Customer Reviews

The Enemy (Jack Reacher, No. 8)

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

In the taut, staccato style reminiscent of Raymond Chandler or John D. MacDonald, Lee Child presents his eighth Jack Reacher novel, a police procedural with a difference: Reacher is an MP, an army Major at Fort Bird, North Carolina, obedient to a different set of rules and objectives. Recently transferred from Panama to be MP Executive Officer, Reacher must immediately investigate the death of a two-star general who has died in a seedy, nearby motel, presumably with a prostitute. His briefcase, containing the agenda for a top-secret conference in California, has disappeared, and when Reacher and his aide, Lt. Summer, go to break the news to the general's wife, they find her dead, too, bludgeoned to death with a crowbar within hours of the general's death.

With almost military precision, dramatic complications unfold, and Reacher soon finds himself facing two new deaths, one of which is a gruesome butchering which takes place on the base. Ordered by superiors to cover up the murder by calling it a "training accident," Reacher and his aide investigate surreptitiously, soon discovering that his MP XO counterparts at twenty more bases throughout the world have also been newly appointed to their positions, all of them on or around December 29. Obvious questions arise about who is pulling the strings, who has the power to transfer so many MPs to new posts, and why someone would want to do so.

Child is a meticulous writer whose plot follows a strict chronological order and moves at a breath-taking pace, with one dramatic scene following hard on the heels of another. Reacher and his aide Summer are not fully developed characters, but they do not need to be as they struggle to learn who is controlling the grisly chess game which has resulted in four deaths. The action is resolved in an extravagant grand finale, with twists and turns and spectacular surprises. Though the ending resolves the disparate threads, it may also be a disappointment to some readers, since the premise behind the plot and the motivation which led to the murders, when finally revealed, seems too unrealistic to justify the murderous extremes to which "the enemy" has gone. Though Child is brilliant in creating an exciting story packed with action, the final pages feel cynical and reveal a view of humanity that is grim. Mary Whipple

Lee Child writes books the way Miles Davis played music. Every composition contains recognizable elements, and yet every composition is completely different.

In a Lee Child composition, some of the recognizable elements are: clean, elegant prose; a tight plot; abundant twists and turns; and more than one heart stopping surprise. An added element in "The Enemy" is that this book not only stops the heart, but tugs at the heartstrings.

The eighth Jack Reacher novel, "The Enemy" takes place in 1990, as the Berlin Wall is coming down and the world is drastically changing. In the Army, Jack Reacher's life-long home, change is not good. It's an enemy to be defeated by any means necessary. Reacher is a man who has dedicated his life to doing the right thing, to protecting the Army. Now he's faced with an awful task: he must protect the Army from itself.

In seven previous Jack Reacher novels, we've come to know him as a loner, a man who cannot and will not end his chosen life of wandering isolation. In "The Enemy" we meet a younger Reacher, not yet hardened by the choices this case will force upon him. This Reacher is just a bit warmer, just a bit more accessible, with an easier sense of humor.

When he's inexplicably transferred from Panama to Fort Bird, North Carolina, Reacher doesn't think much of it - hey, it's the Army - but he soon discovers that this is no ordinary assignment. A heart attack victim at the local no-tell motel is a two-star general. The general's wife is found murdered. Reacher's commanding officer is replaced, suspiciously, by a vicious idiot who wants nothing more than to make Reacher the fall guy for the entire mess. And in Paris, Reacher's mother is very, very ill.

Partnering with a young, female lieutenant, Reacher sets out to solve the mystery in spite of the roadblocks in his path. And, typically, he refuses to let anything or anyone stop him. Just as typically, Reacher is determined to do the right thing, no matter what the personal cost may be. In this case, the personal cost will be high - maybe more than Reacher can afford.

The question at the heart of the book is, who or what really is the enemy that Reacher has to fight? And does he have any hope at all of winning the battle? Lee Child has written another gripping novel, one with heart and soul, suspense and passion - a masterwork from a master craftsman.

