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Nick Miller #3
Hell Is Always Today
When the body of a young woman --- the fifth to die in as many weeks --- is found in a rain-soaked alley, the city is gripped with mortal fear. A mad killer known as the Rainlover walks among them, and no one, not even the police, know when he will strike again.
But Detective Sergeant Dick Miller has more than the Rainlover on his mind --- the boxer-turned-expert-cat-burglar Gunner Sean Doyle. He’s busted out of prison, and Nick wants to put him back behind bars in the worst way. What neither of them knows is that each of their fates will be decided high above the streets, with cop and convict facing down their most daunted challenges the only way they know how ...
But Detective Sergeant Dick Miller has more than the Rainlover on his mind --- the boxer-turned-expert-cat-burglar Gunner Sean Doyle. He’s busted out of prison, and Nick wants to put him back behind bars in the worst way. What neither of them knows is that each of their fates will be decided high above the streets, with cop and convict facing down their most daunted challenges the only way they know how ...
294 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
36 people are currently reading
266 people want to read
About the author
Harry Patterson
48 books29 followersOne of the many pseudonyms used by Henry Patterson. See Jack Higgins for more complete information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
June 12, 2022
The Rainlover was killing young women across London, always working in the pouring rain and the darkness of night, and Detective Sergeant Nick Miller was determined to find him. Leading the team tasked with finding the killer, Miller was following leads when him and his partner heard of a notorious prisoner escaping custody while at the infirmary. He had no idea the two cases would overlap well before a conclusion was reached. But would more women be killed before he was apprehended?
Hell is Always Today is the third and final episode in the Nick Miller trilogy by the legendary Jack Higgins and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A taut and fast paced thriller, it was easy to recognize Higgins’ writing style, as I’ve read the complete Sean Dillon series and loved it. This episode was previously unpublished and has been released in Graveyard to Hell, the complete Nick Miller trilogy, released in September, 2021. I have no hesitation in recommending the trilogy to fans of the genre, and Jack Higgins.
Hell is Always Today is the third and final episode in the Nick Miller trilogy by the legendary Jack Higgins and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A taut and fast paced thriller, it was easy to recognize Higgins’ writing style, as I’ve read the complete Sean Dillon series and loved it. This episode was previously unpublished and has been released in Graveyard to Hell, the complete Nick Miller trilogy, released in September, 2021. I have no hesitation in recommending the trilogy to fans of the genre, and Jack Higgins.
December 19, 2016
I picked this up because it is Jack Higgins doing something different: cop versus serial killer. However, it didn't work for me.
Unfortunately, this book is quite dated. It was written in 1965 and it just seems old fashioned but not in a good way.
The plot is simple and the characters are Higgins's usual stereotypes: the men are heroes or weaklings and the women are saints or hookers. But unlike in his usual thriller genre, the story doesn't captivate.
Unfortunately, this book is quite dated. It was written in 1965 and it just seems old fashioned but not in a good way.
The plot is simple and the characters are Higgins's usual stereotypes: the men are heroes or weaklings and the women are saints or hookers. But unlike in his usual thriller genre, the story doesn't captivate.
May 12, 2019
Τυπικό old school αστυνομικό με old school μετάφραση. Χαριτωμένο βιβλίο γραμμένο με το κοφτό μάγκικο ύφος του Χίγκινς αλλά δεν είναι για πολλά - πολλά. Και μάλλον ο Χίγκινς δεν είναι για αστυνομικά, του ταιριάζει περισσότερο η περιπέτεια. Το διάβασα γιατί ήθελα κάτι να διαβάζω όταν χρησιμοποιούσα τα ΜΜΜ οπότε το μικρό μέγεθος βόλευε. Οπότε....
November 30, 2017
I think I bought this book by mistake, thinking it was part of his Sean Dillon series (which I have quite enjoyed). Instead, it's about a cop (Nick Miller, a complete Marty Stu. Seriously, he is a cop who plays jazz piano and is a skilled martial artist) and an excaped convict (Gunner Sean Doyle - hence the Sean Dillon confusion).
Unfortunately, the story really shows its age (everyone smokes, a female characters likes to wear a crochet mini-dress showing off her underwear when she's home with her ageing aunt?). Also, it's really two short stories that have been smacked together, with a feeble attempt to tie them together at the end. It felt like the Sean Doyle story should have been a separate book on its own. That might have been an interesting story. But the Nick Miller hunting a serial killer story was just lazy, with the killer telegraphed from the first chapter.
