‘You don’t like any of your old friends these days, Bernie. What’s happened to you? Why are you so caustic? Why so suspicious of everything and everyone?’ ‘Am I? Well I’m not the only one afflicted with that,’ I said. ‘There is an epidemic of suspicion and distrust. It’s contagious. We are all in its […]
All posts found when searching for deighton
Charity by Len Deighton (1996)
Posted by Simon on January 16, 2016
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2016/01/16/charity-len-deighton/
Hope by Len Deighton (1995)
‘There are more important things in life than money, Bernard,’ she said. ‘Prove it,’ I told her. (p.301) This is a cracking book: by turns complex, puzzling, full of pungent local colour, humorous and touching. Spying as soap opera / Espionage as sitcom From the previous seven novels about the 40-something MI6 agent, Bernard Samson, […]
Posted by Simon on January 14, 2016
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/hope-len-deighton/
Faith by Len Deighton (1994)
‘If there’s one thing I pride myself on, it’s being able to sort out complicated technical material so it can be understood by the layman.’ ‘Yes, you have a mechanical mind, Dicky, I said. ‘So why don’t you wind it up this week? Yes, I’ve heard that joke, Bernard. It’s time you got some new […]
Posted by Simon on January 13, 2016
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/faith-len-deighton/
Violent Ward by Len Deighton (1993)
I had a bad feeling about this one – books set in America by British writers are often duff – but this is Deighton’s most enjoyable novel for years. Mickey Murphy It’s a first-person narrative in the voice of Mickey Murphy, a street-wise, fast-talking, unscrupulous Los Angeles lawyer. Inevitably, he’s divorced – the novel opens […]
Posted by Simon on January 12, 2016
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/violent-ward-len-deighton/
City of Gold by Len Deighton (1992)
Part one – Plot summary Cairo during the war Because of the chameleon on the book cover I thought this might be another novel set in South America, the setting of MAMista, but in fact this one is set in wartime Cairo – apparently known back then as the ‘city of gold’ – in January 1942, as […]
Posted by Simon on January 11, 2016
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/city-of-gold-len-deighton/
MAMista by Len Deighton (1991)
In The Night Manager we saw how John le Carré reacted to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War – the subjects which had provided his fictional bread and butter for nearly thirty years. He reacted by moving the same organisation – British Intelligence […]
Posted by Simon on December 28, 2015
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2015/12/28/mamista-len-deighton/
Spy Sinker by Len Deighton (1990)
This the third and final novel in the second trilogy of books about 40-something British intelligence officer Bernard Samson. In the first trilogy (Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match) his gorgeous, clever wife Fiona was exposed as a high-level ‘mole’ in the Department and forced to flee in a hurry to East Berlin. In the […]
Posted by Simon on September 18, 2015
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/spy-sinker-len-deighton/
Spy Line by Len Deighton (1990)
This is the second novel in the second trilogy about 40-something British intelligence agent, Bernard Samson. At the end of its predecessor he was on the run in Berlin, an arrest warrant issued by his own side for treason, presumably because he had been investigating (and publicising) a top secret slush fund which his wife […]
Posted by Simon on September 14, 2015
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/spy-line-len-deighton/
Spy Hook by Len Deighton (1988)
No matter where I went or what I did, Berlin would always be home for me. My father had been Resident long ago… and Berlin held all my happy childhood recollections. (p.43) The previous trilogy (Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match) featuring just-turning-forty British spy Bernard Samson all took place in the space of a […]
Posted by Simon on September 13, 2015
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2015/09/13/spy-hook-len-deighton/
Winter by Len Deighton (1987)
‘And how would Himmler benefit?’ ‘If Fritsch went, the Reihsführer-SS would also take the opportunity to extend his powers.’ ‘Himmler, extend his powers? My God, the fellow has taken over all the police forces in Germany. And now he’s expanded this SS army of his to two regiments, plus a combat-engineer company and a communications […]
Posted by Simon on September 6, 2015
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2015/09/06/winter-len-deighton/