We've been hooked by Child's Jack Reacher series since reading "Killing Floor". Unlike the other seven, which feature our leading man as basically a vagrant vigilante, wandering around incognito solving difficult problems and snapping necks here and there (!), in "Enemy" we have almost a Clancy-style military thriller from when Jack was still in the Army. After being transferred rather suddenly just before New Year's 1990, Jack is soon embroiled in the murder of a 2-star found in an unlikely motel near the Ft. Bird post. When the general's wife, two states away, is murdered hours later, it's obvious something more sinister than an assignation gone bad is at hand. Reacher partners with an ambitious young black Lt. Summer, and together they chase clues (and each other periodically), with not as much violence on Jack's part as usual, until a conspiracy originating at high levels is uncovered. Still the plot takes unusual turns and twists right 'til the end, building deep suspense that keeps the page turns flying! And in the end, Jack administers a pleasing touch of his own brand of justice just in case!

An interesting side development is the death of Jack's mother in Paris. He meets his brother Joe there to visit with her and through some rather poignant scenes, we share the brothers' agony as they deal with their mother's dignified approach to a fatal cancer. This part of the story helps us make sense of later relationships and interactions between Reacher and Joe...

Child's stories never fail to entertain and "Enemy" is no exception. A complicated plot lets Reacher reveal his more intellectual side, and the "prequel" nature of this story sheds new light on his behavior in the current time tales that have preceded this book. All in all, another fine and enjoyable novel from Lee Child.

I would REALLY appreciate it if Amazon would include the ORIGINAL publication date with their listings - this Reacher book is marked with a 2010 publication date - when it was originally published in 2004! I absolutely love the Reacher series - but since I read a LOT, I need the dates to indicate to my feeble memory whether I read this book years ago or not- the titles don't stick. Good book though if you didn't read it way back when -

This is Child's eighth Jack Reacher novel. In the first seven, Reacher is the strongest, toughest, smartest action hero. The books were fun and exciting, but did not require much thought to get through the plots.

In The Enemy, Child has changed gears. The book is set when Reacher was a young major in the military police (age 29) in 1989-90. This is a pure police procedure mystery set in the military which is a setting obviously well-known to Child. In this book, Reacher solves the mystery with brains and legwork. There is only one true action scene and that is minimal to the book.

I enjoyed this book more than Child's others. It had more substance and thought. Reacher was treated as a developing personality rather than the automaton he seems to approach in the other books in the series.

This military police mystery is highly recommended both to Reacher fans and fans of mysteries in general. As a sidenote, you do not have to have read the other books in the Reacher series, since this one predates the others in the character's life. Enjoy a good read.

I'm a Jack Reacher fan, and this book continues my love affair with him. Tightly written, The Enemy depicts heroism as it should be: no holds barred. I did not like some of the lengthy descriptions of war/weaponry, not because I don't like descriptions of war/weaponry, just that Child went on and on a little more than he should have. I guess it's Reacher I like more than the situations he finds himself in. His backstory is less interesting than his present. Still, I'll read five books like this one before one of the other thrillers by less talented writers.

I picked up Lee Child's The Enemy based on a number of recommendations, but not really knowing what the novel would be all about. The Enemy is an excellent thriller/mystery and I can see why Child's Jack Reacher series has so many followers (but don't understand why there aren't more). This is an excellent, well-written novel, with enough plot twists to keep you interested, some out of left field, some you may figure out on your own, but none that will disappoint. The novel opens on New Years' Eve 1989. Jack Reacher is an MP who has just been reassigned to an army base in North Carolina, and investigates the death of a general in a motel nearby. It looks like a heart attack, but things aren't adding up. Other, seemingly unrelated deaths and Reacher's got to figure it all out. The ending is both satisfying and plausible. Very well done. Enjoy.