Thankfully, Jack Higgins has improved drastically in the last 50 years. This book is really only recommended for completists.
Unfortunately, the story really shows its age (everyone smokes, a female characters likes to wear a crochet mini-dress showing off her underwear when she's home with her ageing aunt?). Also, it's really two short stories that have been smacked together, with a feeble attempt to tie them together at the end. It felt like the Sean Doyle story should have been a separate book on its own. That might have been an interesting story. But the Nick Miller hunting a serial killer story was just lazy, with the killer telegraphed from the first chapter.
Thankfully, Jack Higgins has improved drastically in the last 50 years. This book is really only recommended for completists.
July 21, 2015
Takes too long to get into the story, could have skipped the first few chapters and not really missed anything
April 23, 2018
The world of pulp fiction is rife with prolific writers who often release a book every few months, sometimes under different names to disguise how quickly they can write. Jack Higgins was and is a prolific writer of pulp thrillers, but the difference is that back in the day he churned out quality, punchy titles and now he just flounders in a swamp of Sean Dillion identikit waffles. ‘Hell is Always Today’ is a great example of the type of raw thriller that Higgins used to write. A book that pops in and goes again, not spending too long making you think.
There is a killer on the lose known as The Rainmaker. On a wet night any young women thinking of going out better have second thoughts as they may end up dead. With the weather turning for the worse, the killer is in their element and Detective Sargent Nick Miller wants them caught. But that is not really his case, instead he is also on the lookout for talented cat burglar, Sean Doyle, who has escaped from prison. In a wet and grey city you might just find that people are not all black and white. A criminal may just help to catch a killer.
Higgin’s 60s novels are almost all great little thrillers. ‘Hell’ is a 1968 vintage and is smack in the middle of his heyday. Higgins used to write books set in different places and with different characters, but all of the books had his renowned punch to them. ‘Hell’ is no exception. It may suffer a little from being dated and it would certainly not conform to today’s politically correct world, but there is no denying there are fun thrills to be had.
This book is one of Higgin’s more pulpy affairs and a killer called The Rainmaker is a little cheesy. The author specialises in men that punch first and ask questions later; there is an abundance on offer here. By having a few dodgy characters there is actually an element of whodunit to the book, but most people will guess. What I liked best about the book was the two separate antagonists who are involved with The Rainmaker from different sides of the law. Both Miller and Doyle have their failings, but as a reader you want both of them to succeed.
‘Hell’ is certainly a cheesy title and things wrap up as you would expect, but there is a lot of fun to be had during the journey. At under 200 pages this is a pacy thriller that keeps giving from the start to the end. It may not be the very best that Higgins had to offer over his lengthy career, but it certainly worth reading for fans; especially those that may have forgotten why they read him in the first place.
There is a killer on the lose known as The Rainmaker. On a wet night any young women thinking of going out better have second thoughts as they may end up dead. With the weather turning for the worse, the killer is in their element and Detective Sargent Nick Miller wants them caught. But that is not really his case, instead he is also on the lookout for talented cat burglar, Sean Doyle, who has escaped from prison. In a wet and grey city you might just find that people are not all black and white. A criminal may just help to catch a killer.
Higgin’s 60s novels are almost all great little thrillers. ‘Hell’ is a 1968 vintage and is smack in the middle of his heyday. Higgins used to write books set in different places and with different characters, but all of the books had his renowned punch to them. ‘Hell’ is no exception. It may suffer a little from being dated and it would certainly not conform to today’s politically correct world, but there is no denying there are fun thrills to be had.
This book is one of Higgin’s more pulpy affairs and a killer called The Rainmaker is a little cheesy. The author specialises in men that punch first and ask questions later; there is an abundance on offer here. By having a few dodgy characters there is actually an element of whodunit to the book, but most people will guess. What I liked best about the book was the two separate antagonists who are involved with The Rainmaker from different sides of the law. Both Miller and Doyle have their failings, but as a reader you want both of them to succeed.
‘Hell’ is certainly a cheesy title and things wrap up as you would expect, but there is a lot of fun to be had during the journey. At under 200 pages this is a pacy thriller that keeps giving from the start to the end. It may not be the very best that Higgins had to offer over his lengthy career, but it certainly worth reading for fans; especially those that may have forgotten why they read him in the first place.
