlı alman subay ile kaçar ve Max'in peşine düşer. Acaba başarılı olabilecek midir? Asta ne olacaktır? Bu işten sağ salim kurtulabilecek midir? Asta'nın annesini kim öldürmüştü? Keyifle okunan bir roman.

[Oli Turner]

published in 1966. paul chavasse returns in this highly atmospheric and enjoyable thriller. You can see Higgins becoming more polished in style and prose. This is a really solid spy novel with some good character development in the first act. A good deal of intrigue. Some great action and suspense. Possibly my favourite chavasse novel so far.

[Ed]

#4 in the Paul Chavasse series. This 1966 series entry by author Jack Higgins writing as Martin Fallon continues the saga of Paul Chavasse after he was seriously wounded in The Keys of Hell (1965). After being found unfit for duty and retired, Chavasse defies protection racketeers in a Chinese restaurant and finds a way to regain his dormant skills. Enjoyable.

[Dick Dubay]

Well done as always

As always, with books written by Jack Higgins, this book is well and I enjoyed reading it. The characters are interesting and the action is exciting. If you like to read action and adventure and are a fan of Jack Higgins you will enjoy this book.

[Jadesola Kloss]

A book very apt for its time. Being published first in 1966 I’m sure this was more the writing style. But for me, the objectification of women, was just too much.

As for the plot itself, somewhat predictable at parts, although I did find myself not wanting to put it down.
A quick easy read.

[Steve]

Sept. 2018 book on tape. I am a Paul Chavasse fan. Good story with lots of action.

[Joel Hickey]

Quick read

Story wasn't up to the quality of some of his other reads. Missed the chance to expand in several areas

[Richard J. Rosebery]

Another great Paul Chavasse story by Jack Higgins.

[Gary Mauro]

midnight never comes

good story, easy read, disappointing with the abrupt ending. Would’ve liked to see more of how he finished with Asta

[Matt Shively]

Very quick read.

[Greg]

DNF - Didn't appeal to me.

[Don]

Remixed

Good reading, but be aware that much of the plot is remixed nearly 20 years later in Exocet. Of the two, I prefer the latter, as Mr. Higgins has become a better writer.

[Debbie]

Another good read. Wish there were more stories about this interesting character.

[Bob Hernandez]

Liked the book, has Paul Chavasse back as Britain intelligence agent foiling a Russian plot to steal a new powerful rocket from Germany.

[Shadow]

On the cartoon spy scale, if Nick Carter is a 5, James Bond is a 4, Matt Helm is a 2 and Harry Palmer is a 1, then Paul Chavasse is about a 3. He's realistic enough not to be insulting, but good enough to be entertaining.

The fourth book of the Chavasse series is the best one yet. The action moves along quickly, from run-ins with local gangsters and a Chinese martial arts guru in London to encounters with a beautiful young woman, tough hillbillies, and a villain with a castle and a private army in the Scottish countryside. Along the way, Chavasse demonstrates his impressive combination of commando skills, spy subterfuge and scholarly knowledge in infiltrating and disrupting the operations of Max Donner, a formidable enemy of the free world (not to mention his charm in seducing the beautiful Asta). Sometimes with Higgins you get half or two thirds of a great story and the rest is disappointing, but not this time—I enjoyed “Midnight Never Comes” from cover to cover. Four stars.

[Lesley]

This was a very good reading and interesting. The country side they were in sounds like a perfect place for criminal elements to hide. In this case it was close to there target and very secure. The only problem was that it was not secure because of the intelligence agency. Paul is a good investigator, but was taken advantage of by the Russian who he believed had been kidnapped and was actually working for the criminal element. It was a very good book.

[Penny]

Higgins wrote this as Martin Fallon in 1966. There are seven books in this series whose main character is a British intelligence agent named Paul Chavasse. They are pretty short novels but carry the classic Higgins style. It was an enjoyable read.

[Rob Smith, Jr.]

First of Jack Higgins I've read though I've seen his books all my life. This one a fast moving adventure in the U.K. of the good guy vs. the bad guy and what usually follows. Pretty standard fare in the espionage market. Though well written and fun. I recommend.

[dennis barron]

Midnight never comes jack higgins

A short, but great thriller by Higgins. Usual non stop action and suspense. Primarily takes place in Scotland. A sinister plot to take highly sophisticated missiles to Russia. A great read!

[Printable Tire]

Another black hole in my head. Why do I read these stupid spy books?

[Jan]

Good Jack Higgins action/thriller.

[Brett Newmyer]

It seems weird to say this because I only gave it two stars, but it wasn't a bad book. There just wasn't anything special about it

[Peter]

It was OK...

[Bender]

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