This story is set in 1990, just after the fall of the Berlin wall, so is about a young Reacher and a time before email, cell phones, DNA testing... It discloses the tough guy's personal history (a sure sign of impending soap-opera-ness. I hope Child doesn't go that route) and how his character's analytical mind works.

There's certainly a lot of numerical analysis and military procedure, but it's not written with an eye toward an easy revision into a screen play. Child's restraint against writing screen-play-masquerading-as-novel (such as Michael Crichton's recent oeuvre) is especially laudable because the author did indeed write TV scripts. However, as the plot unfolds into the second half of the book, it lapses into straight narrative to review for the reader the twists and turns, instead of unveiling the plot for the reader to 'see.' This is a weakness.

The characters, main as well as secondary, have more facets than in earlier novels and there's a very dry humor. Whether it's authentic military humor, I don't know, but I do giggle every few pages, especially over the terse dialog. I wish I could treat my colleagues like that without inviting deadly office politics. Best of all, I learn from the intentionally insubordinate Reacher how not to be intimidated by superior officers. I love this tough guy.

"The Enemy" is the eighth book in the Jack Reacher series, but being a prequel, it's still a fine place to begin to cut your teeth on this fascinating albeit terminally unlucky protagonist. It happened to be the first Reacher book that I read and it's been a great primer for the older books in the series.

The book will be of obvious interest to anyone who's into the whole CSI-wherever mania. The backdrop of the U.S. military at the functional crossroads of the fall of the Berlin Wall is an interesting one that I haven't seen explored before in this sort of thriller.

Reacher's experiences in this book also go a long way toward explaining and justifying his cynical worldview and tenacious pursuit of right over wrong that otherwise might seem to be a bit of overkill when considering only the other books in the series. The author made a great choice in providing this prequel as a framework for the rest of his protagonist's life.

Best of all, the book is just plain well-written. The subtle mark of good writing is that its flow makes it virtually transparent to the reader. I find that I have to force my way through so many other lesser authors' stilted verbiage and clumsy narrative; this is not the case with "The Enemy". I've read many other people complain about the rat-a-tat-tat style of brief stream-of-conscious phrases that Child employs. While there probably is too much of this convention in earlier Reacher books, it's not so here. The incomplete thoughts and unfinished observations here only serve to give credibility to the first-person voice he employs.

The story is a true page-turner a la Harlan Coben when he's on his game. While it does lag a bit past the halfway point, the story wraps with a conclusion that is exciting without being over-the-top, interesting without being implausible. It's more than you get from the vast majority of thrillers out there right now.

"The Enemy" is a highly-recommendable piece of suspense/detective fiction and an excellent starting point in the series of Jack Reacher novels.

I've read all eight Jack Reacher novels. The Enemy is not the best of the books - that would be Persuader - but if you enjoyed the others you'll certainly like this one also. You know exactly what you want from a Jack Reacher book and you always get it, which is more than you can say for many popular crime series. Unlike the rapidly deteriorating John Sandford or James Patterson books, Lee Child knows that readers like Jack Reacher just the way he started out - an alpha male with a sense of fairness, but no time to indulge in tricky deep character development.

The Enemy is a 'prequel' to the other novels - Reacher is still in the army, a young MP and rising star in the elite 110th investigative unit. Being in uniform doesn't seem to cramp his characteristic style that much - he still resists authority and does what he likes in pursuit of justice, helped by the best kind of female sidekick - attractive, talented and emotionally undemanding.

The Enemy does not entirely live up to its promises - the falling of the Berlin Wall adds surprisingly little symbolism or color to the book - it's like, in a far off land some wall is coming down, now lets get back to the story here. The plot seems repetitive in the middle, with a lot of driving here, there, back and back again for Reacher to glean obscure clues that he doesn't deign to share.

We get interesting insights into Reacher's family, although he seems very flat about some quite momentous discoveries & events. But, that's what he's like, and that's what we like. Reading this book right now (May 04), it's impossible not to wish there were a few real life Jack Reachers - decent guys with a conscience, but tough as guts - to fix matters up in Iraq...