After long years of being away from the A to Z Blogging Challenge, I’m going to write about thrillers of all stripes, mysteries, and crime novels for 26 days in April, based on the letters of the alphabet. All posts will be linked here.
Since I’m writing up thriller and crime novel recommendations, I’m also giving away a 50 USD Amazon Gift card, to support reading, and to help my next novel THE BLUE BAR along on its journey.
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After Don’t Let Me Go by Harlan Coben, for the letter E, I bring you Enigma by Robert Harris.
Enigma: Book Description
Bletchley Park: the top-secret landmark of World War Two, where a group of young people were fighting to defeat Hitler, and win the war. March 1943, the Second World War hangs in the balance, and at Bletchley Park a brilliant young codebreaker, Tom Jericho, 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.
Enigma: Excerpt
About the author, Robert Harris
Why pick up Enigma by Robert Harris
So I read this historical thriller at a time when there were no ebooks, some time before the turn of the millennium. It wasn’t my book, but part of the collection at the home of a relative who was a huge Harris fan. I loved the cerebral quality of this book–it involved cryptography, after all, and cryptographers were crucial in tilting the war in favor of the Allied Forces. The tension grips you from the very outset, but there isn’t much violence: the mystery is high-stakes, but entirely brain, not brawn.
Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science, makes a cameo appearance, and Tom Jericho’s character is based upon him. The details of cryptography tend to be a little heavy, but my attention span was much higher in that pre-internet period of my life.
I liked that Tom Jericho was a Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie fan–at the time I read this book, I was reading both. He was heartbroken and was having a nervous breakdown, something my young self could identify with at the time, and it helped that the mystery kept unraveling, and we had the ‘spy’ angle with Jericho’s colleague and ex-girlfriend going missing with some important codes.
Enigma is beautifully evocative of that era, the conditions under which the war was fought, not just at the battlefront, as well as the many challenges faced by those living in that time. If you are a WW II fan, by any chance, you would love the book!
Have you read the book Enigma, by Robert Harris ? If yes, what did you think of it? What thrillers have you read lately ?
Through the month of April, to celebrate the challenge and get some support for THE BLUE BAR, I’m holding this giveaway:
Enter to WIN a 50 USD Amazon gift card for this
RAFFLECOPTER giveaway.
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My A to Z, this year, is about codebreaking in WWII, but I’ve somehow missed this novel. Thanks!
Thanks, I loved the review, and lots of success with your new novel. 😀
Sounds fascinating!
Beth
Wow! This book sounds truly interesting. Love the author’s description and the passage. Bravo! Thanks for sharing this, Damyanti! Have a beautiful weekend!
Love a brains over brawn book. Thanks 🙏 Damyanti, for sharing.
You’re Welcome! 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed!
Sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for checking out my blog! I’m glad you found it useful.
I haven’t read this one and I’m probably not going to — not a fan of WW2 fiction. I have read “White Smoke” recently which was touted as horror but was actually a psychological thriller (and would have been awesome if not for the sudden change at the end in genres).
Ronel visiting for the A-Z Challenge My Languishing TBR: F
I hate when books do that. I think self-pub does much better at deciding genre than trad pubbed books do, but tell no one I said that 😉
I’m not the biggest fan of Robert Harris, although I had read a lot of his around the time this came out. Despite my eternal fascination with all things Bletchley, I didn’t bite. And from the style of your extract, that’s not going to change.
I would recommend in an apex of ecstasy (can one go higher?) The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. I have another Bletchley book (or two) waiting in the wings, but I doubt anything will ever beat The Rose Code.
Your recommendation along with Roland’s just pushed it to the top of the list!
Although I like the author, I never got to read Enigma before my hands & eyes cut back my reading. I’m now listening to Audible books, so Enigma is on my TBR list again, especially as WWII and Bletchley are one of my must-read genre/topics. Have you read Kate Quinn’a The Rose Code, an excellent mystery set around Bletchley?
Haha, that serves me for not reading comments first. Looks like Roland’s a fan too!
🙂 that book has been on my TBR forever.
Another fan of The Rose Code!
I haven’t, but now I will. I do read more audiobooks too. Can’t be on screen for longer hours than I already am.
I like books that utilize historical accuracies to weave stories that are more gritty.
One such book I’ve recently read is The Alienist by Caleb Carr. It’s set in 1890s NYC and uses very real details of the day — not just cameo appearances by people who lived during that time, but also “science” as it was understood then and burgeoning psychological theories of the day, etc — to paint vivid scenes. It’s a murder mystery that reads like something “more” (if that makes any sense. I was pleasantly surprised.
Yet another author I have seen and not read. Thank you. Drat you. So many books, so little time.
Don’t we all have the long list, that keep on going?!
I was thinking of Turing as I read your review Damyanti. I love these kinds of books. I’ve read Robert Harris in the distant past and enjoyed them, but I don’t think I’ve read this one, which I’ll keep a look out for. Thank you 🙂
Glad you found this useful! Thank You 🙂
I love books about Bletchley Park. Such an amazing concept. I missed this one so thank you for sharing it.
Thanks Jacqui!
Since I thoroughly enjoyed The Imitation Game, I will likely enjoy this book. Thanks for the recommendation! Heading to the library this week, as I’m out of books to read (perish the thought).
I picked up Sisters of Resistance by Christine Wells and I’m loving it.
Ah! that’s great Denise!
I’m glad you enjoyed this post. Let me know how your reading goes, if you do get to it 🙂
I definitely like thrillers about WWII.
Then this book is right up your alley, Alex!