Higgins was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, grew up in the nearby town of Rockland and attended Boston College, where he was editor of the campus literary magazine, Stylus, and graduated in 1961.

He was also an expert in lending atmosphere to a series of harsh or barren facts, inducing his readers to figure out important things artfully implied in the text but never stated.

Characters important in some of his novels often are mentioned in others, usually in passing but significant references, as in Trust, Outlaws, Bomber's Law and the Kennedy books.

"Like Joyce, Higgins uses language in torrents, beautifully crafted, ultimately intending to create a panoramic impression," wrote Roderick MacLeish in the Times Literary Supplement.

[5] But this dialogue-laden approach did not appeal to every critic, or even MacLeish, who added, "the plot of a Higgins novel – suspense, humor and tragedy – is a blurrily perceived skeleton within the monsoon of dialogue.