Amongst My Enemies is a fast-paced Cold War tale of action, suspense, and international intrigue that plumbs the depths of brotherhood, honor, and one man's quest for revenge. Inside an old German U-Boat rusting on the bottom of the Baltic lay millions in gold bars, stolen art, and a secret that could tear NATO apart. The only one who knows the truth is Mike Randall, a battle-scarred waist-gunner in an American B-17, who survives four months as a POW in the frozen Hell of northern Germany at the end of the war. When he does speak up, he puts a target on his own forehead, one which the Russians, the West Germans, the U-boat's former owners, the Israeli Mossad, and even his own government quickly take aim at. Some want the gold, some want him dead, and some want proof about a high-ranking spy inside NATO itself. Randall's wants are much simpler. Caught between the Kremlin and a new, deadly, 4th Reich, he wants revenge and to repay some old debts with a steel-jacketed bullet.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
5-Stars! "A great cold war
thriller! A very suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat thriller... exciting, engaging...
reminded me of books by Alistair MacLean
and Tom Clancy. If you are looking
for a Cold War thriller, this one was very engaging." Two Ends of the Pen
5-Stars! "This is not just another war story! It takes the reader to the heights and dregs of the human condition... speeds along like a Ken Follett or Eric Ludlum novel of old. For those who love adventure, thrills, it will leave you breathless and wanting more from this skillful writer. Splendidly written!" Crystal Book Reviews
5-Stars! "An entertaining historical thriller! Reminds me of Jeffery Deaver's Garden of Beasts and Frederic Forsythe's The Odessa File. It provides one answer to the eternal question: What must good men and women do when evil walks among them? Dean Koontz has made a career answering this question." Book Pleasures.
5-Stars! "A must read for historical fiction and suspense fans! I really enjoyed this story of Mike Randall and the U-Boat from Nazi Germany. It had a very realistic feel. The descriptions of the Nazi SS guys had me cringing... a great pick for history and suspense buffs." The Alaska Bookie
5-Stars! "This is not just another war story! It takes the reader to the heights and dregs of the human condition... speeds along like a Ken Follett or Eric Ludlum novel of old. For those who love adventure, thrills, it will leave you breathless and wanting more from this skillful writer. Splendidly written!" Crystal Book Reviews
5-Stars! "An entertaining historical thriller! Reminds me of Jeffery Deaver's Garden of Beasts and Frederic Forsythe's The Odessa File. It provides one answer to the eternal question: What must good men and women do when evil walks among them? Dean Koontz has made a career answering this question." Book Pleasures.
5-Stars! "A must read for historical fiction and suspense fans! I really enjoyed this story of Mike Randall and the U-Boat from Nazi Germany. It had a very realistic feel. The descriptions of the Nazi SS guys had me cringing... a great pick for history and suspense buffs." The Alaska Bookie
From the Author
If you like Amongst My Enemies, you might also like The Undertaker -- a different story and different style, but I think just as good -- action, ,adventure, suspense, and mystery. You might also like Thursday at Noon or my new e-book, Winner Lose All. Check them out on their Kindle Pages!.
Product Details
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
Note: I received Amongst My Enemies, by William F. Brown, as a review copy submitted to me by the author.
Overall: 4 1/2 stars
Plot/Storyline: 4 1/2 stars
In the closing weeks of World War II, German U-boat U-582 slipped into the Baltic Sea on a top-secret mission for the second-most powerful man in Nazi Germany. The boat was never heard from again. When the U-boat's captain turned up a few years later as an up-and-coming NATO official, American Michael Randall smelled a rat, since he had witnessed the U-boat go down with all hands. Soon, Randall was involved in an operation that would attract attention from several sides, including the United States, Sweden, Israel, the Soviet Union, and former Nazis in one of the first toe-to-toe confrontations of the Cold War.
William Brown has written another first rate suspense thriller with "Amongst My Enemies." Think of the nonstop action of the 1960s film "Ice Station Zebra," add some Nazis and Israelis to complicate things, and you've got all the elements of a real page-turner.
I enjoyed the story very much. I did have a problem with the scuba diving scenes in the Baltic Sea that led to the big climax. In the story, the divers went deep and stayed down a long time. In the real world, they would have likely died from decompression sickness (the "bends").
