British best-selling author, Jack Higgins, died at his home in Jersey, on 9 April 2022, at the age of 92. His cause of death is yet to be revealed.
Higgins, whose real name is Henry Patterson, was born on 27 July 1929.
He was one of the best-selling authors of popular thrillers and espionage novels. His novel The Eagle Has Landed (1975) sold more than 50 million copies and was adapted into a successful 1976 movie of the same title.
Some of his other notable books are A Prayer for the Dying (1987), The Eagle Has Flown (1991), Thunder Point (1993), Angel of Death (1995), Flight of Eagles (1998), and Day of Reckoning (2000).
His 85 novels in total have sold more than 150 million copies and have been translated into 55 languages.
In 1959, Higgins began writing novels. One of his aliases was James Graham. The growing success of his early work allowed him to take time off from his teaching, which he quit eventually to become a full-time novelist.
Patterson’s early novels, using his own name (as “Harry Patterson”) as well as the pseudonyms James Graham, Martin Fallon, and Hugh Marlowe, are thrillers that typically feature hardened, cynical heroes, ruthless villains, and dangerous locales. Patterson published thirty-five such novels (sometimes three or four a year) between 1959 and 1974, learning his craft.
East Of Desolation (1968), A Game For Heroes (1970) and The Savage Day (1972) are notable among his early work for their vividly described settings (Greenland, the Channel Islands, and Belfast, respectively) and offbeat plots.
Jack Higgins Wife & Children
Higgins is survived by his first wife, Amy Hewitt, their four children – Sarah, Ruth, Sean, and Hannah – and his second wife, Denise Palmer, whom he lived together with in Jersey.