After reading a few Reacher novels they begin to feel like a warm blanket. Predictable and a lovely interlude in life’s rich pageant.

Reacher is a ‘righteous’ psychopath smashing people into pulp. Killing people in ever more ingenious ways. Wandering like a vagrant across the empty spaces of the USA. Having (many) temporary but wonderful affairs leaving scores of young women forever grateful in his wake. Having a phenomenal mathematical ability – like being able to calculate the speed of a car or bullet. Knowing the exact time without a watch. And so on…..

Wonderful. Compulsive.

The Enemy isn’t any of those things – though there are glimpses. The Enemy is a subtle clever book about the impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. And especially the impact on the USA’s gigantic military machine. The transition from the geopolitics of the Cold War on the military. The end of the Cold War was great unless your career depended on its continuation. Wow and Double Wow.

Additionally, Child shows genuine talent as a novelist. This ‘thrilling thriller’ is brilliant and is warmly recommended.