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A Game for Heroes: A powerful WW2 historical fiction novel
Combat, love and sacrifice from the twilight of the war in this classic thriller of WW2 adventure.
The occupied Channel the last outpost of German resistance at the end of a long and savage conflict. Most feared among St Pierre. The mid-Atlantic fortress chosen by a crazed SS Commandant for his suicidal stand.
With Berlin on the verge of capture, it is the most sensitive mission of the war.
An end game that calls for a hero – with something else besides. A game for a battle-hardened veteran ready to lay down his life for his birthplace. And for the woman he left behind…
The occupied Channel the last outpost of German resistance at the end of a long and savage conflict. Most feared among St Pierre. The mid-Atlantic fortress chosen by a crazed SS Commandant for his suicidal stand.
With Berlin on the verge of capture, it is the most sensitive mission of the war.
An end game that calls for a hero – with something else besides. A game for a battle-hardened veteran ready to lay down his life for his birthplace. And for the woman he left behind…
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 1970
33 people are currently reading
306 people want to read
About the author
James Graham
7 books3 followersOne of the several pseudonyms of Henry Patterson. See Jack Higgins for more complete information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
October 14, 2022
Here's another one from my piles of TBR.
Many moons ago, I was reading a James Patterson on a break at work. A co-worker saw the book & recommended I try reading Nelson DeMille. I did & liked him too.
When I was reading the DeMille the next week on my break, another co-worker suggested Jack Higgins. And I liked him. Great suggestions by 2 different people.
He writes adventure/spy/thrillers mostly taking place in wartime. He also doesn't write happy/happy stories so I usually need something light after I finish one of his books.
I personally like to get the original paperback editions of books if I can especially if they started writing under pseudonyms before they became more well known & successful. I'd grabbed this one b/c it had Higgins pen-name James Graham on the cover which I thought was cool.
I didn't know anything about the Channel Islands so that was interesting. And you know the hero probably won't get the girl but I was in suspense as to whether he'd survive the mission.
Many moons ago, I was reading a James Patterson on a break at work. A co-worker saw the book & recommended I try reading Nelson DeMille. I did & liked him too.
When I was reading the DeMille the next week on my break, another co-worker suggested Jack Higgins. And I liked him. Great suggestions by 2 different people.
He writes adventure/spy/thrillers mostly taking place in wartime. He also doesn't write happy/happy stories so I usually need something light after I finish one of his books.
I personally like to get the original paperback editions of books if I can especially if they started writing under pseudonyms before they became more well known & successful. I'd grabbed this one b/c it had Higgins pen-name James Graham on the cover which I thought was cool.
I didn't know anything about the Channel Islands so that was interesting. And you know the hero probably won't get the girl but I was in suspense as to whether he'd survive the mission.
November 7, 2010
Love this author. Even his worst books are always entertaining. This one has a copyright date of 1970 by James Graham. Higgins has several pen names (Patterson, Harry; Fallon, Martin; Graham, James; Marlowe, Hugh) so he can be difficult to track sometimes.
He is at his best when writing about the WWII as in his classic "The Eagle has Landed".
This novel is about the German occupation of an imaginary island in the Channel Islands. If you have read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" it makes this novel seem even more real.
He is at his best when writing about the WWII as in his classic "The Eagle has Landed".
This novel is about the German occupation of an imaginary island in the Channel Islands. If you have read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" it makes this novel seem even more real.
June 7, 2025
Interesting for being set in an overlooked corner of World War II, the Channel Islands, the only part of Britain occupied by the Germans. In this story, the war is ending, but a fanatical Nazi commander of one of the islands (the fictional St. Pierre) wants to make a last stand against the Allies. English agent Owen Morgan is sent in to prevent a bloodbath... I give it *** because this is one of Higgins' earlier efforts ( published in 1970) and not up to the standard of "The Eagle Has Landed," his great WWII classic thriller.
November 8, 2016
My father's family lived in the Channel Islands so I had always wanted to read this book and as with all of his WWII stories Higgins delivers. The characters are compelling if more than a little jaded. Many of the Germans are pictured as being as heroic as their enemies. Great plot with a number of excellent non-war twists.
