Enigma by Robert Harris
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Book Reviews of Enigma
Book Review: Codebreakers and the Enigma of life
Summary: 4 Stars
In 1943, the Axis appear to be on the run on all fronts but one - the Battle of the Atlantic, where German subs ferociously prey on shipping carrying supplies desperately needed by England. Direct combat with U-Boats - which are about as fast underwater as a man on a bicycle - only leads to greater losses. Coordinated by the German navy using a seemingly impenetrable military code, the U-Boats are on the verge of starving England into submission and crippling the war effort on every front.
While England survives on a diet of moldy bread and jam (and whale meat), and British women concoct cosmetics out of odds and ends, teams of theoretical mathematicians struggle feverishly to decode every German transmission. Cloistered at a remote estate outside of London, and using captured enigma code breaking machines, early computers and every secret they can muster, the cryptographers assault the code and incidentally invent artificial intelligence. In "Enigma", Harris takes the true story of the "Bletchley" Codebreakers and tosses in murder and espionage.
For Harris' hero, Tom Jericho, the strain of breaking codes proved too great, triggering a nervous breakdown and an early retirement. Unfortunately, and forewarned by British decryption, a huge convoy of desperately needed supplies has been targeted by a massive wolfpack of U-boats. As the convoy steams toward waters teeming with submarine hunters, the German's completely revamp their codes. Now blind and soon to be crippled, the British have no choice but to summon Jericho back to the project.
Returning, but soon wearing out his welcome, Jericho finds that the U-boats are not the only threat. Trying to reunite with a fellow cryptographer with whom he'd fallen in love, Jericho uncovers signs of espionage within the cryptographer's cloistered headquarters in Bletchley Park. When Jericho's lover goes missing, and with the allied convoy heading for certain disaster, Jericho turns sleuth. It's a painful and unwanted role, but Harriss manuevers his reluctant hero imaginatively, brilliantly turning Jericho's investigation into a deadly exercize in decoding the deepest, darkest code-making machine ever devised: the human heart.
Book Review: Clue for #13 across: 6 letters, A Puzzling thing, riddle
Summary: 4 Stars
What do you go for first in the papers - sports? business? the news?. It's one or the other for most of us. Not so with Tom Jericho, he reads none of it, he only does the crosswords. We are first introduced to this enigmatic fellow while he convalesces at Cambridge. Young, introspective, sensitive mathematically inclined and recuperating from a nervous breakdown. He's at his crosswords - is it simply a nervous trait, something to occupy the mind or is there a greater significance perhaps? A tool to keep the brain sharp? Jericho, we learn, is a brilliant cryptanalyst and having broken the German cipher code 'Shark' used by U-Boats, has cracked under the strain. It was a huge success nevertheless, bringing about a 75% reduction in Allied losses at sea.
Now he's needed again. The Germans recovered quickly and realizing that the U-Boat code was compromised, they completely redid it, thus once again causing the messages flowing from the Enigma machines to be cryptic. It could not have come at a worse time. A massive convoy has set sail from America with 1 Million tonnes of cargo and thousands of soldiers on board.
That's the basis for this intriguing novel. Harris weaves a few sub plots into the mix. What is the significance of the messages about a massacre of thousands of Polish officers near Smolensk, and why was the section responsible for decyphering the messages so quickly shut down? What happened to Claire Romilly? This question is of particular interest to Jericho. Claire another crytanalyst at Bletchy Park, in addition to disappearing, had prior to that, abruptly ended an affair with him. He was puzzled and still in love with her. In addition to all of that Jericho had suspicions that there was a traitor at work inside Bletchy Park. Tom Jericho, smitten was now cryptanalyst and sleuth.
The resolution of these mysteries and what happened with the convoy as well as one final twist to the plot all takes place in the last chapter of the book. I found this sudden rush to resolution with all explanations coming out in one big push, a bit forced, and for me, was the only weakness in the book. The crossword puzzle completed too quickly.
Book Review: `This was a secret big enough to swallow a person whole.'
Summary: 4 Stars
March 1943: Bletchley Park, England.
The cryptanalysts are facing their worst nightmare. The German U-boats have unexpectedly changed their Enigma cipher and the battle for control of the Atlantic hangs in the balance. The authorities seek help from Tom Jericho, a brilliant mathematician and code breaker who is presently on sick leave at Cambridge. What follows is a fascinating thriller.
`What was it that Hardy had written? That a mathematical proof like a chess problem, to be aesthetically satisfying -must possess three qualities; inevitability, unexpectedness and economy.'
I found that this novel seemed to work in two different dimensions of time very well. There was the sense of urgency as Tom Jericho and others sought to unravel the code in use by the Germans. There was also the `real time' sense of individuals living in the real world where people had particular needs, fears and desire for recognition. The suprahuman efforts required to deliver in the first state led to a number of challenges faced by `real' human beings in the second state. The effect of this continued tension on people is portrayed well in this novel.
I enjoyed this novel, but I do wish I'd read it earlier. Highly recommended to those interested in World War II fiction set in Europe. This novel is based on an actual historical event but is not an accurate portrayal of that event.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Book Review: Intersting mystery, even though the "theme" was old
Summary: 4 Stars
I found this a harder book to wade through than Fatherland.I suppose this was partially due to a darker tone to the book, maybe this was imparted by the fact that much of the book take's place in the middle of the night. I am sure another aspect was that the some of the subject matter was a bit redundant to me, having recently finished the lenghty tome Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. I was also put off by the now familiar, having read FatherLand and Archangel previously, literary and thematic twist that Harris employs of couching the revealation of historical pogroms and monstrostisties as the cause of the books mystery. All of these three books employ this same device, so that by the end of Enigma I was not that surprised by the historical cause of the "enigma".
Having said all of that, I did enjoy the book, especially the insight into the accomplishments of Bletchley Park as well as the mystery Claire's dissapearance. I guess it was just not as enjoyable as Fatherland, and it was probably a mistake to tear through three of his books in so short a time period.
Book Review: Anticlimactic ending
Summary: 4 Stars
When I first picked up this book, I thought the main focus would be on actually cracking the Enigma code. However, as the books starts, we learn that the Enigma code has already been cracked, but that the Germans have changed the key for one of the smaller portions of it. Thus, the code for the U-boats is no longer known. Unfortunately, this also is not the main thrust of the book.As it turns out, the main plot is trying to uncover the traitor within the system. Once I got over that initial disappointment, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Robert Harris knows how to grab a reader's attention and then keep it. I finished this book in two nights...I just had to see how it ended. That was the only letdown.
After all the intrigue and adrenalin, the ending seemed anticlimactic. Although it was pretty well wound up, I just felt kind of flat after finishing. "That's it?" was my first reaction. I couldn't understand why he'd ended the book that way. Oh well...his prerogative, I guess. Still, it was a very good book. I highly recommend it.