April 13, 2020
Set in England in the 1960s, this is the third offering in the Nick Miller series (‘The Graveyard Shift’; ‘Brought in Dead’; ‘Hell Is Always Today’). Despite being a whodunnit police thriller, unfortunately it is the least engaging of the three. It suffers from a fusion of two competing stories: firstly, Miller’s investigation of the murders of a serial killer called The Rainmaker who murders young women on inclement nights; and secondly, the break-out from prison and subsequent escapades of ‘Gunner’ Sean Doyle. After Miller’s banal chase of leads from place to place, the two threads are eventually woven together in a finale on the rooftops above the high streets of London. I can understand why Jack Higgins sought to do this, like a Baroque two-part fugue; however, it simply does not work.
The strength of this novel lies in its characters: Nick Miller returns as the competent detective; Jack Brady features again as the mature policeman and Miller’s faithful colleague; Sean Doyle is a boxer-turned-burglar, crafted similarly to Ben Garvald of ‘The Graveyard Shift’ as a wrongdoer seeking redemption; Bruno Faulkner is a narcissistic sculptor who has an odious personality, who has a propensity as a womaniser, and who takes pleasure in causing conflict between people; Joanna Hartmann is a confused television actress who does not know why she persists with her abusive relationship with Faulkner; Harold Phillips is an indolent young man who pimps out his girlfriend, only to then feel jealous about it.
I have been an absolute fan of Jack Higgins since I was a 10-year-old, so I write this with a heavy heart: of all the Jack Higgins novels, in my opinion this is the weakest; to me, it meanders and does not possess the same writing style of Jack Higgins, such that if I had read it without knowing that it had been written by Jack Higgins, I would never have guessed its authorship - I was left confused. To any other Jack Higgins connoisseurs our there, please comment.
Feel free to read my other reviews.
© François
The strength of this novel lies in its characters: Nick Miller returns as the competent detective; Jack Brady features again as the mature policeman and Miller’s faithful colleague; Sean Doyle is a boxer-turned-burglar, crafted similarly to Ben Garvald of ‘The Graveyard Shift’ as a wrongdoer seeking redemption; Bruno Faulkner is a narcissistic sculptor who has an odious personality, who has a propensity as a womaniser, and who takes pleasure in causing conflict between people; Joanna Hartmann is a confused television actress who does not know why she persists with her abusive relationship with Faulkner; Harold Phillips is an indolent young man who pimps out his girlfriend, only to then feel jealous about it.
I have been an absolute fan of Jack Higgins since I was a 10-year-old, so I write this with a heavy heart: of all the Jack Higgins novels, in my opinion this is the weakest; to me, it meanders and does not possess the same writing style of Jack Higgins, such that if I had read it without knowing that it had been written by Jack Higgins, I would never have guessed its authorship - I was left confused. To any other Jack Higgins connoisseurs our there, please comment.
Feel free to read my other reviews.
© François
March 1, 2025
Yağmur Seven lakaplı bir katil, yağmurlu gecelerde kadınları öldürmektedir. Meşhur oyuncu Joanna Hartmann'ın davetine gidecek olan nişanlısı karete Uzmanı ve heykeltraş Bruno Faulkner, Arkadaşı ve avukatı Jack Morgan tarafından uyandırılır. Akşam önce bir bara giderler. Burada bir kızı gören ve beğenen Faulkner, ona partiye gelmesini söyler. Kız tamam Der ama o arada erkek arkadaşı gelir. Harold Philips onu engellemeye çalışır ama Faulkner onu döver. Partide Joanna ona kibar davranır ama o karate hareketi ile bir masayı kırınca kovulur. Grace adlı kızla evine gider. Onun heykelini yapacaktır. Ona 10 pound verir ve gönderir. Ama kız öldürülmüştür. Bu arada hastanede iken kaçan meşhur hırsız Gunner Sean Doyle da kaça kaça Jenny Crowther'ın evine sığınır. Onu önce muhasebeci Ogden'in elinden sonra da başka bir saldırgandan kurtarır. Grant hasta olduğu için yerine Mallory bakar. Jack Brady de Miller'a yardım etmektedir. Faulkner kızın eldivenlerini sahip olmayı normal bir şekilde açıklar. Mallory Harold'ın, Miller ise Bruno'nun katil olduğunu düşünür. İkisi de ifade vermeye gelir. Ama Harold itiraf eder. Bruno gider. Jenny için teslim olacak olan Gunner onu son kez arar ama hat kesilir. Bir polisin motorunu gasp edip eve gider. Onu tesadüfen gören Miller ve Mallory de. Bruno Yağmur Seven'dir ve Jenny'yi öldürecektir. Gunner eski boksör olmanın avantajını son kez kullanır. Acaba başarılı olabilecek midir? Mallory ve Miller arasındaki iddia ne olacaktır? O evden sağ çıkabilecek midir? Brady Miller'a ne diyecektir? Keyifle okunan bir roman.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2020
I've read and reread so many Jack Higgins novels over the years that it's nice to find a rarity like this one---a book that's new to me.
