When I mentioned having studied ‘Troubles fiction’ while in prison, typically, the novels of Jack Higgins and Gerald Seymour, I often meet with polite silence and a not quite imperceptible downcasting of the eyes. Partly it’s a prejudice against popular culture as a serious subject, deemed unworthy of academic attention. Many examples of the genre are indeed quite dishearteningly awful. There are more than 500 such novels. Much of the output may be accurately described as a hybrid of the thriller, romance and war novel genres. High Dive by Jonathan Lee: a strong swimmer out of his depth Some of the terms used tend to disparage the works, stressing a garish sensationalism: ‘balaclava novels’,...
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