The Enemy
by Lee Child
★ Top 25 book of 2004 · #16 on Best Books of 2004
On New Year's Day 1990, a general is found dead in a motel and Jack Reacher, a military investigator, is ordered to take control. As the case grows deadlier, he suspects someone is setting him up.
Best for: Fans of military investigators, conspiracies and fast-moving, hard-hitting thrillers
The Enemy is #16 on BookWard's Best Books of 2004, out of 48 2004 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Enemy is about
New Year's Day, 1990, and the Berlin Wall is coming down when a major general dies of a heart attack in a shabby North Carolina motel, his briefcase missing. Military policeman Jack Reacher is sent to look into it, and soon the general's wife is found murdered in Virginia. As the case widens, Reacher realizes someone is arranging for him to take the blame, and his own superior is abruptly sent to South Korea.
Told in the first person, this entry in the Jack Reacher series is chronologically the earliest, so it works well as a way into the character. Lee Child sets a tight mystery against an army and a world shifting after the Cold War, with honor, duty and loyalty at stake. Readers who like a lean, single-minded investigation will feel at home.
The Enemy on the Best Books of 2004
The Enemy came out in 2004. Of the 48 books first published in 2004 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #16 on our Best Books of 2004 list.
Why it made the list: 345 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (13 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2004 list
- The Darkest Hour Erin Hunter, #14
- Cloud Atlas David Mitchell, #15
- The Spook's Apprentice Joseph Delaney, #17
- The Walking Dead, Vol. 1 Robert Kirkman, #18
See all Best Books of 2004 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2003 Best Books of 2005.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 293 want to read it, 9 are reading it now and 43 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.8 out of 5 from 13 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 79 | 55% |
| Reader love | 31 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 38 | 20% |
Questions about The Enemy
When was The Enemy published?
The Enemy by Lee Child was first published in 2004.
Was The Enemy one of the best books of 2004?
The Enemy is #16 on BookWard's Best Books of 2004, out of 48 2004 books that cleared our data bar. 345 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (13 ratings).
Why is The Enemy on the Best Books of 2004 list?
345 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (13 ratings).
More of the best books of 2004
- Darkly Dreaming Dexter Jeffry P. Lindsay, #1
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad for Teens Robert T. Kiyosaki, #2
- The Ruins of Gorlan John Flanagan, #3
- Alexander Hamilton Ron Chernow, #4
- Blink Malcolm Gladwell, #5
- She Comes First Ian Kerner, #6
See the full Best Books of 2004, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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