Year of the tiger door Jack Higgins

General information

Author: Jack Higgins
Title: Year of the tiger
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Place of publication: London
Year of publication: 1996
Number of pages: 248

My first impression

Before reading

I, of course, found the book in the library. I was searching for some English lecture for my book report and chose three books. Also another book written by Jack Higgins: On dangerous grounds. I chose to read this one, because of a paper inside the book from the library which told me where the book was about (it was in Dutch, but I translated it): “An agent of the British Security Service has to pick up a scientist from Tibet who discovered a way to get energy out of space (in 1962).” I thought that was really thrilling, and that was what I expected when I started reading.

After reading

Like I said before, I chose the book because I thought it would be the most thrilling. Now I read all the books, I start to doubt that: They’re all really thrilling. But I like this one because of the subject. It is something with a soldier who has to pick up a scientist from Tibet, which was under command of the Chinese, who weren’t very friendly. And the soldier is imprisoned, he escapes, is imprisoned, escapes and so on.
When I’d finished the book, I had to read the beginning again to understand the story. But after that I thought it was a nice book which I can recommend to others.

Contents and Technique

Summary

The story begins in 1995. Paul Chavasse, chief of the British Security Service, captures a monk from Tibet. The monk knows about Paul’s history, but likes to know what actually happened. Paul thinks that the monk doesn’t have bad meanings, so he tells the story.
Paul begins with his story in 1959, Tibet. There he has his first contact with Tibet. His mission is to set the Dalai Lama free. After the Chinese took the province, his life was in danger. He managed to release the Dalai Lama and to bring him to Britain.
When Paul goes on, he skips a few years. In 1962 in London he gets the task to liberate a mathematician from Tibet. He gets the assignment because he has experience with liberating people from Tibet. The mathematician thought up of a way to get energy out of space, and is thus of major importance to America, because the space race in full development, and with his theory, America would probably win it.
In Tibet, still in the same year, he goes with Joro, a Tibetan gang leader who wants to help Paul, to the city where the mathematician, whose name is Hoffner. But first they’re captured by a Russian with a small army. When they’re being transported to the most important man in the province, lieutenant Li, for interrogation, they’re freed by a friendly gang, who knows Joro. Chavasse takes the identity of the Russian and, with his camouflage as a reporter for a well-known newspaper, has no problem to get an interview with Hoffner, and to tell Hoffner about his true meanings. Hoffner mentions one potential problem: His housekeeper, the woman Katya, who has a Russian father and a Chinese mother. But she seems to be on their side. But Paul is unmasked and imprisoned. He manages to escape, after Joro was killed, with Hoffner and Katya. But their car is broken and they were only halfway. And the Chinese are right behind them. Luckily for them a friendly tribe who’s also fleeing offers to help and they go on with horses. But two bad things happen. The first is that Katya lied to them and tries to kill Chavasse, but Chavasse is quicker. The second is that Hoffner, an old men , got a heart attack because he couldn’t take all the excitement. Everything was lost, except for his briefcase with all his ideas. But the other mathematicians don’t understand the theory, and so all the effort was for nothing, except for the fact that Paul gets promotion.
Back in 1995, the monk appears to be the nephew of Katya, and he want to purify the name of his family, but, just in time, a friend kills him.

Characters

The protagonist of the story is Paul Chavasse. His main concern is to free important people from Tibet. An other really important figure is Hoffner, the whole book is about Chavasse rescuing him. They are good friends in the book, Hoffner has a lot of faith in Paul.
The main characteristics of Chavasse are:

- He’s very clever. As an example he manages to escape from a prison which is full with guards, also a lot especially to guard him, and he makes sure that no one knows about his escape within 2 days.

- He’s brave. When his friend Joro is shot, he wants to save him and he just runs into the enemy.

- He’s stubborn. He doesn’t use other people’s plans and he uses his own, sometimes stupid, plans.

Chavasse doesn’t change during the book. From the beginning ‘til the end, he is stubborn and very unpredictable. He’s never in a good mood, because he has to think about the people he has killed.

Hoffner is the character attracts me most. He is described as a nice old man who is a genius at mathematics. He’s a helpful, helpless man and because of that, he is always very nice.

The character that attracts me least is captain Tsen. I didn’t mention him in the summary, but he is in charge when colonel Li isn’t there. He wanted to kill Chavasse for the money when Li wasn’t there once. Colonel Li insisted that he wouldn’t be killed until he was back, but he almost did it.

Narrative space

The story takes place in 2 different places. The first is in Britain, where Chavasse lives and where the head-quarters of the British Security Service is located. The second is Tibet, where he has to rescue two people, the Dalai Lama and Hoffner. Of course it is important that the story takes place in Tibet. In the 20th century the Chinese, who had taken Tibet, were communists. Only that already meant that they were the enemy of Britain. Also the Chinese had some ways to get information from prisoners like torturing until they were almost dead and brainwashing which they also tried with Chavasse. So a Brit has to rescue a person from the Chinese, that makes it very exciting. Also the environment in Tibet is really important. The environment is so hostile, that makes it more difficult to escape. As an example: When they are escaping for the last time, they have to go through the jungle while it’s snowing with a broken car.
Time frame

Actually the story is the story told by Chavasse to the monk. That happens in 1995. But the story told by Chavasse takes place in 1959 when he has to rescue the Dalai Lama and 1962 when he has to rescue Hoffner. Those dates are quite important. China was still the enemy of Western world and very brute. This is also to make it more exciting.
The time progression is actually from day-to-day. Only between the two assignments a few years are skipped.
The story has a closed ending. Everything is clear and the people who wanted to kill Chavasse are dead.
In fact the biggest part of the book is a flashback, but not in a flash. I don’t think I have to give any examples because it seems quite clear to me. There are no flash-forward or other time manipulations in the book.

