In The Presence Of The Enemy (1997) - Plot & Excerpts
Poor little Charlotte Bowen. She's 10 years old, but her mother, Eve Bowen, Undersecretary of State for the Home Office, is a narcissistic conservative politician who always thinks 'it's all about her.' Charlotte is kidnapped, but despite all of the evidence mommy dearest thinks her one-week ex-fling, Dennis Luxford, the far left newspaper The Source editor-in-chief, is pulling a con of some type. When they met eleven years ago, both were newspaper reporters. Now, they each married other people and carry on with their lives in separate realms - she in politics, he in journalism. There is no reason for either to ever interact socially; however, the nature of their work naturally bring the two into conflict. Bowen lives in a world where her every statement and even whether her makeup is correctly applied is on the front page of newspapers, plus she has to watch her back when with her fellow party members, who are jealous, ambitious, and looking to take her down so that they can move up over her. She is incapable of seeing anything happen without seeing only conspiracies to get her fired. When she decided to have Charlotte, the accidental pregnancy with Luxford, she had already decided to cut Luxford completely out of her life. But until the delivery, she did not know she would hate being a mother. Bowen is not abusive in the sense of physically striking out. While she provides for Charlotte completely, she feels indifferent to her daughter's life and concerns. Her husband, Alexander Stone, loves the little girl, so their reactions when learning Charlotte has been kidnapped from Luxford are quite different. Luxford received a note demanding that he place on the front page of the newspaper the story that he and Bowen had a child together, publicly exposing their brief relationship. Stone is frightened for the little girl, but Bowen angrily accuses Luxford of being behind the taking of Charlotte in order to embarrass Bowen. She refuses to accept that Luxford is not holding their child somewhere, and that this entire kidnap story is a lie. She refuses to cooperate with any front page story revealing their affair. Luxford, who doesn't want to destroy Bowen, his child Charlotte's mother regardless of her hostile and irrational response, and not knowing if Charlotte will really be hurt, decides to ignore the kidnap threat. After all, he has a legitimate child, Leo, 8 years old, along with an oblivious wife, Fiona, neither of whom know about his fling with Bowen or the fact of Charlotte being his illegitimate child.The kidnapper, who is real and who is NOT working with Luxford, decides to punish Luxford and Bowen when his demand is not met. A little girl's body is discovered floating in a canal. The threat is delivered again in a note. And Leo is now missing. I wasn't sure I was liking this book at first. Charlotte's arduous imprisonment is difficult to read about without wincing in sympathy, and Bowen's cold self-centeredness may strike some as ridiculous; however, I've actually known people like Bowen and I can verify they act exactly as the author has described Bowen in this novel. As horrible as the premise is, I was also wondering for too long when Thomas Lynley, eighth Earl of Asherton, and CID detective, was going to be brought into the story. It felt like he might not be investigating this one since it is Simon, Lynley's friend, and Lady Helen, Lynley's fiancé, who Luxley turns to in order to find Charlotte. Their investigation is described for almost a hundred pages of this lengthy mystery. I don't have a clue why Lynley and Barbara Havers, his sergeant, are charismatic and extremely entertaining to me, but Simon and Helen are on a different wavelength from my manner of thinking. Helen especially annoys me with her hothouse temperament. (I can't see what Lynley loves about Helen, but as usual, he sticks his foot in his mouth when he blows up at Simon and Helen for conducting their investigation without informing the police about the kidnap, and as usual Helen and Deborah, Simon's wife, are emotionally devastated by guilt and hurt.) Simon seems like a doormat to me, and his wife Deborah needs long-term therapy. I'm getting extremely annoyed by Deborah's resistance to adopting a child, and I am thinking every time Simon and Deborah come up in this series with their emo suffering over her miscarriages that if I was Simon I would soon be like "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn". How tiring Deborah is with her easily solvable problem given their class and money and the need for adoptive parents all over the Western world. For those readers who are politically correct and sensitive, skip reading the next one sentence. I am always thinking whenever Deborah appears in this series, 'what a stupid cow.' Thankfully, when Lynley and Havers finally appear, the case, and the writing, gains speed and strength. I think I can tease a little bit by saying readers, as well as the character Havers in particular, will be in for a hell of a roller coaster ride.
