THIS BOOK IS A FRAUD! THIS BOOK IS A JOKE! THIS BOOK IS AN OUTRAGE! Whew. Okay. Breathe.This was my first Len Deighton book after having heard about him for years. I knew he wrote spy books. I thought they might be like MaClean or Forsyth books. I was dead wrong. This wasn't a spy book. It was a mystery, and not a very good one. Additionally, this was the fourth book in what very well might be a nine book series, and it's not much of a stand alone novel, so that hurts it.In this book, Bernard Sampson is a "spy" working for the "Service" who has a buddy who has moved to America who confides in him that there are some funds no one knows about in the Service that are missing and wonders if Sampson's wife, who has defected to the KGB, has something to do with it. Days later, Sampson is told this man has been murdered, which turns out to be false. Sampson's curiosity is piqued, so he asks a few questions and before you know it, everyone he talks to is telling him to shut the F*** up and mind his own damn business, even old, trusted friends he's known for years. He's even sent out to L.A. where he's to be given instructions, is picked up at LAX, driven to a compound and is reunited with an old friend he thought was dead, but is obviously not. This guy gives him the same line. On the way back to the airport, the CIA picks him up and gives him the same line. What the hell is going on? He goes to visit an old family friend in the English countryside who tells him the same thing and who makes him promise not to go visit his new hot girlfriend's unstable uncle, which he immediately does, and who tries to kill him. He's saved by a friend. He goes to the director of the Service and spills all, thinking this will solve things. He's then sent to Berlin, where, as he and a friend are getting off the plane, he spots MPs waiting -- for him. The director has set him up. His friend claims to be him and is dragged off so he can escape and he goes to East Germany, returns, goes to an old Service friend's house, confronts him about the money, his wife, his friend, everything, is given some money and sent on his way and leaves. End of story. AND THAT'S IT!!! NO QUESTIONS ANSWERED. NO RESOLUTION. NOT EVEN ANY REAL ACTION. WTF??? What kind of spy story is this? This is pathetic. And Deighton has this annoying manner of presenting his characters as clowns, jokes, with sad attempts at humor. It's bad writing. And Sampson is grouchy and a real asshole to everyone he meets, except his 22 year old girlfriend, whom he adores. I mean, you can't like this guy. I was rooting for him to get shot. Nothing happens in this book and I read this criticism on a lot of reviews, apparently because the author uses this book to set up the next book in the series. But I'll be damned if I'm supposed to buy a book just to buy another! That sucks! That's marketing, not authorship. The irony is, I did buy the sequel when I bought this and I started reading it immediately to find out what the hell happens to this jerk, but if I don't get some resolution out of this book, I'm writing this author off permanently and burning both books. I already hate the guy. What a schmuck. Definitely not recommended -- at all. Under any circumstance.
Originally published on my blog here in September 2004.Three years after the events of London Match, and Bernard Samson returns, to begin narrating the second trilogy of novels about himself and his wife. With Fiona firmly established in the KGB hierarchy in Berlin after her defection, and his gradual return to being trusted in his own work for British Intelligence, and with his continuing affair with a much younger woman, everything seemed more or less settled at the end of that novel; but now something happens which beings to unravel all the loose ends that the reader thought had been tied up.The novel begins this process in the first chapter, which takes place in Washington DC. One of the interesting things about the Game, Set and Match trilogy is the remarkably small part played by the American intelligence agencies, especialy considering the post-war relationship between the US and British governments. The few American characters are either connected to British intelligence in some way or (appear to be) freelance information gatherers. Now, though, the US begins to be involved (though the office of the opening chapter belongs to an Englishman, a former colleague of Bernard's who is a financial expert). Nevertheless, the real focus is still Berlin; everything in this series of novels revolves around the city that was the symbol of the Cold War.Spy Hook is very much a character based thriller - as Deighton's novels often tend to be. There is no action "for the sake of it" in his novels, and this is more cerebral than most of them. Bernard still has an overwhelming desire to understand why his wife not only defected but abandoned him and the children. The question that the reader has to ask - if they have followed the series of novels so far - is whether the discrepancies he sees are really there, or alternatively that he's clutching at these tiny loose ends hoping that the whole tangle will fall apart. And, of course, this is only the first novel in a new trilogy, so we're not likely to find out anything other than how far Bernard is able to put other people's backs up.
What do You think about Spy Hook (1997)?
Another very good Bernard Samson book. If you've read the Game, Set and Match trilogy, this has the same sort of feel. This time Bernard is investigating the disappearance of several millions of pounds from a mysterious account in London Central. I know that sounds like someone walked into his office with a case, like he's a PI, but in reality Bernard is a spook, of sorts, and he's just curious as to what happened to the money, especially because it may involve his wife, and it certainly seems to involve a good friend of his in the Department. However, the Department is not keen on people asking too many questions, especially people with a shadow on their record like Bernard.Overall this was very well written, with a good voice. Bernard is just as I remember him from the Game, Set and Match trilogy: world-weary, coming to terms with himself at middle age, and at times still shockingly naive, especially when it comes to technology (for example, when he tells Gloria that he got all these Access Denied messages when trying to find out about the file, she says, "You do realize that every time you get a message like that, the computer records your name and access number and what you were searching for." Evidently Bernard was not aware of that). His eye for detail is also very keen, as one would expect from a Deighton protagonist. And the story ends on an excellent cliffhanger, leaving the reader satisfied but also looking forward to the next installment of the trilogy.
—rabbitprincess
I am continuing to read the Bernard Samson triotrilogy (my new word) and Spy Hook is the first of the second set of three. Despite the fact that I am a total Len Deighton fan I was only able to give this book three stars. This is because it is difficult to see that it stands alone.Bernard is chasing some missing millions and in the process finds that there are people alive who he thought were dead, although as usual he never seems really surprised. His pursuit of his quarry results in him alienating everyone in Central including the DG, so that by the end of the novel you have no option but the get onto the next one as quickly as possible.Fortunately it was on my bookshelf.
—Victor Gibson
The fourth Bernard Samson book and the first of the second trilogy, which kicks off three years later. Samson’s work and domestic life are getting back to some level of normal – or so he thinks. But when millions of pounds go missing from the Department’s ledgers, Samson is asked to convince ex-Department man (and old friend) Jim Prettyman to return to London to testify in the investigation. When Prettyman is reported murdered and Samson’s superiors take no interest, Samson starts digging further at the behest of Prettyman’s widow. This one seems a bit lightweight, and unusually for Deighton, doesn’t quite work as a standalone – a number of things are left unresolved or unexplained. Granted, the Samson books were always intended to tell a broader story across several volumes, so the payoff may come later. And in any case, I did enjoy reading it – and it was nice to catch up on the various characters in the series.
—John Defrog
