REVIEW:

This is the fourth novel by William Brown that I’ve read, the others being Winner Lose All, The Undertaker and Thursday at Noon and I rate this the best yet. The plot was easy to follow and it is patently clear that Bill has his own natural style, bringing all the characters to life. I was ‘hooked’ right from the first chapter becoming totally involved in the ensuing story and finding it very hrad to put down for even a minute. All the elements of the characters have been well researched, making this book a good story and a great read. An excellent cold war spy novel in the era of the Third Reich that I have awarded four stars.
- Kintra ( )

I've never read any spy novels before now so when Mr. Brown contacted me asking to review Amongst My Enemies I was happy to explore this new-to-me genre, especially since his writing credits were encouraging. I'm glad to say the book did not disappoint.
Amongst My Enemies is a tightly-woven thriller with practically non-stop action and characters who are easy to care about or dislike. As I read and saw how different threads of the story were coming together I began to enjoy the book even more and soon I didn't want to put it down - I wanted to see if the bad guys were going to get what they deserved and of course if Randall would have the guts to get the girl. There was a point when I though I knew what was going to happen (the short paragraph before chapter 1 spoiled that secret) and although I was right about the outcome the "how" took me by surprise. I did not expect the story to take the turn it did and that is always a good sign. That was just one of the many twists and turns and although I grew to anticipate them they did not become less satisfying.
There was a lot of action in this book and I'm pleased to say that those scenes were done well and were balanced with more low-key scenes that allowed for character development. It was fun to watch the spunky Leslie boss Michael around, or try to anyway, and seeing the antagonists during relative down time made them more human, if not less evil.
As engaging as the book is the copy I received is in dire need of a thorough proof-reading - the awkward punctuation, missing spaces between words and descriptions that repeated word for word time after time didn't do the novel any favors. Had a careful copy-editor gone through the manuscript and eliminated all the distractions I would have given the book a higher rating. And one more thing that has nothing to do with proof-reading but it ruffles my feathers because everyone, including NPR, does it: why is it always "the Ukraine"? It's one country, not a collection of states or territories, so just like Uganda, Uruguay and Uzbekistan it doesn't get a "the". It's just "Ukraine"! I'm from there, I know.
If you enjoy spy novels with compelling characters and a fast-moving plot I'm sure you'll like this book, especially if it gets a little TLC in the copy-editing department. ( )

Amongst My Enemies is the second novel I've read from author William F. Brown, and I was eager to review it based on how much I enjoyed his previous novel The Undertaker, giving it 4 stars.

It was clear from the front cover alone that this novel was going to be different, however I didn't quite expect that it would be so different from The Undertaker that it could almost have been written by a different author.

Sometimes an author will stick to the same genre, time period, subject matter, plot mechanism or writing style but not Brown. As I was reading Amongst My Enemies, I was surprised at the author's ability to move so seamlessly between projects and write a book that was a stark contrast in comparison to The Undertaker.

I mentioned the front cover earlier, and I must admit that it does kind of look like a Tom Clancy spy thriller but I can reassure you that the plot is completely accessible to the average reader. Mike Randall is an American POW in Germany towards the end of WWII, and stows away on a U-boat in an attempt to survive the war. What he doesn't expect is to be discovered and set free off the coast of Sweden by the U-boat Captain, only to witness it being bombed, carrying it's precious cargo - crew, gold, jewels and art - to the ocean floor.

Mike has survivor guilt, but he also wants revenge, while the Germans want their gold back and will stop at nothing to get it. Brown writes really good villains, and there are certainly a couple in Amongst My Enemies.

Sometimes the plots of spy thrillers can be hard to keep up with, however this definitely isn't the case here. This was an easy and enjoyable introduction to WWII thrillers and a really great place to start if you're new to the genre. ( )