Edge of Danger, by Jack Higgins. Harper Collins, £16.99 in UK

Another Higgins, but no relation to George V

Another Higgins, but no relation to George V. A true professional in the area of adventure thrillers, Jack Higgins has been churning out potboilers, but eminently readable ones, for many a year. In this new one, he again resurrects his undercover enforcer, Sean Dillon, to save the world from a dastardly villain. The villain in question is Paul Rashid, a man with one foot in aristocratic Britain and the other in the Bedouin world of the Persian Gulf. Having uncovered an international plot to deprive his family of its oil rights, Rashid sets out to start a holocaust of violence that will cause reverberations around the globe. Aided by White House security chief Blake Johnson, another old face from former Higgins tales, Dillon goes up against insurmountable odds, and surmounts them. Crash, bang, wallop, you gets what you pays for!

Michael Painter is a writer and critic