Enemy Within

By Phillip Thompson

A fast-paced thriller, "Enemy Within" encompasses assassination plots, government misconduct and revolution. When retired Marine Corps officer Wade Stuart uncovers a plot to assassinate the governor of Mississippi and take over the state as part of a people's revolution, Washington plans to attack. Stuart foresees a bloodbath and pleads for more time to extinguish the plan, but the president will not be swayed. Now Stuart is the only person who can dissolve the coup d'Etat and he must do it before the U.S. military arrives.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 096645202X
• ISBN13: 9780966452020
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Salvo Pr
• Length: 146 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Way Ahead of Its Time

At half the length of your standard thriller, but with the full count of plot, movement, and tension, Enemy Within is a rare phenomenon -- an airplane read that sticks with you years down the line. This special thriller repeats that sort of seeming contradiction from front cover to back. First of all, ATF Special Agent Wade Stuart (how's that for a good Mississippi boy name?) is a remarkable character who manages to come off fresh and yet still make us comfortable with him fast, to the point that we think we've known him a while. The plot of a Mississippi-based militia actually threatening the foundation of our country seems hard to swallow when I write it, but, believe me, it seems real enough at 40 pages in that you probably aren't putting the book down after that. I don't want to give away my favorite part of the book, but I have read countless thrillers in my life, and there is a surprise in this book that I have never seen elsewhere. And it doesn't involve gadgets or anything else like that. It's a full head-spin for us and Wade Stuart... I'm not going to give it away. But the cool thing about the surprise is that the book isn't written simply to justify it. It isn't the main villain and it comes off as incidental, but it jarringly reveals the world we're in. I just got finished reading Vince Flynn's "Pursuit of Honor." Good stuff, but, honestly, Phillip Thompson does better. The southern setting and the easy protagonist set this apart.

An unlikely hero is found in Wade Stuart.

You can't help but compare this novel to Tom Clancy's works. In which case, "The Enemy Within" is much easier to chew. Wade Stuart is written as a more down-to-earth character than other political or military thriller characters written in the past. Like Clancy, Thompson knows what he's writing about, but he brings it down to a very accessible level that anyone -- even I -- could understand. His detailed description of militia activities in the modern-day South throughout the story really makes you wonder "what if." The ending seemed a bit hurried, but that could have been due to editing constraints from the publisher. If he continues with this character as he promises, it's clear that Phillip Thompson has the right stuff to make Wade Stuart a hero for everyone.

A solid suspense novel

Despite being a tad short, once you are finished the premise of marines deploying in your city remains with you for quite some time. An exciting novel that makes you realize what these crazy militias are capable and willing to do. I can't wait until the next Wade Stuart novel!!

Modern Blackford Oakes

Mr Thompson skillfully presents an extremely complex yet timely topic in a light and enjoyable book. Resembles a modern-day Blackford Oakes novel...without all the Buckley-isms that require a bedside dictionary. Amos Moreland and Wade Stuart are successful in convincing not just themselves of their causes's righteousness...I particularly like how the reader is slowly persuaded to believe that domestic deployment of our armed forces is not inconceivable. Highly recommended as a tool to be used by platoon commanders in generating discussion among their men about "...all enemies, foreign and domestic."

Highly entertaining--militarily accurate.

A very riveting, action packed thriller. Wade Stuart posseses perhaps the most important trait of the 90's hero--a conscience. Having lived in Mississippi and presently serving in the Marine Corps, I appreciate Thompson for not shying away from the tough issues. The Mississippi Militia scenario is not far-fetched. With our Armed Forces being used more and more in internal actions (the Los Angeles riots, counter-narcotics operations, etc.), it is highly conceivable that an ENEMY WITHIN scenario could play out on American streets. As a Mississippi native, Thompson accurately recounts the plagued history of racial division within the state. Too avoid this highly contreversial topic would have been worse than negligent.