June 19, 2021
Vintage Higgins with a great ending.
August 26, 2023
Another exciting adventure through the Second World War, along with some of Jack Higgins' most memorable characters.
The location is St. Pierre in the Channel Islands, The time is April to May 1945, just as the Battle for Berlin is taking place.
St. Pierre is a small island, with treacherous currents and virtually impossible to land on at the best of times. German occupation is hardly the best of times.
Colonel Owen Morgan is in one of two teams of British personnel charged with landing on St. Pierre. There are German Todt workers, SS troops, army men and a temporary Commandant, Radl, who is a Nazi officer of the worst order. He will be cruel, just to pass the time of day. He governs by bullying and fear.
Owen Morgan and the British are to land on the island and make sure that the Germans don't do too many more unmentionable things.
Most of the islanders have left and gone to the rest of the Channel Islands, but a few remain, like the doctor. Some of the Germans, including Mannfred Steiner, are more kindly disposed towards the British. They know the war will soon be over, but Radl continues to rule until the new, permanent Commandant arrives.
Full of action, but we also see the human side of all the characters, as they strive to achieve their goals.
The location is St. Pierre in the Channel Islands, The time is April to May 1945, just as the Battle for Berlin is taking place.
St. Pierre is a small island, with treacherous currents and virtually impossible to land on at the best of times. German occupation is hardly the best of times.
Colonel Owen Morgan is in one of two teams of British personnel charged with landing on St. Pierre. There are German Todt workers, SS troops, army men and a temporary Commandant, Radl, who is a Nazi officer of the worst order. He will be cruel, just to pass the time of day. He governs by bullying and fear.
Owen Morgan and the British are to land on the island and make sure that the Germans don't do too many more unmentionable things.
Most of the islanders have left and gone to the rest of the Channel Islands, but a few remain, like the doctor. Some of the Germans, including Mannfred Steiner, are more kindly disposed towards the British. They know the war will soon be over, but Radl continues to rule until the new, permanent Commandant arrives.
Full of action, but we also see the human side of all the characters, as they strive to achieve their goals.
October 24, 2024
With World War 2 approaching its end, one-eyed commando Owen Morgan is tasked with a mission. He's to scout out one of the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands--an island on which he grew up--because it was feared that the Nazis on the island would not surrender once Germany fell.
An American commando team accompanies him, assigned to sabotage any ships in the island's harbor. Things go awry and both Owen and the commandos are captured.
From here, things get really interesting. Owen actually befriends a German sergeant named Steiner, a hard-core veteran of the Russian front, but who is not a Nazi but a decent human being. But the commander of the Germans on the island is a fanatical Nazi named Radl, who holds the loyalty of a unit of SS troops. It's Radl who refuses to accept the news that Hitler is dead when this is reported over the radio.
The book is obviously setting up a clash between the prisoners & good Germans vs the SS troops. But before that, in an incredibly intense action scene, Allies and Germans must team up to take a life boat out into a near-hurricane storm to save the crew of a German ship hung up on some rocks.
This leads directly into the equally intense climax, in which the Allies and good Germans do indeed have a final battle against Radl and the SS.
It's a book that kept me up until 1 am last night because I didn't want to put it down. Great action, great characters, with themes of friendship and courage running throughout.
This was written in 1970 under Higgins' James Graham pen-name, a few years before "The Eagles as Landed" put him on the bestseller list. It's interesting to note that he reused several character names (Steiner and Radl) for major characters in "The Eagle as Landed" and also reused a minor plot point. (The Steiners in both books briefly serve in a unit that has men riding a modified torpedo that carries a second torpedo to be launched at Allied shipping.) Higgins also used the idea of Allies and Germans teaming up to save lives as a major plot point in his later novel "Storm Warning." And his World War II novels often explore the idea that not every German fighting in World War 2 was evil.
Higgins was writing adventure novels, not dissertations on morality, but I always kind of wished he had explored the idea of good Germans a little further. Usually, Higgins admirable German characters are brave soldiers serving their country. A discussion of about the right/wrong of serving one's country when that country is ruled by a despotic maniac bent on racial genocide would have been interesting. But then there wouldn't have been room for his great action scenes.
