Enigma
by Robert Harris
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert HarrisEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1996-09-01
ISBN: 0804115486
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780804115483
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Book Reviews of Enigma
Book Review: Enthralling, intriguing, hard to put down (spoilers)
Summary: 5 Stars
NOTE: This review contains major spoilers! Do not read the review until you have read the book.
Well-crafted, deftly constructed, persuasive mystery from Robert Harris, as usual combining his signature ability to make historical events come alive, sympathetic and richly drawn characters, skillful writing and pacing.
Hard to fault the book, whose structure, by the way, is intended to mimic the Enigma itself, with its wheels within wheels giving new meaning to strings of symbols, each wheel here being a new configuration or interpretation of some character's motivation.
Some excellent descriptions of the mental exercise of cryptanalysis, and of problem-solving generally. I recommend by the way Michael Chabon's novel "Final Solution" as well for its insight into mathematicians' psyches.
Wonderful touches on life in the English countryside during the war, and in Bletchley generally, having the ring of authenticity and the warmth of humanism and humor.
Some plot points, unfortunately, I found implausible.
(1) No very good reason was provided for Puck to have to get a gun, much less to steal one, which only increases the risk to him.
(2) No reason for Edward to have been told so much about Claire. His story contradicts himself - he would have been left out of the loop entirely, it seems to me.
(3) The purpose of Claire's supposed security status seemed very unclear to me. All she actually did was disrupt the life of Bletchley's best cryptanalyst, namely Jericho, and cause a huge security risk to Puck. Surely she could have made up to Jericho once the effect of her breakup on his psyche was clear. The plan of having a dalliance with Jericho, then breaking his heart, seems designed to minimize his effectiveness.
(4) The book argues that Puck could not killed Claire (reasoned Tom) because he was under surveillance; but if true, all the harder it would have been to have carried out the scheme he actually did.
(5) Hard to believe Tom's insight about the fourth rotor not being used at the beginning was really as amazing as presented. Seems like the first thing they'd do is try a 3-rotor solution. But here, maybe I am not fully grasping something, so I doubt this criticism is valid.
Nevertheless, the way the book evokes so powerfully a remarkable time and place, with its intersection of cultures - Victorian England and modern England; Russia and Germany; paper and computer; past and present; individualism and society; is unforgettable.
Summary of Enigma
"LITERATE AND SAVVY . . . BRIMS WITH WARTIME INTRIGUE."--The Washington Post Book World
England 1943. Much of the infamous Nazi Enigma code has been cracked. But Shark, the impenetrable operational cipher used by Nazi U-boats, has masked the Germans' movements, allowing them to destroy a record number of Allied vessels. Feeling that the blood of Allied sailors is on their hands, a top-secret team of British cryptographers works feverishly around the clock to break Shark. And when brilliant mathematician Tom Jericho succeeds, it is the stuff of legend. . . .
"A TENSE AND THOUGHTFUL THRILLER."
--San Francisco Chronicle
Until the unthinkable happens: the Germans have somehow learned that Shark has been cracked. And they've changed the code. . . .
"SUSPENSEFUL AND FASCINATING."
--The Orlando Sentinel
As an Allied convoy crosses the U-boat infested North Atlantic . . . as Jericho's ex-lover Claire disappears amid accusations that she is a Nazi collaborator . . . as Jericho strains his last resources to break Shark again, he cannot escape the ultimate truth: There is a traitor among them. . . .
"GRIPPING . . . CAPTIVATING ."
--New York Daily News
"ELEGANTLY RESEARCHED . . . Readers will find themselves perfectly placed to experience one of Britain's finest hours."
--People
"SATISFYING . . . Harris does a crackerjack job here, playing his characters' lives off historical events in surprising ways."
--Entertainment Weekly
"SUSPENSEFUL . . . FIENDISHLY CLEVER."
--Detroit Free Press
A gripping World War II mystery novel with a cryptographic twist, Enigma's hero is Tom Jericho, a brilliant British mathematician working as a member of the team struggling to crack the Nazi Enigma code. Jericho's own struggles include nerve-wracking mental labor, the mysterious disappearance of a former girlfriend, the suspicions of his co-workers within the paranoid high-security project, and the certainty that someone close to him, perhaps the missing girl, is a Nazi spy. The plot is pure fiction but the historical background, Alan Turing's famous wartime computing project that cracked the German U-boat communications code, is real and accurately portrayed. Enigma is convincingly plotted, forcefully written, and filled with well drawn characters; in short, it's everything a good technomystery should be.
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