Be My Enemy [Hardcover]

Christopher Brookmyre (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2004

It was a junket, a freebie. A 'team-building' weekend in the highlands for lawyers, advertising execs, businessmen, even the head of a charity. Oh, and a journalist, specially solicited for his renowned and voluble scepticism - Jack Parlabane. Amid the flying paintballs and flowing Shiraz even the most cynical admit the organisers have pulled some surprises - stalkers in the forest, power cuts in the night, mass mobile phone thefts, disappearing staff, disappearing guests: there's nothing can bring out people's hidden strengths or break down inter-personal barriers quite like not having a clue what's going on and being scared out of your wits. However, when the only vehicular access for thirty miles is cut off it seems that events are being orchestrated not just for pleasure ...And that's before they find the first body. Thereafter, 'finding out who your colleagues really are' is not so much an end product as the key to reaching Monday morning alive. Visit the author's website at www.brookmyre.co.uk

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Sharply satirical and poignantly funny, this is a gripping and highly entertaining read' Time Out 'Chris Brookmyre is a genius' Mirror 'Brookmyre has no equal' Maxim 'Brookmyre is a brilliant satirist...an absolute must read' Punch 'Exhilarating linguistic fluency and keenly subversive intelligence' Scotland on Sunday

About the Author

Chris Brookmyre was a journalist before becoming a full time novelist with the publication of QUITE UGLY ONE MORNING. Since the publication of A BIG BOY DID IT AND RAN AWAY he and his family decided to move away from Aberdeen and now live near Glasgow. Oh, yes.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 390 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (February 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316725226
• ISBN-13: 978-0316725224
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,864,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty decent read, July 17, 2004

By 

"herc2ules" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be My Enemy (Hardcover)

Having read "a big boy did it and ran away" and "the sacred art of stealing" as well as others I was really looking forward to this book. I don't intend to write a synopsis of the plot but needless to say that Brookmyre keeps to the same winning formula with intrigue, humour, politics and a good dose of violence.

I have to say I really enjoyed this book and found it hard to put it down. But. And isn't there always a but? This novel was not as compelling as previous books. If your a fan of Brookmyre than I would heartily recommend this, otherise I would suggest one of his earlier books which are generally funnier and have a great degree of character development.

"be my enemy" is a great, fun and violent read. Not exactly for kids but any writer who can make Scotland and Glasgow seem interesting and even perhaps a little exotic deserves an award!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gory mayhem in the Highlands, July 24, 2008

By 

Maclean J Storer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be My Enemy (Paperback)

Scottish novelist Brookmyre opts for a simpler theme in this book, with the duplicity and intrigue of earlier novels replaced by all-out violence. A psychopathic army sergeant who had been imprisoned for setting up a secret assassination squad is on the loose, and decides to eliminate everyone who might identify his style of operations from before.

To this end, he lures them all to a remote estate in the Highlands, cut off from the outside world, and plans to use his own hit-squad to fake the biggest murder-suicide in history, simultaneously eliminating his enemies and deflecting official suspicion.

Unfortunately, among the guests at the estate are the cunning Jack Parlabane and his friend Tim Vale, who has even more experience of fighting off the bad guys. The result is one torched Scottish mansion, gallons of blood and several headless corpses, before Parlabane and Vale finally discover who it who wants them dead and why. Not one of Brookmyre's most careful novels, but full of his trademark snappy writing and political insights.