enigma by robert harris

Enigma by Robert Harris is a compelling novel about the events during world war two, involving the code breakers in Bletchley. The novel has been written very well and indicates a lot of research and understanding of how procedures worked in those times. Harris shows that he understands the realities of espionage in his writing, as seen in his knowledge of the Enigma machine and the way they conducted their work.

The main character in the novel is Tom Jericho, a genius in mathematics. He was responsible for breaking the shark code, which was used by the German U boats. This helped the allies send convoys of ships carrying supplies from America into Britain. It seemed apparent that a spy working for the Germans leaked information about this to them because they suddenly changed the codes. At that time there was a huge fleet, which had left America, and it was unknown of the whereabouts of the U boats. It was now a race against time to see if the men at Bletchley could crack the codes...