Point of view

There is a narrator who exactly describes what Chavasse feels, says, does, want, thinks, etc. Examples from the text:

(p. 181) But why should he be afraid? The stranger in the mirror frowned as if he too puzzled over the problem and then a great light flamed through the cobwebs, clearing them instantly. There was nothing more they could do to him. That was the only answer. He had won.

(p. 188) As a terrible, soundless scream erupted inside him, Chavasse launched himself forward, his finger reaching for the throat above the high military collar.

But this isn’t quite reliable. There is an other side, the Chinese. Chavasse thinks about them like they are evil beasts who slaughter innocent people. But the soldiers that are in Tibet, of course get orders from China, so it isn’t really their fold. So you’re manipulated by this point of view.

Style

The style is difficult/not difficult. I thought it was quite difficult and I had to look up a lot of words. But that is also because it is a book for adults. But probably the vocabulary and the structure aren’t difficult for adults.
The book mainly consists out of dialogue. Only when Chavasse is alone his feelings and thoughts are described and is there no dialogue.

Theme

The main theme of the book is escaping from a colonel who is in charge of the area. In the beginning from the prison and later only from the colonel. I’ll give some quotations:

(p. 211) He started the engine. “We’ll have to get moving. Colonel Li must be hot on our scent by now”. “Will he have many men with him, do you think?” Chavasse shook his head as he drove out through the gates. “His only chance of catching us is to use his jeeps with him”.

(p. 219) He scrambled over the edge of the track and started across. He slipped and feel to one knee and, as he got up, he heard voices shouting through the falling snow. He turned and looked down the track quickly as half a dozen soldiers came round the corner of the bluff, bunched together. He dropped to one knee, braced the machine-pistol across his arm and loos off the whole magazine in one continuous burst. He continued across the track and scrambled up the slope, his heart heaving like some hunted animal’s.

The writer uses this theme to create a thrilling atmosphere. The characters think up of a lot of plan to stop the enemy. But if those plans work out the way they planned makes it very exciting. An example of those plans is:

(p. 215) There was still one thing to be done and he braked to a halt, grabbed one of the stick grenades and walked back to the bridge. He pulled the pin and tossed the grenade out into the centre and turned his back as the explosion shattered the peace. (Here they try to slow down the enemy by destroying a bridge)

I wouldn’t know an other book or film with the same theme. But I think there are some.

The writer: Jack Higgins

Biography

Jack Higgins is, like James Graham, Martin Fallon and Hugh Marlowe, a pseudonym for his real name: Harry Patterson. He was born in Belfast, 27 July in 1929, raised by a family with a political background. And he frequently experienced the worst aspect of troubles during his youth. Later he moved to Leeds, left school without any qualification and had a succession of jobs, including two years as an NCO in the Royal House of Guards serving on the East German border during the Cold War.
He was then accepted as an external student at London University while working as a circus tent-hand, a tram conductor and most things in between, and a degree in sociology took him into teaching before he became a full-time author. He was already a writer of adventure stories when he, at the age of forty, wrote "The eagle has landed". This novel made him a very popular writer in other countries. Most of his book are translated in 40 languages.

Writing style

Jack Higgins is one of the most famous writers for novels with adventure. The second world war and the IRA are things he commonly uses in his books. His books are full with excitement and the characters get one problem after an other.

Books from 1981
Year: Title:
· 1981: "Lucciano's Luck"
· 1982: "Touch Of The Devil"
· 1983: "Dillinger"
· 1983: "Exocet"
· 1985: "Confessional"
· 1986: "Night Of The Fox"
· 1989: "A Season In Hell"
· 1989: "Memories Of A Dance Hall Romeo"
· 1990: "Cold Harbour"
· 1991: "The Eagle Has Flown"
· 1992: "Eye Of The Storm"
· 1993: "Thunderpoint"
· 1994: "On Dangerous Ground"
· 1994: "Sheba"
· 1995: "Angel Of Death"
· 1996: "Year Of The Tiger"
· 1996: "Drink With The Devil"

Reading experience

While I was reading, I was hoping that Chavasse would make it. Also because I like maths myself very much. So Hoffner was an interesting person and I hoped that he could come home, save the world.
The part that impressed me most, is the last part, when Chavasse is escaping, when Hoffner had left his briefcase in the car. The Chinese came around the corner and he is running. That was so exciting that I read it a few seconds.
The part that impressed me least, was when he got the assignment. It were a lot of boring pages that were about Tibet and how he should do it. Chavasse wouldn’t use them anyway, so it didn’t have any usefulness.
I’ve already read more books from Jack Higgins and I think I’m sure I’ll read some more. His writing style is very exciting.
I also would advise other children to read this book. It is a very thrilling and good book.