An American commando team accompanies him, assigned to sabotage any ships in the island's harbor. Things go awry and both Owen and the commandos are captured.
From here, things get really interesting. Owen actually befriends a German sergeant named Steiner, a hard-core veteran of the Russian front, but who is not a Nazi but a decent human being. But the commander of the Germans on the island is a fanatical Nazi named Radl, who holds the loyalty of a unit of SS troops. It's Radl who refuses to accept the news that Hitler is dead when this is reported over the radio.
The book is obviously setting up a clash between the prisoners & good Germans vs the SS troops. But before that, in an incredibly intense action scene, Allies and Germans must team up to take a life boat out into a near-hurricane storm to save the crew of a German ship hung up on some rocks.
This leads directly into the equally intense climax, in which the Allies and good Germans do indeed have a final battle against Radl and the SS.
It's a book that kept me up until 1 am last night because I didn't want to put it down. Great action, great characters, with themes of friendship and courage running throughout.
This was written in 1970 under Higgins' James Graham pen-name, a few years before "The Eagles as Landed" put him on the bestseller list. It's interesting to note that he reused several character names (Steiner and Radl) for major characters in "The Eagle as Landed" and also reused a minor plot point. (The Steiners in both books briefly serve in a unit that has men riding a modified torpedo that carries a second torpedo to be launched at Allied shipping.) Higgins also used the idea of Allies and Germans teaming up to save lives as a major plot point in his later novel "Storm Warning." And his World War II novels often explore the idea that not every German fighting in World War 2 was evil.
Higgins was writing adventure novels, not dissertations on morality, but I always kind of wished he had explored the idea of good Germans a little further. Usually, Higgins admirable German characters are brave soldiers serving their country. A discussion of about the right/wrong of serving one's country when that country is ruled by a despotic maniac bent on racial genocide would have been interesting. But then there wouldn't have been room for his great action scenes.
September 22, 2024
If you’re not a history buff, the World War II-era terminology and references to military campaigns, weaponry, acronyms, and landscapes that populate A Game for Heroes (1970 publication) can get overwhelming. The book is entertaining at times; at others, it gets so bogged down in details that it is difficult to understand what’s going on.
British ops specialist and all-around tough guy Colonel Owen Morgan narrates the story in first person past tense. Morgan, who possesses both likable and unlikable characteristics, exemplifies the Western hero’s willingness to jump into conflicts where the odds are stacked against him.
Morgan is enlisted to lead a group of British soldiers and an American soldier to plant bombs under German ships on his (now Nazi-occupied) home island of St. Pierre in the English Channel. They get captured.
The colonel is supremely confident (because he’s survived so much), which tends to tick off those he encounters. He pulls no punches in what he says or does. He does not hesitate, for instance, to tell his Nazi captors the war is almost over and they will lose.
While Morgan is carrying out his mission, he gets involved in a love triangle involving a past lover and Nazi officer. Interestingly, Morgan and the officer respect each other—the latter, a painter, admires the work of Morgan’s father, a revered painter.
The book strengthens toward the end with tense scenes, one involving traversing a mined beach and the other involving the attempted rescue of captives at sea during hurricane-level winds.
A Game for Heroes is about overcoming differences and uniting to help fellow men in trouble.
British ops specialist and all-around tough guy Colonel Owen Morgan narrates the story in first person past tense. Morgan, who possesses both likable and unlikable characteristics, exemplifies the Western hero’s willingness to jump into conflicts where the odds are stacked against him.
Morgan is enlisted to lead a group of British soldiers and an American soldier to plant bombs under German ships on his (now Nazi-occupied) home island of St. Pierre in the English Channel. They get captured.
The colonel is supremely confident (because he’s survived so much), which tends to tick off those he encounters. He pulls no punches in what he says or does. He does not hesitate, for instance, to tell his Nazi captors the war is almost over and they will lose.
While Morgan is carrying out his mission, he gets involved in a love triangle involving a past lover and Nazi officer. Interestingly, Morgan and the officer respect each other—the latter, a painter, admires the work of Morgan’s father, a revered painter.
