Enigma

Robert Harris

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

March 1943, the war hangs in the balance.

At Bletchley Park Tom Jericho, a brilliant young codebreaker, is facing a double nightmare. The Germans have unaccountably changed their U-boat Enigma code, threatening a massive Allied defeat, and, as suspicion grows that there may be a spy inside Bletchley, Jericho's girlfriend, the beautiful and mysterious Claire Romilly, suddenly disappears.

'Extraordinarily good - undoubtedly the best thriller of the year, and perhaps of several years to come.'

'Altogether top-class stuff.'

'Robert Harris is a superb writer of thrillers.'

Review by Chrissi (010802) Rating (8/10)

Review by Chrissi
Rating 8/10
I liked Robert Harris' Fatherland, and as an author whose knowledge of life under the Nazis is of a very broad nature, I enjoyed this book, too. I did make the mistake, though, of reading the book after the film of the book. This caused me some grief as the imagery of the film coloured the way that I saw the book playing in my mind's eye - do you understand what I mean?

The book opens with Tom Jericho, burnt out, returning to his rooms at Cambridge University. He is a man of mystery, while many other young men are fighting and dying for their country, he has been performing other duties.

His seems to be a sorry tale, involved with a woman who either could not belong to him or would not belong to him, he has fallen hook, line and sinker, becoming a shadow of the man he was, consumed by something that he could not have. I had never considered mathematicians to be subject to star-crossed whims, it just goes to show...

This is just the start of the story, he goes on to find that maybe it all was not quite what he thought, and when she disappears, he tries to find her, only what starts out as a thwarted love affair turns into a concern that she has used him to get information and that information could change the course of the war.

The book is better than the film, because it gives more insight into the relationship between Tom and Claire. Claire in the film seems rather more remote and cold, whilst in the book she is at least a little easier to understand. I would, I think, like to read his book again when the film is not so fresh in my mind, I think that maybe I spoiled it for myself and cannot view the book as impartially as I would maybe have liked.
Chrissi (1st August 2002)