Character Development: 4 3/4 stars
There was an ample number of characters to like, and an equal number to dislike. American Michael Randall couldn't return home after the war until he worked through the memories of the horrors he experienced as a POW. When he finally returned to the U.S., he met Leslie Hodge, the sister of a buddy who died in Germany. It looked like a romance made in heaven, but Michael had dark secrets that threatened to destroy their relationship.
Heinz Kruger was a ruthless Nazi assassin who had a longstanding grudge with Michael Randall. He would have gladly killed Randall, but he needed information about the missing U-boat that only Randall could provide.
And not to leave out the Soviets, the MVD (secret police) had plenty of reasons to make sure that no one ever found the U-582. It was all in the hands of Sergei Valentsov, a high-ranking MVD official whose career could either skyrocket upward or take him to the basement of the Lubyanka for his execution. He was desperate enough to take any risks to succeed.
Overall, character development was quite good for a novel that was largely plot-driven.
Writing style: 5 stars
Having read other books by Mr. Brown, I expected taut, well written scenes and lively, realistic dialogues, and I was not disappointed. After the big climax, the denouement added a little more drama and made for a very satisfying ending with no loose ends.
Editing: 4 stars
The book needed another proofreading. I noticed a number of punctuation and spelling errors in the copy submitted to me for review.
Overall: 4 1/2 stars
Plot/Storyline: 4 1/2 stars
In the closing weeks of World War II, German U-boat U-582 slipped into the Baltic Sea on a top-secret mission for the second-most powerful man in Nazi Germany. The boat was never heard from again. When the U-boat's captain turned up a few years later as an up-and-coming NATO official, American Michael Randall smelled a rat, since he had witnessed the U-boat go down with all hands. Soon, Randall was involved in an operation that would attract attention from several sides, including the United States, Sweden, Israel, the Soviet Union, and former Nazis in one of the first toe-to-toe confrontations of the Cold War.
William Brown has written another first rate suspense thriller with "Amongst My Enemies." Think of the nonstop action of the 1960s film "Ice Station Zebra," add some Nazis and Israelis to complicate things, and you've got all the elements of a real page-turner.
I enjoyed the story very much. I did have a problem with the scuba diving scenes in the Baltic Sea that led to the big climax. In the story, the divers went deep and stayed down a long time. In the real world, they would have likely died from decompression sickness (the "bends").
Character Development: 4 3/4 stars
There was an ample number of characters to like, and an equal number to dislike. American Michael Randall couldn't return home after the war until he worked through the memories of the horrors he experienced as a POW. When he finally returned to the U.S., he met Leslie Hodge, the sister of a buddy who died in Germany. It looked like a romance made in heaven, but Michael had dark secrets that threatened to destroy their relationship.
Heinz Kruger was a ruthless Nazi assassin who had a longstanding grudge with Michael Randall. He would have gladly killed Randall, but he needed information about the missing U-boat that only Randall could provide.
And not to leave out the Soviets, the MVD (secret police) had plenty of reasons to make sure that no one ever found the U-582. It was all in the hands of Sergei Valentsov, a high-ranking MVD official whose career could either skyrocket upward or take him to the basement of the Lubyanka for his execution. He was desperate enough to take any risks to succeed.
Overall, character development was quite good for a novel that was largely plot-driven.
Writing style: 5 stars
Having read other books by Mr. Brown, I expected taut, well written scenes and lively, realistic dialogues, and I was not disappointed. After the big climax, the denouement added a little more drama and made for a very satisfying ending with no loose ends.
Editing: 4 stars
The book needed another proofreading. I noticed a number of punctuation and spelling errors in the copy submitted to me for review.
18 of 23 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Awful Book -- Implausible, historically inaccurate, nonsensical, a 'thriller' without suspense.
September 9, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition
Don't believe the other positive reviews which I believe are shams. I give this book an "F" because it is poorly written, because it is rife with historical inaccuracies, and because it has poorly drawn central characters whose actions/motivation are consistently implausible. Examples: there is gun-play but the author obviously knows nothing about firearms. He claims that the recoil of a Webley revolver will knock a man down. Utter nonsense. He has a diving scenario, supposedly in 1951, that employs technology that didn't exist yet, such as small portable, underwater TV camera. According to Guiness Book of Records, the first underwater TV camera was first displayed in 1952 and it weight 900 kg. But what is worse are the implausible actions of the main characters who, time after time, act in ways that defy comprehension. The hero, an American flyer captured by the Nazis, for some reason, stays in Sweden for three YEARS after the war -- there is no plausible explanation for this. Show me a GI that didn't want to come home ASAP. Then he falls in love with his dead buddy's sister, and we are lead to believe that they are romantically involved for another three years without sex. That makes a total of six years of celibacy after the war -- for a red-blooded American in his late twenties. Give me a break!