In the Presence of the EnemyThis is #8 in the Inspector Lynley series. There have been some definite ups and downs in this series, but I'd say this one is pretty good. An observation about these books -- I enjoy the mysteries themselves and I also find most of the recurring characters interesting. Scotland Yard Inspector Lynley, 8th Earl of Asherton, and his blue-collar co-worker Sargent Barbara Havers play off of each other very nicely. His best friend Simon St. James, a forensic scientist and his photographer wife Deborah round out the cast of characters. The other regular character, Lady Helen Clyde is Lynley's sometimes girlfriend. Lynley is madly in love with Helen. She tells him she loves him but doesn't know if she wants to marry him. She says she's worried that her perfect little world might not be always and constantly perfect if they get married. Please. I would say that any fan of English cozy mysteries will enjoy these stories if they can get past the annoying Lady Helen.In this installment, the forensic scientist St. James, his wife Deborah and Lady Helen take it upon themselves to investigate the abduction and kidnapping of a child without bothering to tell their respective best friend / sort-of fiancee who happens to be a revered and respected investigator with Scotland Yard. Tragically the child is murdered, and Lynley is understandably outraged when he discovers that his friends deliberately kept him uninformed. He lashes out at his friends and fiancee, and predictably Helen pouts, refuses to return his calls and eventually agrees to forgive him. Huh? I find it hard to understand why an intelligent perceptive man like Lynley would put up with this adolescent nonsense. But he does. The rest of the story plays out with interesting twists and turns and plenty of suspense until the murderer is identified and brought to justice. I still intend to finish the series in spite of the very silly Helen and the inexplicable devotion of Inspector Lynley. But I am addicted to who-dunnits.
What do You think about In The Presence Of The Enemy (1997)?
Eighth in the Inspector Lynley mystery series set in contemporary London.The StoryWhat an assortment of characters we have here. There's the cold-hearted politician who should never have had children. The idiot mother seeking to put a gloss on her youth. The oversexed male seeking confidence any way he can. All wrapped up in the reasons why we need policemen in our lives asking them for miracles while requiring them to make the necessary coldhearted decisions.In the Presence of the Enemy is aptly named and begins with a kidnapping which rapidly introduces us to the machinations of politics. It seems selfishness is a major part of political life. Well, it does make sense when one's own Party stands ready to stab one in the back. And, yet, shouldn't humanity be a part of political life? It seems that Bowen never possessed any and when that realization sinks in to the other half…lord, it never is realized on her part. Poor sap.The investigation is begun by Simon, Deborah, and Helen; it seems as though we won't be seeing Tommy or Barbara at all until we get a good chunk into the story. At which point, Tommy blows it with his friends and Helen. Sort of, compared to what George has put Lynley through in the past, this is rather off-hand in the way George has Simon, Deb, and Helen react. Simon does have the right attitude toward it and he is, probably, the main reason Tommy gets off as lightly as he does.Not everyone is as lucky as Tommy. Havers has her schizoid encounter while Eve certainly gets a comeuppance let alone Charlie's experience---part of me thinks Charlie is better off without her mother except for Alex's presence in her life. He was probably the only good thing in it; she certainly was for him. Leo goes through quite a bit [lucky young chap to have Fiona for his mother] before his father finally gets it…idiot. While it's never a good thing for a child to die, I think things turn out quite all right for everyone concerned.The CoverThe cover, for all its abstract feel, is a representation of the last act with its stone walls and stone stairs curving up inside a tower. Another instance of the cover artist not reading the story. Fine, use a castle…in this case, a dungeon would have been a much better fit.
—Kathy Davie
Another good contemporary British murder mystery from Elizabeth George. This time around we get child abductions and blackmail, a cold-hearted Tory MP who's more worried about her career than her missing child, and a Labour party tabloid publisher who's worried that his (8-yr-old) son isn't manly enough.The author still cheats by giving you the point of view of the murderer, making him or her seem innocent, but otherwise the mystery was very well done.We have more baby drama from the St. James's, more doom and gloom in Barbara Havers's personal life, and more will-she-marry-me-or-not suspense from Lynley and Helen Clyde. The crazy/pathetic mums in these books are beginning to sound all alike, but otherwise the characterizations continue to be very engaging. I like DC Nkata, whose role in the series seems to be expanding.
—Jamie
The writing is good, the characters are interesting and reasonably believable. The mystery...the puzzle to be put together, held my interest and kept the book a page turner. But...I'm just not a mystery fan and this book did nothing to change that.I didn't find the killer very interesting. I'm far from an expert on the criminal mind, but the killer seemed to be written as just another sociopath, another failure of brain chemistry or crossed neural circuits, acting out some bizarre sense of justice by killing children he thought were his sister and brother. Even his muddled and detestable mother didn't seem to deserve blame.In an essay on her web site George says “I am not by nature an optimistic person. I have always found pessimism a better universe in which to dwell. There, if things get worse, at least I’m not surprised." Maybe that's why some people love mystery writing and others like me don't. While I'm certainly no wild-eyed optimist, on the whole I think well of my fellow humans.I gave the book three stars because it is well written and because the blood lust and the creepy factor aren't too high.Our book club read this book because it is this year's Whatcom Reads selection. There are events throughout the month tied to this book, including several talks by Elizabeth George.
—Denise