There have been three vicious murders of young women and they've all been killed in the same way, necks broken. Miller is a detective assigned to the case, while a senior officer is seconded from the city to lead the murder squad. The police have two main suspects for the crime and both officers favour one each.
A fourth murder is committed and a third suspect finds himself being questioned in connection with it.
As police continue with their enquiries, a prisoner absconds from his hospital bed. As things turn out, it's just as well he did. Gunner Doyle, the escapee, is a former boxer turned cat burglar who was due for release in ten months' time.
As the murder investigation moves on apace, both cases become more intertwined, until the final few chapters, when the story reaches its conclusion.
I'm looking forward now to trying to seek out more Jack Higgins books I've not read before. But, in my mind, they're all worth reading at least twice if not more times.
There have been three vicious murders of young women and they've all been killed in the same way, necks broken. Miller is a detective assigned to the case, while a senior officer is seconded from the city to lead the murder squad. The police have two main suspects for the crime and both officers favour one each.
A fourth murder is committed and a third suspect finds himself being questioned in connection with it.
As police continue with their enquiries, a prisoner absconds from his hospital bed. As things turn out, it's just as well he did. Gunner Doyle, the escapee, is a former boxer turned cat burglar who was due for release in ten months' time.
As the murder investigation moves on apace, both cases become more intertwined, until the final few chapters, when the story reaches its conclusion.
I'm looking forward now to trying to seek out more Jack Higgins books I've not read before. But, in my mind, they're all worth reading at least twice if not more times.
Read
April 26, 2022The twenty-third jack higgins /martin fallon /hugh marlowe /harry patterson /Henry patterson novel hell is always today published in 1968. The third nick miller novel. A police procedural. This time hunting a serial killer. A Sub-plot involving an ex-boxer recently escaped from jail and on the run. The prime suspects of the most recent murder are the victim’s fiancée/pimp and a sculptor. But it could be anyone. Higgins really leans into his preferred trope of a rain covered city: so much that the serial killer is even dubbed “the rainlover”. The ever present medicinal brandy makes a cameo. No major female lead to fall in love with the protagonist this time around. But the obligatory love story does get included in the sub-plot. Higgins interest in exotic and deadly martial arts 🥋 makes another appearance he seems particularly enamoured with karate, judo and aikido. Fast paced with a very exciting climax. As expected some of the dialogue, reactions and relationships are dated/unrealistic but it is still highly Entertaining and a satisfying conclusion to the nick Miller trilogy.
September 26, 2020
This last of three books Higgins wrote using the Nick Miller character is a brisk and enjoyable police thriller. The author has always displayed a fondness for the romantic rogue and that aspect is in evidence here too, giving the tale a comforting air of familiarity for those who have read his work before.
The real villain of the piece is an exceptionally nasty piece of work and there's never any real doubt in the reader's mind about his identity. I had a good time with this brief yarn but I got the sense that Higgins had grown a little bored of his policeman protagonist, or perhaps just didn't know where to take him as a character, so it's not particularly surprising that he chose not to continue with this series.
The real villain of the piece is an exceptionally nasty piece of work and there's never any real doubt in the reader's mind about his identity. I had a good time with this brief yarn but I got the sense that Higgins had grown a little bored of his policeman protagonist, or perhaps just didn't know where to take him as a character, so it's not particularly surprising that he chose not to continue with this series.
August 31, 2021
The last book of what was a very good trilogy of tales about Detective Nick Miller. A rich man with a martial arts background and a law degree who has a natural knack for police work and loves it as well. In this volume he is looking for a maniac killer dubbed the Rainlover. He had killed five women and seems to only do so in rainy weather. Also a pro boxer who turned into an expert cat burglar had escaped from custody and Miller needs to find him as well. Though somehow Miller and the cat burglar will end up on the same trail as the Rainlover.
Highly recommended, still haven't read a bad book from Higgins. Really wished there were more books about Miller, such a great character.
Highly recommended, still haven't read a bad book from Higgins. Really wished there were more books about Miller, such a great character.
December 2, 2019
Alright so yes obviously the book is dated but this isn’t the real problem here. The charecters never really grip you. Additionally it has to be the sluggish beginning I’ve ever read. You could skip the first couple chapters and miss nothing.