I could write a 20-page essay on all the implausibilities that appear in this book, which will have you slapping your face with disbelief. Consider this, the main bad guy is a psychopathic German SS Killer. The hero encounters him, in person, on two different occasions and yet we are expected to believe he does not recognize this bad guy when the very same Nazi shows up on a boat in the last third of the book. Ridiculous! Oh and then the Russians appear with technology that did not exist in 1951. I could go on... let me just say, as I read through the book, I made notations of the worst blunders and most implausible actions by the characters. I logged dozens of notations such as "this is ridiculous... no human being would act this way", "Another plot 'crutch', author is desperate to try to explain nonsensical action of protagonist", "Yikes, another massive hole in the plot", "WTF -- a major character is murdered in cold blood and nobody investigates? What planet are these people on?" In all honesty, I knew this book sucked after 40 pages. Half way through I wanted to burn this book, but I felt compelled to read it all the way through just so I could fairly warn others against paying good money for absolute garbage. Don't buy this book! It is crap. The plot is full of holes. The main characters don't act rationally. The author can't keep his history straight, and despite having Nazis, submarines, Russian frogmen, and a hoard of stolen gold, this book is never interesting, and never delivers any real suspense. As for the other reviews, either those people have never read good military/spy fiction, or they are all liars or shills for an unscrupulous author.
I could write a 20-page essay on all the implausibilities that appear in this book, which will have you slapping your face with disbelief. Consider this, the main bad guy is a psychopathic German SS Killer. The hero encounters him, in person, on two different occasions and yet we are expected to believe he does not recognize this bad guy when the very same Nazi shows up on a boat in the last third of the book. Ridiculous! Oh and then the Russians appear with technology that did not exist in 1951. I could go on... let me just say, as I read through the book, I made notations of the worst blunders and most implausible actions by the characters. I logged dozens of notations such as "this is ridiculous... no human being would act this way", "Another plot 'crutch', author is desperate to try to explain nonsensical action of protagonist", "Yikes, another massive hole in the plot", "WTF -- a major character is murdered in cold blood and nobody investigates? What planet are these people on?" In all honesty, I knew this book sucked after 40 pages. Half way through I wanted to burn this book, but I felt compelled to read it all the way through just so I could fairly warn others against paying good money for absolute garbage. Don't buy this book! It is crap. The plot is full of holes. The main characters don't act rationally. The author can't keep his history straight, and despite having Nazis, submarines, Russian frogmen, and a hoard of stolen gold, this book is never interesting, and never delivers any real suspense. As for the other reviews, either those people have never read good military/spy fiction, or they are all liars or shills for an unscrupulous author.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Donald Wiant
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have to admit that I purchased this book primarily based on price. Frankly, I did not expect much but the book summary seemed interesting. I like reading WW II stories and always like U-boat adventures.
As I began reading Amongst My Enemies, it quickly became apparent that I had downloaded a "winner" and soon could not resist picking up my iPad every chance I could find.
I will let others summarize the book's characters but for me, it is a great thriller type book that certainly has one very evil former German SS Officer that takes to killing like fish to water.
My only negative comment would be that the author could have described in more realistic detail the process of SCUBA diving, U-boat terminology, nautical terms aboard the fishing boat and most of all, more military background on the key character to make him believable as he completes tasks more akin to Navy Seals or Army Delta forces.
However, the book still rates 5 stars for the interest it generated for me and the enjoyment over several days.
As I began reading Amongst My Enemies, it quickly became apparent that I had downloaded a "winner" and soon could not resist picking up my iPad every chance I could find.
I will let others summarize the book's characters but for me, it is a great thriller type book that certainly has one very evil former German SS Officer that takes to killing like fish to water.
My only negative comment would be that the author could have described in more realistic detail the process of SCUBA diving, U-boat terminology, nautical terms aboard the fishing boat and most of all, more military background on the key character to make him believable as he completes tasks more akin to Navy Seals or Army Delta forces.
However, the book still rates 5 stars for the interest it generated for me and the enjoyment over several days.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic book, a must read!!
