Didn't connect: Amongst My Enemies

Amongst My Enemies by William F. Brown
ebook, 353 pages
Published December 2011
Read February 2012

I was introduced to William Brown's writing last fall when I read The Undertaker. I enjoyed it. Though the characters were stereotypical, the suspense was great. So when asked to read Amongst My Enemies I was excited. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed with the book.

At first I thought it was going to be a like The Hunt for Red October, but then it morphed into a light romance that I thought might be more along the lines of 22 Britannia Road before hitting its stride as a Cold War Era spy novel. I have read a lot of books in this genre so my expectations might be a bit higher than the casual reader of this time period. Again, the characters were pretty stereotypical so not much was put into their descriptions. Unlike with The Undertaker, I was not able to connect with the characters at all. I didn't care if they lived or died. Even the plot was somewhat stereotypical of a cold war era spy novel. There were a few twists, but most were figured out way before the characters did.

If you don't read a lot of of spy novels, then Amongst My Enemies would be a fun read and good introduction to the genre. While my heart rate was erratic while reading The Undertaker, my pulse never got above its resting rate while reading Amongst My Enemies.  

A Roller Coaster Ride: The Undertaker

The Undertaker by William Brown
ebook, 322 pages
Published February 2011 by William F. Brown
ISBN13: 9781617505119
Read October 2011

The Undertaker is definitely a roller coaster ride, complete with the slow standing in line start. Seriously, for about the first third of the book I questioned if it was going to be worth it - just like when you stand in the long line inching forward and you see the ads for the ride and maybe a glimpse of the fun in action on a video screen, but aren't sure the shuffling pace of the line will really be worth it in the end. Boy, am I glad that I didn't hop out of line on this book.


It is a thriller involving the mafia, government, and cover-ups - all the right ingredients for a great read in my book. But there was just something about Peter's character that made it difficult for me to buy into him jumping to the conclusion of a conspiracy or scam. If you follow my Goodreads.com updates you know that I thought Peter must be really stupid for not seeing that it was the witness protection program. While I do still stand by the claim and I did finally jump on the conspiracy bandwagon around the half-way mark and that is when the ride got wild.


For a thriller, it didn't really require much thought to keep up with the story. Brown uses pretty stereotypical characters, which might be why I had problems with Peter. An aeronautical engineer (aka rocket scientist) from California does not scream conspiracy nut to me. Maybe it was the death of his wife, but I would have thought he would have been more logical.

I really liked the supporting characters of Sandy and Gino. It would be cool if there was a book that focused on Gino. Sandy was a bit unstable (I could totally see her jumping to the government conspiracy theory). Her character though served more to reinforce my opinion that Peter shouldn't have gone down that path so quickly/easily. 


The Undertaker isn't meant to be a book that you think too hard about. If you do, you just start seeing more problems and lose some of the thrilling fun that it is meant to be. It was pitched to me as a great summer beach read and it definitely would have been if I could have gotten to it this summer. For a reader who doesn't really care to read fluffy chick-lit, but still wants a light read The Undertaker is perfect! (I can say it's a fluffy thriller?)

Related articles

• Review: The Undertaker - William F. Brown (bookbagsandcatnaps.com)
• Didn't connect: Amongst My Enemies (girl-who-reads.com)