Customer Reviews

Enemy Within

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Clancy has his hands full when anything comes out by Bond. The Enemy Within is just a great book to grab, buy and read! Un-down-putable! Its the only way to describe all of his books. If you are a reader and haven't read any books by Larry Bond. DO IT and see why!

This book should make you sit up and think. Iran the capitol of terrorism sending terrorists into the United States to create havoc and confusion. The Iranian general who plays the role of villian in the book has a master plan for occupying the United States while he makes plans for invading the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. The Bosnian badguy that the Iranian general sends to America does his job well. Acts of terrorism in the United States causes panic everywhere. Colonel Thorn and Special Agent Gray finally catch up with the Bosnian killer and assisanate him. The invasion of Iran by forces led by Colonel Thorn has the desired effect. Colonel Thorn kills the Iranian general responsible for the wave of terrorism that has been engulfing the United States. This is a very good book. Bond displayed a knowledge of terrorism with this book. This is a must read.

I just finished it after spending my whole weekend doing nothing else. Started Saturday and couldn't put it down until I finished on Sunday afternoon (during football, no less). Altho' I had a little trouble getting into the first 25 pages (too many Iranian names, locations, etc.), once the action started it was a page-turner to the end. This is a book to strike terror and paranoia into every American's soul. The apparent ease with which terrorist attacks are carried out is frightening and horribly realistic. It seems that this could really happen. I hope that none of the people reading this book are inclined to act on these ideas. This is the first of Larry Bond's books that I have read but I will be on the lookout for more. He certainly surpasses Clancy (who has sold out to commercialism and the screenplay mentality) and the characters are more well-defined than Clancy's (except in his "Red October" ...the best of his books). Don't read this if you are already paranoid about what is happening in this country because you will not sleep comfortably again. Kudos to Larry Bond for a timely & thought-provoking read.

I consider myself a Larry Bond veteran. I started with his first book, 'Red Phoenix' many years ago, and absolutely loved it. His 2nd and 3rd novels were a re-hashing of his first story, sorta like 'Red Storm Rising' with different locations, but all were very well written, and each novel better than the previous. When 'The Enemy Within' came out, I half expected it to be yet another scenario of war like his other novels had been, but I was pleasantly surprised when it was not only different, but TOTALLY different. This is Bond's 1st true effort to reach the level of techno-thriller established by Tom Clancy. While not as complex as Clancy, Bond DOES hit paydirt quickly with this very well-written story of terrorism on OUR soil. The premise is actually almost too simple to be true, but it IS: What if Iran wanted to invade Iraq? What is to stop them from doing so? An intervention from the United States most likely. But what if America was busy dealing with something more important while this invasion took place? But WHAT could be so involving that we couldn't notice or even attempt to do something about a full-scale invasion by Iran? How 'bout dealing with terrorist on OUR home turf? Terrorists who aren't afraid of doing the unthinkable...even to a school-yard full of children. I tell ya this story made me think, 'What IF?' on more than one occasion. Our country has been spared (for the most part) terrorist activity unlike other parts of the world where it doesn't just happen, but its every day life. HOW would we really react? What would we DO? Would we really be taken off guard SO MUCH that this nightmarish scenario could actually happen? I actually think so. Larry Bond has given us a truly horrific story that borders on not 'what if' it happens, but closer to 'when' it happens... Not just a good story, but a GREAT story that is likely to stay with you long after you are finished. Kudos to Bond...let us all PRAY this scenario NEVER plays out in real life.

The cover of the paperback edition of this book has a quote from Tom Clancy stating that The Enemy Within is the best thriller he has read in a long time..Well it far surpasses anything he has WRITTEN in a long time too. Bond has written a tightly plotted and engrossing thriller that is notches above what the the so-called masters of the genre have written in years. While other authors of the genre have gotten caught up in lengthy and boring ramblings on about the military hardware used in the plot Bond mixes just enough military hardware technobabble with an excellent and believeable plot to keep us turning the pages to a satisfying conclusion. Terrorists attacking the USA has been done before but the pacing of Bonds attempt is perfect with all out violent mayhem being played out across the USA by Iranian terrorists. Even the typical love interest between the lead characters is played to a minimum so as not to interfere with the non stop action in the story. If Bond keeps turning out stories as good as this I think he will find a bigger audience for his work than he currently has and deserves!

Tom Clancy is one of my favorite authors. How did I not know about Larry Bond?!! This is the first I have read by him and I literally just finished it a few minutes ago. What a great read!! Chilling, though, and as I said, prophetic. Either that or the warning signs for 9-11 were all too apparent before the attacks. Some of the terrorist attacks described in the book were downright scary (to me). How truly easy it would be to perform some of those acts and then blend into the woodwork! How close we are to an all-out race-related civil war. We exist is some degree of believed safety and yet, how little it would/could take to turn out world around completely. I look forward to his other books (which I hope to get-some-for Christmas. :) )

An astonishing book by a great writer.I was overwhelmed by the indirect, yet ingenious ways to accomplish an objective. It showed me how full of vulnerable areas we are in our days of comfort. That it is the small things(that usually goes unseen) which, when assembled have the power to overwhelm anything in it's path. Unfortunately i must agree that the book ends off a bit too quick, a lot of detail has been left out in the last parts. But nevertheless it was a great book and well worth reading.

This book is Larry Bond's best to date. It is a solid and fastpace trhiller with all the international intrique of a Tom Clancy novel. It combines real life scenarios and modern day CNN with unbelieavable and scarry ideas of what could happen. If you ever thought that terrorism could never enter the US, ever thought the military was prepared to react, ever thought that anyone knows what really goes on in the world -- this is the book for you. It is worth every penny and will beat Grisham, Reich and other thriller authors every page and every word. I recommend it highly! It gets an 8 and not a 10 for two faults: A silly ending, a twist with its hero that was unnecessary. With an 8, a well known author and a low price, this book should be considered a best buy.

After reading four of his books, I have learned my lesson: start early so that you can finish before your eyes start closing. When a book is as engrossing as this one, I just can't stop reading. Protagonist Colonel Peter Thorn must uncover clues and peel away many layers of misdirection if he is to understand the real danger, who is responsible and what is the objective.

A tanker explodes on the Golden Gate Bridge - when the evidence points to Iran, a cruise missile strike is launched in retaliation - Iranian general Taleh summons Thorn, an old friend, to Iran to convince him that it was a rogue group: to demonstrate his desire for peace Talesh destroys all of the groups facilities - then in the US a series of seemingly unrelated attacks, including a school massacre, a massive bombing at Disneyland, an airliner blown out of the skies with a shoulder fired missile, etc., paralyzes the US and turns ethic groups against each other - and then . . .

This well written novel elevates Larry Bond to my list of favorite authors. This techno-thriller is action packed and does not include any erroneous text that you have to skip over.

Author al-Qaeda Strikes Again

If you found the recent movie THE SIEGE to be thought-provoking, then give THE ENEMY WITHIN a read. It opens splendidly with an Arab terrorist attack on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. The President finds evidence that Iran is involved and launches a cruise missile strike in retaliation. Colonel Peter Thorn and FBI agent Helen Gray suspect the Iranians are up to something big some time afterwards - and they are proved right as a series of terrorist strikes paralyse the US and turn ethnic groups against each other. A school massacre, an attack on Disneyland, city bombings, airliners shot down . . . what is the link between Iranian general Taleh and some Bosnian Muslims and Somalians running amok in the States? And what are Taleh's real motives? My only criticism is that the ending seemed rather rushed after an impressive build-up, but the story continues well in DAY OF WRATH. A real page-turner.