Children’s writers often like to imagine life without grown-ups and write about it, may be to make the children feel a little more grateful for what they have. Stories such as Lord of the Flies and Home Alone have taken this theme and worked it. Higson’s The Enemy is certainly at the Lord of the Flies end of the scale, following William Golding in depicting a tribal society.
The tribes are in fact named after local supermarkets, with the main characters having fortified Waitrose. Along with a group from Morrisons, they set out on a dangerous journey across London to Buckingham Palace, where a feudal society seems to be starting up.
Excellent Writing – Higson is very readable
Charlie Higson, who achieved success with the Young Bond novels, published his first book in 1992, called King of the Ants. He is at once engrossing and inviting, without ever selling-out to plot in favour of characters. However, the action is always tense, with the reader looking over the shoulders of the characters constantly.
There is little privileging in characterisation, with each individual being given a back story and brilliantly brought to life. At a number of points, characters who seem to be emerging as the protagonist have their lives brutally cut short.
London is portrayed with vivid familiarity in an eerie way as Higson references brand names and shops which are at once well-known, but strangely out of place in an apocalyptic world. Selfridges, Buckingham Palace and The Tower of London become forts and holidays. Hyde Park becomes a farm.
One of the most exciting threads of the plot is Small Sam, who is lost on his own in the city. He has to make his way through the underground, keeping himself away from the grown-ups to try to make it to Buckingham Palace. He is captured by a couple who at first seem kind and friendly, but who quickly turn on him.
Depth of Writing in The Enemy
Some parts of The Enemy are so gruesomely written that they are in places nauseating and unsuitable for a younger audience. Higson portrays the horror of swelling pulpy bodies with sickening detail. Yet The Enemy is not merely written to shock, but is not merely a surface level horror designed to make a reader feel queasy.
Higson explores the morals behind killing other people, even ill and potentially dangerous people. He is reminiscent of Lord of the Flies in his shocking, but believable conception of the social make-up. Graffiti artists enjoy the freedom of being able to tag wherever they like, even on old monuments.
But the strain on the older teenagers shows too. No-one wants to take the responsibility to be leader and those that have the responsibility struggle with it. Relationship angst runs throughout in a typical teenage hormonal way. Unlike other books for this age group, Higson keeps romance subtle and realistic.
The Enemy sets up a lot of questions and leaves on a cliff-hanger with plenty still to be resolved. A sequel is yet to be named, but it will be released by Puffin Books in 2010.
