Originally published on my blog here in September 2000.Another one of Kent's conventional naval adventures starring Richard Bolitho. Reading three or four of these in a few months makes them seem quite tedious in the end; the background plot details may move on (a new rank for Bolitho, for example), but everything else about them is pretty much the same.In this particular case, there are fairly obvious problems with the plot, in the specific way in which Bolitho shows his brilliance in contrast to the incompetence of a superior. Stationed with the vessels blockading revolutionary France (to prevent an invasion of the British Isles), Bolitho spends almost all of the novel chasing backwards and forwards across the Atlantic after a French admiral allowed to escape by the indecisiveness of the commodore commanding Bolitho's assigned squadron. A continuous series of amazing and unlikely deductions enables Bolitho to divine what the escapee plans to do next and mount an attack. Each of these is foiled by the commodore until a wound prevents his interference. None of the mental leaps is really justified, and the contrast with the bafflement of the other British officers is almost comical.Slipshod and poor, Enemy in Sight! does not reach the standards of the rest of the series, which is usually craftsman-like if never inspired.
Reading Alexander Kent's book is almost similar to reading all that gay romance which I plague my account. Everybody has Mary Sue, nice and hated girl who ruins the story to the the shreds of bad comedy, but just sometimes it is not true and when the girl is name Richard Bolitho and has the stray lock of hair in his face which gave him younger appearance you got a huge load of fun. There are several rules, which can be apply on whole Bolitho series. They are:1. Richard Bolitho is reincarnation o
What do You think about Enemy In Sight (1999)?
It's certainly a mark of a great series to find that each successive book in the series becomes your favorite. Maybe not true for everyone of the 11 Bolitho books I have now read, but it was absolutely true for this one. So so soooooo good. I listened to this one on audible, sometimes actually reading along on kindle like i was a preschooler reading along ith the teacher, but the teacher is great! Michael Jayston's narration is the absolute perfect compliment to these books. I'm 100% hooked. I'm just fretting over the fact that someday I will run out! On to #12--Flag Captain!
—Doug
