The Enemy by Desmond Bagley

Friends, this is my review of the book The Enemy by Desmond Bagley, which I read recently.. This is a book that I have had on my bookshelves for a number of years and came to light when I was moving things around. At the start of the book I could not remember the plot line so it made an enjoyable read, if slightly dated, compared to the present day, but of course correct if one assumes that the story is now historical taking place in the 1970's.

The book was written in 1977, and explores the issues and troubles related to generic engineering, and genetic warfare. The star of the book is a secret agent, Malcolm Jaggard who works for a department that is at odds with its rivals. He becomes engaged to Penny Ashton, the daughter of a successful industrialist, who has a secret past.

The industrialist disappears following on from an acid attack on Penny's sister. Malcolm is tasked with the job of finding out where he has vanished to. Slowly through a series of seemingly unrelated events the story is uncovered. A bit like peeling an onion. As each layer is uncovered new mysteries are revealed, taking the story to Sweden and then Scotland.

Seemingly as soon as one mystery is solved a new one or twist is revealed, right down to the last pages. Three quarters of the way through the book the story line did come back to me form my previous read, but that did not spoil the story in any way.

This was book 4 week 2 fiction 4 (audio book1) non fiction 0