Customer Reviews

The Enemy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At first, 'The Enemy' appears to be another of Bagley's intruiging thrillers. It starts of well: wealthy industrialist George Ashton flees the country when one of his daughters is scarred in an acid attack, and industrial espionage agent Malcolm Jaggard is sent to find him. Jaggard, engaged to another of Ashton's daughters, soon discovers a variety of secrets about Ashton, his research, and his associates.

It's a solid basis for a thriller, with a number of interconnected side-plots involving Ashton's past, inter-departmental infighting, and secret scientific research. However, 'The Enemy' doesn't really follow through on any of these. The book employs a number of twists which seem clever at first, but actually mean the various sub-plots end up either fizzing out or abruptly ending. So what you thought was a complex interlocking story turns out to be a collection of unrelated blind alleys and red herrings. The main story thread is actually something quite different from what is expected, and has little direct connection to what we believed was the central plot.

The book is also surprisingly preachy, especially toward the end, which is not something seen in Bagley's other thrillers. There were a few half-hearted "we must walk carefully" sentiments in a few of his early books, but nothing like what is seen here. True, it does give the ending a bit of an extra kick, but it seems a bit misguided. Possibly this is because the thing being preached against doesn't become significant until the end of the book.

'The Enemy' is not a bad book. Just not quite up to the standard of Bagley's best. There are some good ideas in there, but they are not handled as well as they could have been.

I really like this book. It has a lot of unexpected twists and it is exciting to the end. On of my favourite Bagley books. Among the top 5 I would say.

What? The hero does not sail off into the sunset in triump? Realistic perhaps but certainly not satisfying. In all my years of reading I've never encountered such an ending.

I read almost constantly and when I find someone who can tell a story that is compelling and gives an education on something important without disturbing your enjoyment of the book I buy their whole collection. This book is the start of a new love affair with an author.

It's a very good book it starts a little slow but then it gets very exiting and entretainig. I think the ending was very good, I couldn't have predicted what happend there, this is a book I really recomend and it's not even too long so if you like suspense and accion this is your book.