Read Spy Hook Len Deighton 9780345362117 Books
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Read Spy Hook Len Deighton 9780345362117 Books
"We're dealing with Mr. Deus Ex Machina here (at least regarding plot). You get to see how the outline plays out - it's part of a series. And the people/characters have traction. Great at painting the Time and Place, and the Roles, putting them in context. Gorilla suit? I liked it, but not sure I should have."
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Spy Hook Len Deighton 9780345362117 Books Reviews :
Spy Hook Len Deighton 9780345362117 Books Reviews
- Spy Hook is the book that serendipitously introduced me to Len Deighton's Bernard Samson on a cool, Southern California evening with little to do. Little did I know that Deighton is a master, that Bernard would become one of my favorite characters, regardless of medium, and that I would devour the other books in the three trilogies of the life and trials of Bernard Samson.
Since discovering this author, book, series only a year and a half ago, I have read the series three times and each time been completely drawn into the delightfully dark world that Deighton has created for perhaps the most under-celebrated hero of all time. - Let me preface this by stating that Deighton is a brilliant spy story novelist. That being said, I consider this book a kind of background reference, and interesting to us who have been hooked to read the series up to this point. There is one thing missing for the most part, and that one thing is Bernard Samson.
Samson, in the previous books has been the central character. He is the MAIN THRUST this series has been built on. He is, of course, mentioned throughout this book, but his absence as an active character, to me, makes this a reference piece. - Bernard Samson is a spy working for the British Secret Service in 1987, but his duties are largely bureaucratic in nature. He travels frequently to Berlin because he is assigned to the "German desk", but that allows him to stay in touch with his close friends there. Samson's life has gone topsy-turvy since his wife, Fiona, defected to the KGB, three years or more ago, but he is convinced that Fiona did not defect, rather, that she is being used by the Secret Service as a mole. The higher ups in his office will not confirm his suspicions and they are furious with him for pursuing his own investigation into the truth behind Fiona's supposed defection. Those four sentences are the basic outline of the four previous Samson novels that have led up to Spy Line (Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match, and Spy Hook).
In Spy Line, Bernard continues to pursue the truth about Fiona, until the truth behind her defection is made clear. He travels to Berlin again and is told to cross into East Berlin and bring Fiona back to the West, but her retrieval and return become a nightmare as the Secret Service again imposes its will on Samson and Fiona in order to manipulate the truth behind Fiona's rescue. It's difficult to imagine reading this book without having first read the first four books detailed above. Samson is an unusual spy, a stubborn, but highly intelligent man. By the time you greet him again in Spy Line, you will feel as if you know him better than he knows himself, and as the book comes to a close with Bernard and Fiona in virtual imprisonment, you will understand exactly how frustrated and angry he feels.
Len Deighton is a wonderful author. You will love this book. - This is the 6th book in a 9-book series set during the cold war and featuring the adventures (and misadventures) of Bernard Samson, whose wife Fiona early on defects to the Russians. Bernard is never aware of the whole story -- the first five books and the last two are all written in first person, from Bernard's point of view. Spy Sinker allows a broader view, and fills in the reader on the full story. Not that living in Samson's head is any hardship. His acerbic take on everything from the British Secret Service to his colleagues and their wives enlivens every page. Of one straying wife, he remarks. "Her faithfulness would never be a subject for lyric poetry. Limericks, perhaps." These books are all wonderful. Start with Berlin Game and read straight through.
- I have loved all of Mr Deighton’s books but this one is different. It seems to be everything he tries to avoid in his writing. The only character who comes out of it with any integrity is Bernard. The rest appear shallow, selfish, self indulgent. It looks as though it was written to a timeline rather than a plan. Enjoy the rest of the series and forgive this error of judgement.
- Spy line continued the story of Bernard Sampson. Deighton wrote all his trilogies so that they may be read separate, although there is a continuous storyline. I wish he had not done so, we get a continuing redundancy of detail about each character and setting. The dilemmas you anticipate from the previous books does in fact occur and there is much less twist to the plot than in Game, Set, Match. I am left mangled in a difficult dilemma in the plot that does not get any attention before the book closes, and I assume that it will be taken up in his next trilogy. If these books were supposedly meant to be read in any order there should have been a resolution of any central dilemma. If you have already read the other books, then I recommend you read this one and keep going. That must have been his point in not solving the dilemma, but don't tell me they can be read separately.
- We're dealing with Mr. Deus Ex Machina here (at least regarding plot). You get to see how the outline plays out - it's part of a series. And the people/characters have traction. Great at painting the Time and Place, and the Roles, putting them in context. Gorilla suit? I liked it, but not sure I should have.
- Le Carre and Deighton are in a class of their own when it comes to the cold war era of spies. This Deighton novel follows up the first series of London Game, Mexico Set and Berlin Match and is the first book is the sequel series of another three books. Well crafted and featuring familiar characters, Deighton captures the reality of the spy fighting the British government secret service with its infighting, jealousies and politics typical of a large bureaucratic organization.