This is a fast paced book, that will have you on the edge of the seat all the way through it. I read it in a couple of nights, sometimes staying up until early in the morning, I... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ron Morris
5.0 out of 5 stars
Post WWII Thriller
Could not put this book down. Fast-paced story travels through Sweden, the USA, Germany, Russia and Bolivia. It is a story of international espionage, revenge and romance.
Published 1 month ago by camichigan
4.0 out of 5 stars
God Conjecture
I liked the story and the writing; however, the premise was again too far fetched to be thought to be real.
Published 2 months ago by J. Carlton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended
I found this book to be a very good read and I could hardly put it down once started. It is highly recommended.
Published 2 months ago by Bruce
3.0 out of 5 stars
A pretty good yarn spoiled by sloppy editing
Amongst My Enemies gets off to a roaring start that tends not fulfill its promise by not ending when its time was ripe. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Dick Paetzke
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good read....but not great
I enjoyed the book but found it quite predictable. The character development was OK, which pretty much sums up the book too.
Published 3 months ago by L. C. McElroy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good
This was an entertaining read and did keep my interest up. Better edited than most E books. Some errors that were pointed out were minor. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Cycist
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great read. Hope this author continues to provide us with great...
This is a great book. I knew very little about World War II from the German citizens perspective and how much many of them suffered and lived in fear of their own leaders. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Helen B Chun
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable..
A "Clive Cussler" type adventure that is just that---you will need to suspend a rational mind at times and just enjoy the fact the improbable occured in the book. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Dutchman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow
Read this book. It is exceptionally well done and exciting. The characters are believable and they get into crisis in spite of themselves. I enjoyed this.
Published 5 months ago by just john
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More About the Author
I am the author of 6 mystery and suspense novels, and 4 award-winning screenplays, four of which have been released as e-books to date.
The Undertaker, my first e-book, is a snarky, fun, fast-paced domestic thriller with a slug of humor, romance, and stark terror! Someone with a sharp scalpel and an embalming table is planting bodies under other people's names. If Pete Talbott doesn't stop them, he'll be next on the list. It has already garnered 52 Five-Star! and 41 Four-Star! Amazon book reviews.
Amongst My Enemies, with 24 Five-Star! reviews, it is a fast-paced Cold War adventure filled with international intrigue, espionage, revenge. Inside an old German U-boat is a fortune in gold bars, treasure, and a secret that will tear NATO apart.
Thursday at Noon was a Joan Kahn Book published in hardback by St. Martin's Press and by Harlequin's Gold Eagle in paper and various foreign editions. Set in Egypt in 1962, it deals with murder, espionage, an Army coup, and new rockets aimed at the heart of Israel. Released as an e-book last year, it already has 14 Five Star Amazon reviews.
Winner Lose All, my new e-book is set in the closing months of WWII as one war winds down and all eyes turn to the next one. As alliances shift, old enemies become tomorrow's friends, allies cannot be trusted, and everyone wants a piece of the jet planes, rockets, and other revolutionary German weapons that will determine the world's balance of power for decades to come.
In addition to the novels, I've written four award-winning screenplays. Preview Chapters from all six suspense novels, plus updates on my writing can be found on my web site billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com
The Undertaker, my first e-book, is a snarky, fun, fast-paced domestic thriller with a slug of humor, romance, and stark terror! Someone with a sharp scalpel and an embalming table is planting bodies under other people's names. If Pete Talbott doesn't stop them, he'll be next on the list. It has already garnered 52 Five-Star! and 41 Four-Star! Amazon book reviews.
Amongst My Enemies, with 24 Five-Star! reviews, it is a fast-paced Cold War adventure filled with international intrigue, espionage, revenge. Inside an old German U-boat is a fortune in gold bars, treasure, and a secret that will tear NATO apart.
Thursday at Noon was a Joan Kahn Book published in hardback by St. Martin's Press and by Harlequin's Gold Eagle in paper and various foreign editions. Set in Egypt in 1962, it deals with murder, espionage, an Army coup, and new rockets aimed at the heart of Israel. Released as an e-book last year, it already has 14 Five Star Amazon reviews.
Winner Lose All, my new e-book is set in the closing months of WWII as one war winds down and all eyes turn to the next one. As alliances shift, old enemies become tomorrow's friends, allies cannot be trusted, and everyone wants a piece of the jet planes, rockets, and other revolutionary German weapons that will determine the world's balance of power for decades to come.
In addition to the novels, I've written four award-winning screenplays. Preview Chapters from all six suspense novels, plus updates on my writing can be found on my web site billbrownwritesnovels.wordpress.com
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