A Darker Place is considered to be a Sean Dillon novel, although he’s barely in the novel and does very little. Taking center stage in the novel is Alexander Kurbsky, a famed Russian novelist who was a former paratrooper in the Soviet and Russian armies. He defects from Russia with the help of Dillon’s team, except it’s all a setup by Vladimir Putin to crack the Prime Minister’s private army.

Even though Dillon is largely irrelevant in the novel, there was a lot to like. Among them are the flow of the narration and ease of the writing style. It was a nice, clean read. Alexander Kurbsky is a compelling character. The plot was strong as the novel took on many twists and turns. Kurbsky is ostensibly the villain but he had enough valor and honor that there was always doubt when reading it that he would stay the villain, and ultimately the real villains were the Russians pulling the strings behind the scenes. I didn’t care much for the crazed Afghan that appears at the end of the novel and becomes a pivotal character even though he is introduced so late. By and large this novel worked for me and I would recommend it.

Carl Alves – author of Battle of the Soul ( )

Sean Dillon did not kill anybody in this book. In fact, he was on holiday almost the entire time. Two new characters were introduced, both disenchanted Russian soldiers. It is not clear how big a part they will play in future works by this author. The story introduced a rather interesting plot line and it maintained the mystery for about three-quarters of the book and I liked it a lot. the background for the two new characters was painstakingly done with satisfying results. It seems that Higgins has traded bodies for story-line development. ( )

Slight better than the last instalment of the Sean Dillon saga but still nothing like Higgins earlier works.

Overall, an average choice for something to fill in your time if you've got no better options. ( )

Higgins can still keep me reading far into the night. Dillon, one of the main characters from earlier books, actually had only a small role in this one. Hopefully Alexander Kurbsky and his friend, Bounine, will appear in future books as part of the PM's 'private army'. ( )

A Darker Place is vintage Jack Higgins: renowned Russian writer and war hero Alexander Kurbsky decides to ‘vanish’ into the west so Sean Dillon and the group known as ‘The Prime Minister’s Private Army’ are called in to assist and protect him.
The Iron Curtain may be down but Russia dislikes high placed defectors and tends to discourage them, fatally. However, all is not as it seems…

Kurbsky is actually a lethally efficient spy, strategically positioned to win Western trust at the highest levels. Fortunately Sean, as usual, is on hand to save the day yet again in a series of derring-do adventures. Boys Own fun. ( )