The protagonist is okay at best and the secondary criminal ‘protagonist’ is rubbish. His storyline, more so love story, is so horrible it comes off like a high school kid wrote it. “OH YoU a CrImInAl, LeTs Do It!” Honestly don’t waste your time with this read.
The protagonist is okay at best and the secondary criminal ‘protagonist’ is rubbish. His storyline, more so love story, is so horrible it comes off like a high school kid wrote it. “OH YoU a CrImInAl, LeTs Do It!” Honestly don’t waste your time with this read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2019
An easy-to-read novel, devoid of foul language, written in the mid-sixties. Some racist remarks that the author appears not to agree with - why then did he include them? But then again, the police in the sixties were, and still are to a lesser extent, racist and homophobic, so such language was regularly used and I assume that that was the point the author was trying to put across. Some police procedural mistakes or omissions, otherwise quite readable and not necessarily predictable!
April 26, 2019
This type of book is not my cup of tea to start with and narrations with accents are not my favorites either so that was a double whammy right from the start. I was about 1/4 of the way in before I figured out what what going on and who these people were. I finished it bc I am not a quitter but it was agony.
April 14, 2022
An old book I had laying around, copyright 1968 but it was really good! I guess I should have read it in Irish or British or Scot because that are the characters in it. I bet I could go back and read all Harry Patterson/Jack Higgins books. I would never have guessed who the bad guys were but glad one of them turned out differently!
August 10, 2022
The best of the trilogy, this is still fundamentally very dated. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it offers an interesting window onto a previous era, without having to be imagined by a contemporary author. The book is slightly rough, and has a tendency to hyperbole with too many superlatives. However, overall it's an enjoyable enough plod through a 'film noir' police procedural.
July 21, 2025
The final book in the Nick Miller trilogy. It's a shame that Higgins stopped writing these stories. As with the previous stories, this one is fast-paced. This time, there is a serial killer named The Rainlover. On top of that, Gunner Sean Doyle, a cat burglar, has escaped from prison. Miller has his hands full in this one. It's a quick read with a fantastic, exciting finale. On to the next one.
August 26, 2018
August 2018. Somehow I just lost my brilliant review on this story. The short version is I like the Nick Miller character and this seems to be classic pulp fiction and should be enjoyed for what it is, not what it isn't. Contains much more physical violence with fists over firearms.
March 9, 2019
A thoroughly enjoyable story. Slightly sentimental but an author who can write a good story and leave his readers feeling good when the book ends is a precious commodity. A 'don't-want-to-put-it-down' story, it is easy to read and comes to an end all too quickly.
September 17, 2022
Really enjoyed the third installment of the trilogy! Probably my favourite of them all. It was less formulaic than the first two and definitely added a bit more guesswork.
Thoroughly enjoyed the easy, fast paced classic crime writing of this series 😊
Thoroughly enjoyed the easy, fast paced classic crime writing of this series 😊
January 14, 2023
Where have I been? This is my 1st read by this author (although maybe I read The Eagle Has Landed decades ago). I really liked this thriller, and probably because I liked the 'narration' with dialogue style he used for this rather conventional pulp style story.
May 19, 2025
Quick moving detective story with interesting characters. is the latest murder done by a serial killer who kills women in the rain, or do they have a new culprit on their hands. Love the tough Gunner who escapes prison & gives the cops a run. Surprising ending. Very enjoyable.
October 19, 2018
Ok
Short
Short
Read
June 24, 2019nick white
April 26, 2020
Dated but enjoyable. An easy read for a sunny Sunday in the garden.
April 21, 2022
Very god
Just another wonderful read from Mr. Higgins. Loved every page and chapter. One can never go wrong with Jack Higgins!
Just another wonderful read from Mr. Higgins. Loved every page and chapter. One can never go wrong with Jack Higgins!
May 20, 2022
Probably the best Nick Miller. The others feel more formulaic.
November 3, 2022
Jack Higgins
Third book in the series brilliant read one of the best authors there is got to find another author to follow now the great man as passed away rip
Third book in the series brilliant read one of the best authors there is got to find another author to follow now the great man as passed away rip
March 8, 2023
Sad that this is the last Nick Miller book
This one is about detectives trying to find the “Rainlover” who murders young women when it rains
Great side story with “Gunner” an escaped convict
This one is about detectives trying to find the “Rainlover” who murders young women when it rains
Great side story with “Gunner” an escaped convict
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews