From amazon.co.uk:

"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 labour, the mysterious disappearance of a former girlfriend, the suspicions of his coworkers 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 techno-mystery should be."

I loved this.

It's so much better than the film in many ways, not least because Harris resists the temptation to ease Tom's troubled mind by pairing him off with Hester (a slightly dumpier-because-pregnant Kate Winslet in the movie). Instead they're seen as a necessary partnership, a reluctant detective and sometimes even more unwilling sidekick, neither of whom is unable to resist a good mental challenge.
For Hester, it's a matter of pride that she's the rightful winner of the crossword competition that won her the chance to come to Bletchley, even though as a woman, she now has a much inferior position to the man she beat.
Tom, meanwhile, is a couple of steps up from yer typical tortured genius, if only because he really does have problems. The paranoid secrecy that hangs around the huts like a bad London fog doesn't help. Then there's the issue of a spy in his hut, and everyone thinks it could well be him. There's the beautiful woman he's obsessed with, recently gone missing, and apparently implicated in the issue of the mole in the huts - and if he's not the mole, who else has she been seeing?

Offered on BookRelay for fellow UK BXers only!

Accepted by glasgowgal.

Received in the mail this morning as part of the Minx2012-GlasgowGal bookshelf exchange progamme!

;-)

I absolutely loved this book too.

I haven't seen the film, and didn't think I'd read this book before, but throughout the first few chapters I had a nagging memory of "knowing" what was going to happen. But that soon disappeared (maybe I'd read an excerpt or started it and finished it in the past??) and I became totally absorbed in the story. I thought it was fantastic - with lots of good twists and turns, and enough information on cryptography (something that has fascinated me for years) to keep me turning the pages long into the wee small hours.

I loved this so much I can barely contemplate this leaving my posession. So to ease the pain, I am going to send this off on a BookRing, before I received it back again. I'm going to re-read it after visiting Bletchley Park myself to get a feel for the setting of the book. Only *then* will I feel able to part with this wonderful book. I am so pleased I have more Harris books on my shelf waiting to be read.

Thank you so much Sam for this book, and I hope you don't mind my indulgence before the book passes on for good.

:-)

BOOKRING PARTICIPANTS

1. Ragtimebabe - UK
2. Torialouise - UK
3. Swanofkennet - UK
4. Apapsa - Greece
5. Niccijl - UK (Post back to me)

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to Ragtimebabe

Arrived last week from Glasgowgal and re-read! I love this book. I've read it, seen the film and read it more than once since. The book is definitely better, but I really enjoyed the film too, it didn't feel too "messed about with".
I need to go & visit Bletchley Pk too... luckily that's pretty likely as we have friends who live there. DH wants to go for the technical history, I want to go for the whole feel of that part of the war -so brilliantly conjoured up in this book.

A lovely surprise - turned up in the post today!!!Thank You!!! Looking forward to reading -i've heard many good things about this!!

I really enjoyed this book - the story was gripping and like others before me - a trip to bletchley park is now on my to do list. I loved the story and intrigue it was hard to put down once started!!

Off to swanofkennet now!

Just arrived in this morning's post - thank you torialouise!

Moved to base camp on Mt Toobie.

Amongst the oddballs in the code-breaking centre at Bletchley, somebody has been blabbing to the Germans that their signbals are being read. Claire, the aristicratic girlfriend of Tom, a brilliant mathematician working on the team, has gone AWOL. Fingers are pointing, the security services are on the case, and Tom enlists the help of Claire's flatmate Hester in a race against time to find out what happened to her.

I saw the film a couple of years ago, and I enjoyed it (apart from the irritating rape fields) but it wasn't particularly memorable. I suspect it's one of those films that only gets shown in Reading's only cinema complex because local lass Kate Winslet is in it.

With knowledge of the film (enhanced by Tom Stoppard) behind me I expected a workmanlike wartime thriller and was prepared to wince at the illiteracies ("bicep" - AAAARRRGH!"). It started slowly and I was less than enthralled early on, but by halfway through I was gripped. The fact that I stayed up until 2.30 in the morning says it all, really. It unfolds gently and subtly, and in the end the plot twists and squirms like an eel.

Enigma is surprisingly well-written, actually. There's little of 'our glorious heroes' about it. What I really liked was the way it captured the dreariness of a country three and a half years into a war. The shabbiness of the already unlovely town of Bletchley, the mud and barbed wire, the unappetising food, the unrelenting tiredness, and the weariness of ordinary people caught up in a war of other people's gentlemanly atrocities. The full horror, when it's finally exposed, hits you full in the kisser.

On its way to Apapsa as soon as I have an address.

Apapsa has asked to be skipped from this ring, so this afternoon I sent it by post from the Civic Centre PO, Reading, to niccijl.

Received in post. Will begin as soon as have finished current read.

Just finished this and have to say I thought it was fantastic. I'd never read of Robert Harris before, and thought I'd give the book a go. Very enjoyable, interesting story, might have to see the film now and see how it compares.

Thanks GlasgowGal, book back on its way to you.

Apologies everyone. I received this back a couple of weeks ago, and totally forgot to journal its safe arrival. Thanks to everyone who read and looked after it.

:-)