This week we’re reading

Codename Enigma by Colin M. Barron, New Generation Publishing, £12

Inspired by his late father’s wartime service during the Second World War, Dunblane author Colin Barron mentions that his latest effort comprises “fiction based on fact”. This, being Colin’s second novel, follows off the back of his debut, Operation Archer, which takes influence from novels such as The Guns of Navarone (1957) in its action-packed, war-epic plot.

Codename Enigma combines explosive military action with unexpected plot twists. The action is relentless throughout. Set in the North African desert in 1942, there are minimal pauses for breath – perhaps indicating the intensity of the front-line conditions of the war against Rommel.

Of course Colin’s own father, Captain Peter Barron, is pivotal in the inspiration behind the book. The plot of Codename Enigma sees Captain Peter Lee (based on Captain Barron) take part in a hazardous mission to take a captured German Enigma machine out of Tobruk before the port falls to Axis forces. Events soon sour as the combined SAS force, along with the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), become penned in by Axis armoured units. Eventually, the British soldiers take refuge in an abandoned fort next to the Qattara Depression where both sides come under attack from a mysterious foe.

Barron’s level of detail with reference to Second World War weaponry is worthy of credit. For lovers of military history and hardware, tanks such as the German Panzer IV and the American Sherman and machine guns such as the M2 Browning, are all there.

Furthermore, a wide range of films and TV series such as Sea of Sand (1958) and the original Doctor Who (1967) have also influenced much of the work within Codename Enigma.

However, much like Barron’s first novel, Codename Enigma includes a rather large dollop of science fiction at around the halfway mark and, for me, this disturbs the story somewhat.

With no forewarning of such a dramatic plot twist the remaining read is at times perplexing.

Nevertheless, Barron’s creativity and imagination is worthy of praise as his Marizan creatures provide a supernatural twist to the historical events of the North African desert during the Second World War.

Codename Enigma is certainly of interest for lovers of war fiction, thrillers, and military history alike.

Review by Jamie Wilde 6/10