Quick Links

Bestselling multi-millionaire British novelist, Jack Higgins has a net worth of $86 million. The pen name of Harry Patterson, he was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England on July 27, 1979. However, he was raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland because his father abandoned them and her Irish mother returned with him in her hometown.

Patterson learned to read at an early age despite the religious and political violence in the area. When he was three, he was tasked to read The Christian Herald to his bed-ridden grandfather who lived with them on Shankill Road. He would crouch beneath a window and read any book available by the light of the street lamps during nighttime.

Using Jack Higgins as pen name, he is one of the best-selling authors of popular thrillers and espionage novels. He wrote The Eagle Has Landed (1975) and has sold 50 million copies. His breakthrough novel was adapted into a successful film by the same title. Based on his novel, the movie was about a fictional German plot to kidnap Winston Churchill during the height of the Second World War. It was directed by John Sturges and starring Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall. It was Sturges' final film and has received positive reviews and was successful upon its release.

Some of Higgins' 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). With a total of 85 novels, his works have sold more than 150 million copies and have been translated into 55 languages.

Earnings & Financial Data

Date

Category

Description

Amount

1957

Royalties

Advance payment he received for his first novel

$210,000