Synopsis
Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner Alex Segura (Secret Identity) pens an all-new streets-to-courtroom noir tale of the Punisher on trial for the murder of the Kingpin—with Matt Murdock as his defense attorney. Book two in the Marvel Crime series of thrillers for adult listeners.
When reports come in that the Kingpin and a police officer have been killed and that Frank Castle (aka the Punisher) has turned himself in for it, Matt Murdock senses holes in the narratives the media and the streets are quick to run with.
Both criminals have been Matt’s nemeses when he dons the cowl of the Daredevil, and there’s no denying that New York is better off without its Kingpin and with the Punisher behind bars. And yet … while the Punisher is a murderous vigilante, he doesn’t kill cops. And he doesn’t turn himself in.
Castle certainly deserves prison for all of the other crimes he has committed in the past. However, Matt’s indominable sense of justice insists that nobody should be locked away for crimes they didn’t actually commit. Representing the vigilante in court, Matt enters a contest of wills and guile with Castle to try and uncover the game beneath the game. And when Matt’s girlfriend takes the stand and complicates matters, there’s truly no rest for the wicked or the just. As the Kingpin’s absence causes passion and ambitions to run hot in Hell’s Kitchen, Matt must decide if justice means the letter of the law, what’s best for the citizen on the streets, or where his heart leading him.
Enemy of My Enemy continues the Marvel Crime series that began with Lisa Jewell’s Breaking the Dark and brings fans into a grittier, street-level side of the Marvel Universe. Marvel Crime novels build on one another but do not require in-depth familiarity with Marvel or the other books in the series.
Review
ENEMY OF MY ENEMY by Alex Segura is the second superhero novel I’ve read by Alex Segura. The first was ARANA AND SPIDER-MAN 2099, which had the hilarious premise of teaming up two much-neglected characters to face against Judas Traveler (quite possibly the most hated supervillain concept of all time with the possible exception of Paul Rabin). I loved it and thought it was an incredibly goofy but loyal to the characters who have always deserved better. Yes, I’m a guy salty about the fact Miguel is the villain of the second Spider-Verse universe and wonder what Peter David (RIP) thought.
The premise is that the Punisher has murdered the Kingpin and Matt Murdoch AKA Daredevil has the task of defending him. This is an incredibly strong premise and reminiscent of the second season of the Netflix Daredevil show even if that about defending Frank Castle in general versus killing Wilson Fisk. My first thought was, of course, “I really hope they don’t backtrack on this. This is an alternate universe so there’s no reason they have to.” Unfortunately, it’s only chapter later that we find out the Medical Examiner was kept from analyzing Wilson Fisk’s body and most readers will deduce this is like those covers that state a hero will die this issue (only for it to turn out to be a clone or something). This is less a spoiler than my reaction and, who knows, maybe my finely tuned comic book reader instincts were wrong.
Still, Alex Segura has a pretty good grasp on Matt Murdoch and the story is about his moral conundrum of defending a man that he knows to be a mass murderer. The best parts of the novel are also Matt wrestling with the fact that he feels no small sense of joy at Wilson Fisk’s death (this is a post Born Again [comic] storyline so many references are made to the Kingpin destroying Matt’s life even if specifics like Nuke aren’t mentioned). Matt is so deep in his own righteousness, he feels guilty even for wanting Wilson dead even if he didn’t do anything to bring him down.
We also get the inclusion of no less than three former Daredevil girlfriends to compensate for the fact
Karen Page is (still) dead in this universe. Elektra, Dakota North, and Typhoid Mary all show up at various points in the story to comment on both how much they still care for Matt while also privately (or not so privately) bemoaning what a terrible boyfriend he is. Matt is also in a relationship with an original character working in Internal Affairs and it doesn’t take long for Daredevil to torpedo this relationship by exploiting it for help in his vigilante efforts despite what a gross betrayal this is. This shows that Alex Segura has a good grasp of who Matt Murdoch is and his often hypocritical self-righteousness.
The book has flaws even if I overall enjoyed it. Some of the cast are slightly out of character even accounting for an alternate Marvel universe. Would Frank Castle ever make a deal with organized crime even if it managed to get him closer to some big wigs that he wants to kill? Would Matt Murdoch not be able to tell that two women he’s had, uh, intimate relations with are the same person even if they are in disguise? His blindness doesn’t work that way. Would Bullseye ever work as someone’s bodyguard versus just an assassin for hire?
Overall, I really enjoyed Enemy of my Enemy. Alex Segura has a deep love for the Marvel universe and manages to thread the needle that it’s close enough to the Netflix shows that fans of them will enjoy it while keeping it comics-related. The absence of Karen Page for Netflix fans will be an issue but I’m confused why she’s still dead in the comics myself (because comics). I am already interested in picking up the third of these Marvel Crime Novels. If I have any complaints, it’s the 28 dollar Kindle price tag, which is outrageous. I strongly suggest people pick up the Audible version instead.
