East of Desolation

Written by Jack Higgins

Narrated by Malk Williams

Classic adventure from the undisputed master of action and adrenalin-pumping suspense.

When a plane crashes in the icy Greenland desert with no passengers on board, and no means of identification, Joe Martin is hired to fly to the scene of the crash by the insurance company involved and the beautiful widow of the dead pilot. But the routine mission spirals into hair-raising suspense when a priceless batch of emeralds are added to the mystery, and suddenly Joe finds himself in mortal danger.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9780008359027

Jack Higgins

Jack Higgins lived in Belfast till the age of twelve. Leaving school at fifteen, he spent three years with the Royal Horse Guards, and was later a teacher and university lecturer. His thirty-sixth novel, The Eagle Has Landed (1975), turned him into an international bestselling author, and his novels have since sold over 250 million copies and been translated into sixty languages. Many have been made into successful films. He died in 2022, at his home in Jersey, surrounded by his family.

Reviews for East of Desolation

[olivermagnus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Joe Martin, a recovering alcoholic, makes his living as a bush pilot in Greenland, flying passengers and cargo to remote areas. He's been on many salvage operations, but starts to get a bad feeling when an insurance company and the beautiful widow of the dead pilot hires him to find out what caused the crash that killed her husband. Before long, what should have been a routine mission becomes a hair-raising adventure packed with danger and betrayal.

This is a fast moving action-adventure novel with a number of potentially interesting characters that need to be more fleshed out. The author's description of the harsh Greenland terrain is vividly rendered and is the best thing about this book.

I just discovered East of Desolation was written in 1968 and recently reissued. Jack Higgins has improved with time but this will be a disappointing story for fans of his more recent books, especially Sean Dillon.

[bridgey_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book written in a different style and formula than you would usualy expect from Higgins. In fact, it really reminds me of Alisitair Macleans Bear Island.The plot is simple enough, an ex forces pilot decides to live for a while in Greenland to escape the pressures of modern civilisation and earn a living through his wits.His life is disrupted when he is offered to charter a number of people (including a beautiful widow) to a plane crash in order to identify the dead husband.However events take a more sinister turn, with lots of double agents and storyline twists the plot rattles along to a most unexpected conclusion.Another Higgins classic and as always, very recommendable.

[jet1_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good page turner, but story a bit forced and a rather abrupt ending.

[theoclarke · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although reading this was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, I find it telling that I was over 100 pages into it before I was certain that I had read the book before. Twice. A sober alcoholic pilot in Greenland becomes involved in salvage from a wrecked aircraft for a beautiful widow and her insurance agent while befriending a fading film star and his beautiful girlfriend. Inevitably, little is as it seems and, in my case, much is unmemorable.