The book strengthens toward the end with tense scenes, one involving traversing a mined beach and the other involving the attempted rescue of captives at sea during hurricane-level winds.
A Game for Heroes is about overcoming differences and uniting to help fellow men in trouble.
June 18, 2022
The twenty-sixth Jack Higgins novel published in 1970. An adventure set at the end of World War Two. Possibly the most sophisticated Higgins novel yet. The Use of first person narration is rare for Higgins. The style of the novel is slightly different than usual - presumably this is why a new pseudonym was used for this one. It’s an interesting mix of some of the genres he has used previously. The fast paced adventure is there plus the highly experienced and capable protagonist plus a romance but this time he adds a rather well developed backstory and a love triangle between the protagonist, his childhood sweetheart and a German officer with whom she has fallen in love. The respect with which these two men treat each other is engaging. The underlying tension is compelling. Heroes exist on both sides of any conflict. Villains exist among your own ranks. The first three quarters are excellent. The last quarter went in a direction I wasn’t expecting (personally I would have preferred the focus of this section of the novel to be land based action rather than sea based rescue) but the final two chapters were very satisfying
February 5, 2023
In the final days of WWII, Owen Morgan, a wounded British special forces expert, is enticed into action one last time, sent to infiltrate one of the Channel Islands, where the Nazis have established a presence and which also happens to be the place where Morgan grew up. Oh, and the love of his life is still there, too. This is a fast, economical war adventure with sharply drawn characters and plenty of action. The novel is set in an interesting period of the war: characters often speculate whether the war might have already ended or not, and there is a terrific scene in which the death of Hitler is announced. There is weariness and a sense of waste. The German characters are treated as human beings rather than villians from Central Casting. The real conflict here is not so much between the Allies and the Axis as it is between those who can empathize with the other side as fellow sufferers in a worldwide tragedy and those who have given themselves over to the madness of war.
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September 7, 2023
This book has been on my Searching For list a long while. I carry my Little Black Books (one for what I want, one for what I have) almost religiously but I don't seek all those books religiously. Last week while traveling I did, and found this. I did not note on my list why I wanted this particularly, but I do enjoy a good spy thriller and I've read all my faves. Anyway, finally found and now read this one. I enjoyed the protagonist. He definitely knew war and the costs, causes, and effects of personal, intimate battle. He was hard-bitten and deadly; but also an artist, a poet, a lover, and a good man. I enjoyed the plot, the danger, the stupendous power of the sea and the use of it in the story, and the enemy, both those who were evil and those who were not. My only slight disagreeableness is with the apparent feel-good decision to have someone survive which was both unnecessary and a surprise.
December 18, 2019
My first Higgins novel and won't be my last. Was a solid novel of life and death in a situation that really didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. It is a story at the end of ww2 on one of the channel islands where it was just a matter of time til the war was over. However the acting German commander of the island was a fanatic and wasn't going to just surrender. Throw in a one eyed British soldier and some American Rangers who end up on the island based on some bad Intel and the fireworks really start.
Great characters and solid storytelling in the microcosm of a war that was all but over. Recommended.
Great characters and solid storytelling in the microcosm of a war that was all but over. Recommended.
January 14, 2023
Really enjoyed reading this book, hence the reason why I read it so quickly.
Based on the Channel Island of St Pierre at the end of WWII and focuses on Colonel Owen Morgan who has spent the war working with various groups to kill off the Germans. This trip was to find out about a secret German naval program called "Nigger" that could cause havoc for British and other alliance shipping.
He soon finds that his team and him have been given miss information by a British traitor and things don't go to plan.
The story is reasonably fast moving and will keep you glued to the story to the end.
Based on the Channel Island of St Pierre at the end of WWII and focuses on Colonel Owen Morgan who has spent the war working with various groups to kill off the Germans. This trip was to find out about a secret German naval program called "Nigger" that could cause havoc for British and other alliance shipping.
He soon finds that his team and him have been given miss information by a British traitor and things don't go to plan.
The story is reasonably fast moving and will keep you glued to the story to the end.
March 23, 2018
I listened to an audio version of this book. It was ok. A story set at the end of World War II. The Nazi’s are holding out at the end of the war on the Channel Islands. It was kind of slow at first, and it just seemed to ramble on without much purposed. The last third of the book was much better, but still not great. It killed a good amount of time in the car during a long week on the road.
March 13, 2020
A British soldier, Owen Morgan, leads a troop of misfits on a commando raid to destroy a German army outpost on an isolated island in the English channel. Higgins is at his best with this thriller from the very beginning. Suspenseful. A can't stop reading adventure.
April 9, 2023
Okay read. I see why Jack Higgins used a pseudonym for this book rather than his own name, probably not a big hit. Too romantic plot for my liking though similar to Eagle has Landed with similar character names and decorated heroes thrown together in unusual circumstances
April 11, 2018
Guernsey Islands. 1984 - copyright 1970
August 24, 2021
Amazing tale of human grit a d action
Amazing tale of human grit and emotion filled with continuing action, both on water and on land.
Wish it hadn't ended when it did
Amazing tale of human grit and emotion filled with continuing action, both on water and on land.
Wish it hadn't ended when it did
May 23, 2022
I really enjoyed the story and period of history.
March 21, 2023
OK spy thriller set in WW II.
August 14, 2023
Fascinating story!
February 25, 2021
great thriller with incredibly exciting climax
April 17, 2025
Another great WW2 action packed thriller by the late Jack Higgins.
Storyline is good, not at the highest you can expect but in overall interesting enough to get the job done 👍
Not much to say about this one, an average+ novel by one of the greatest storytellers of all time.
Storyline is good, not at the highest you can expect but in overall interesting enough to get the job done 👍
Not much to say about this one, an average+ novel by one of the greatest storytellers of all time.
August 22, 2016
That was really disappointing. This is one of Jack Higgins early novels written under the name of James Graham in 1970 and it shows. Compared to Higgins later novels it is very rough. I found it odd as two of the characters Steiner and Radl, Higgins obviously decided to use again in what became his breakout novel 'The Eagle has Landed' in 1975. The Steiner if this book (Manfred rather than Kurt) like that in Eagle was probably the only character in this book I liked! Radl this time was the proper baddie of the back unlike in Eagle when he again is quite likeable. For me, I didn't even like the protagonist of the book Owen Morgan and overall was very underwhelmed with this book. Though I finished it I could not bring myself to give it 3 stars it was more like 2.5 and in this case I rounded down.
January 15, 2008
The concept of the story is great, and I think Higgins cannot be faulted for his knowledge of the subject matter as he brings the setting and characters to life really well. He is a great story teller and has a great imagination. I didn't give this book a high mark because it is a little tedious after reading his other books I caught myself feeling too much like I had read this before only a better version and it was just in a different location. It is a good summertime, beach read otherwise there are better Higgins books. Fun just not his better reads.
July 22, 2014
This wartime thriller features nazis, British and American colonels and sergeants, and ostensibly it is about a spy mission to destroy a German mcguffin-installation in the Channel islands, but it's perversely enough not really a war novel. A compact and muscular men-on-a-mission thriller that turns to a character study and a maritime disaster yarn, this is a terrific, propulsive read. It doesn't matter what colors you wear in a war; people are people, relationships demand attention, and if you work together you can achieve much more than you can on your own. A fine, fast read.
March 20, 2009
Just read it again on vacation - a thumping good read indeed, even though it sacrifices to the genre's tradition of happy-ending-all-around, as if the war only killed villains and far distant acquaintances: friends and heroes survive (oops! was that a spoiler?)
A little too much machismo for today's tastes maybe, but hey, this was the war, sissies didn't make it in the special forces.
A little too much machismo for today's tastes maybe, but hey, this was the war, sissies didn't make it in the special forces.
March 26, 2012
A library audio book that kept me awake while traveling cross country. It almost didn't do the job--the book was pretty slow to start and the guy who did the recording was hard to understand at first. But once the story got going I enjoyed the action and the WWII history lesson.
October 4, 2013
A Game for Heroes was a slow somewhat boring book. It is not worth reading. The characters are as interesting as cardboard cut outs. There is nothing redeeming about the book. Don’t waste your time.
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April 14, 2008Thriller
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews