”Weapons aren’t terrible,” I said. “Areoplanes full of passengers to Paris, bombs full of insecticide, cannons with a man inside at a circus--these aren’t terrible. But a vase of roses in the hands of a man of evil intent is a murder weapon.” Michael Caine is “Harry Palmer”.The protagonist of this novel is nameless. Though there is a moment in the novel when someone whispers:“Hello Harry.”Now my name isn’t Harry, but in this business it’s hard to remember whether it ever had been. When the producers and directors met with Michael Caine about making the movie version they decided that they had to refer to the protagonist by some sort of name so Caine christened him Harry Palmer. Later in this series of novels “Harry” is referred to as “Charles”. Neither of them are of course his real name. We know that he used to work in military intelligence, but has recently been put in charge of a small agency called WOOC(P) which is so secret that no one seems to even know what the acronym stands for. He has a very efficient secretary suffering/benefiting from OCD named Alice who is always trying to get him to be more tidy with his files. He is always teasing her with jibs like: ”Your seams are crooked.” He requisitions an attractive female assistant, since Alice doesn’t seem to find him even remotely attractive, and no one is more amazed than he is when she shows up. ”She was wearing that ‘little black sleeveless dress’ that every woman has in reserve for cocktail parties, funerals and first nights. Her slim white arms shone against the dull material, and her hands were long and slender, the nails cut short and varnished in a natural colour. I watched her even, very white teeth bite into the croissant. She could have been the top kick in the Bolshoi, Sweden’s first woman ship’s captain, private secretary to Chou En-lai, or Sammy Davis’s press agent.” The lovely Sue Lloyd is Jean in the movie version. I have such fond memories of watching her star on the TV series The Baron with Steve Forrest.Her name is Jean Tonnesson and she falls for “Harry’s” snarky charm and is soon providing him with stimulation like a secretary on Mad Man. He might be swapping fluids with her, but he still doesn’t trust her. There is something not to be fully understood about her and “Harry” has a natural distrust of everything. “Harry” has a daily rondevu in a seedy London business to fetch a particular envelope. He reseals the money and fake passports into another envelope and mails it to himself again. He is prepared for something to go disastrously wrong every day. ”It doesn’t take much to make the daily round with one’s employer work smoothly. A couple of ‘yessirs’ when you know that ‘not on your life’ is the thing to say. A few expressions of doubt about things you’ve spent your life perfecting. Forgetting to make use of the information that negates his hastily formed by deliciously convenient theories. It doesn’t take much, but it takes about 98.5 per cent more than I’ve ever considered giving.”In other words “Harry” is a complete pain in the ass. He is invited to attend an atomic bomb weapons test event by the US government on an atoll in the Pacific. “Harry” is kidnapped and subjected to cold war brainwashing which was of particular interest to the author Len Deighton. When he escapes instead of finding himself in some desert hellhole, he discovers that he is within walking distance of London. It seems there has been a double cross or a triple cross or maybe just your standard diabolical attempt to infiltrate and take over the British government. Someone is kidnapping top level scientists and brainwashing them. But to what end? And why attempt to brainwash poor “Harry”? Len Deighton pulled that rug off his head and pulled it over all our eyes.It is all rather confusing. In fact the whole plot of the novel is completely unfathomable. When Len Deighton approached Ian Fleming’s publisher they asked him to simplify the plot and bring it back. He refused and took the book to a rival publisher who accepted the novel as written. The editor over there must have been cockeyed, cross-eyed, inebriated, or merely brilliant because the book though proving so puzzling to readers somehow became a huge success. Kingsley Amis famously weighed in with it is "actually quite good if you stop worrying about what's going on".And that is the key, when I finally let go and quit trying to figure out exactly what was going on I started to really enjoy the writing. Deighton expects a lot of his readers which is probably why his novels have fallen out of favor these days. The asides though witty are reasonably obscure. It is all lost in translation from the mind of Deighton into English. I’m sure this book made perfect sense to him or it is all one elaborate ruse on the reading public.At the beginning of many of the chapters Deighton would put a horoscope that loosely reflected the contents of the chapter. ”--Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19). A good week for your hobbies and romance, but you can expect some difficulties with evening arrangements. Forthright talking may well clear the air.--”Maybe the cipher for the plot resides in the horoscopes. Regardless of being befuddled for most of the book I ended up absolutely enjoying the ride. The wit, the charm, and the snarky irreverent behavior of “Harry” kept the pages turning and a smile on my face. Sometimes we just have to let go of the rigid confines of a definable plot.I have the 1965 film on order which I hear is excellent and not confusing at all. I really can’t recommend this book except to the hardiest of Cold War fans. I find it utterly fascinating that the British public made this book a bestseller and Deighton a literary star. In for a penny in for a pound I’m definitely reading the second book in The Secret File series called Horse Under Water. Maybe Deighton will start to make sense or I will just have to accept that sometimes the insensible can still be entertaining.
I really don't understand how spy novels are judged. It seems the ones held in highest esteem are the slowest, least exciting of what is supposed to be a thriller subgenre. Even by those standards, I don't see how The IPCRESS File can be considered anything but a mess. It goes off on constant tangents, gets bogged down in endless descriptions of the most innocuous details (while important things are left out), the protagonist does almost nothing proactive, and very little of what goes on has anything to do with the plot. Yet, somehow, it's considered am espionage classic. A British Intelligence officer working for a division called WOOC(P) -- which is never anything more than the acronym -- is ordered to supervise a ransom transfer in exchange for the return of a scientist codenamed Raven, but the drop goes wrong and Raven appears to be killed. He continues to investigate, ostensibly, but really nothing much happens till much later. Spoilers...Getting the obligatory out of the way, the hero of the book is nameless, but in the movies (none of which I've seen), he's called Harry Palmer; in an effort to thumb my nose at a book for which I didn't particularly care, I will call him so here. Palmer is a fun character in the beginning, very sarcastic and resentful of his superiors. Much effort is made to separate him from the James Bond type of spy. He's not very charming, he mostly works in an office filing papers, when he jumps over a fence he splits his pants, etc. As the novel moves ahead, though, this all gets old because he doesn't really do much of anything. He drifts in and out of investigating the missing scientists, he tries to romance his pretty new assistant, he makes fun of his boss, but nothing interesting. The bulk of the book is just him doing very little. For a stretch, he goes to an island to learn about nuclear weapons from American soldiers, for no apparent purpose; the plot points revealed there could just as easily have happened anywhere else, and the island's features aren't important at all. But the worst part is that, through almost all of this, he isn't looking into the missing scientists. The plot just goes dormant until the end, and even then he doesn't do anything to figure out what the villains are up to or to stop them in any way. Victory is handed to him by others, and the plot missing from the first 200 pages is revealed in an exposition dump at the very end (including the name "IPCRESS File"). It's really bad storytelling, and everything that comes before feels like a waste of time. What does fill up most of the book? Detail. Deighton goes on and on ad nauseum about every single building, room, fixture, table, lawn, anything at all he can describe in minute intricacy. None of it is important, because pretty much nothing in the book is important, but it all gets described. It isn't even good description. Certain authors can paint a vivid word picture, make you taste the food their characters are eating and wish you were wherever they are. Ian Fleming -- an author to be looked down upon because he writes fun stories where things happen -- makes everything he describes either sexy or dangerous. Deighton makes it sound like a droning lecture from the most boring teacher you've ever had.The book does have some good points. The first 30-50 pages are enjoyable, and on the rare occasion where the plot is actually discussed, it's interesting. For some inexplicable reason, I'm compelled to read at least the next one in the Harry Palmer series, so that's something. The IPCRESS File is really tough going, though.
What do You think about The Ipcress File (2009)?
I chose to read this on holiday as I had heard much about it and it is regarded as a classic. It must be said that the story line was intriguing with many twists and turns, many unexpected and some rather bizarre. The characters were well drawn too, and interesting to boot. The only drawback I could see is that this is very much a book of its time. The author spends a lot of time talking about the trendy clothes people wear, the fashionable places they go, the smart foods and expensive drinks that they indulge in. Obviously all achingly "with it" in the 1960s, but now very dated indeed.
—Rupert Matthews
This has been praised as a literary thriller that helped shape the espionage thriller genre, and I've seen Deighton compared to Dickens, contrasted favorably to Ian Fleming.Frankly, this struck me as rather juvenile. Unlike Fleming, Deighton doesn't have a background in intelligence, and the book never struck me as plausible. It's more Get Smart than Graham Greene or John LeCarre--or even Tom Clancy. This is Len Deighton's first novel--before this he had been working as an illustrator according to his introduction--and it shows. An illustrator (as opposed to an artist) has to pretty much cover the page. His descriptions are overwritten--engorged with random elements rather than carefully chosen telling details. The narration is even crowded with intrusive footnotes. Set in the early sixties at the height of the cold war, the story is told in a conversational and often sarcastic voice by the unnamed narrator, a British intelligence officer. First person usually allows for a feeling of intimacy and a crisp point of view. Yet this narration was so rambling and confusing I'd go over passages twice to try to get what was going on and failing. And given what I've read in the other reviews, I'm not the only reader confused. A slog to read and not enough payoff to make the difficulties worth it.
—Lisa (Harmonybites)
I debated whether to start "Rabbit Is Rich" last night or stay on the light side for another short book. And here I am... I read the Bernard Samson trilogy fairly recently and liked it so I'll read the first Harry Palmer book now. I saw the excellent movie when it was new and Michael Caine was a relative unknown. This movie helped get his career going and the rest is history. Of course it included the usual superb British supporting cast: Nigel Green and Guy Doleman for two...Man, talk about a difficult-to-follow plot! This book requires attention and concentration. I'm trying... So far no mention of "Ipcress" or the narrator's name except for Harry, which he says isn't his name anyway. The author smoothed things out some as his career went on. His publishers and editors probably told him he had to! In any case the book's plot only vaguely resembles the movie's. As I recall the movie didn't travel beyond London but this one goes all the way to an atoll in the South Pacific.- Methinks that LD must've read Raymond Chandler.Now done after last night. The last few pages consisted of an explanation of just what the hell was going on. It was a very confusing and complicated ride. The movie really made it much simpler.- Why wasn't Dalby in jail? - What was up with the Epilogue? As if it all wasn't confusing enough!- I've been thinking and comparing. I've read 4 of Deighton's novels and at least that many of Le Carre's. LD's good but JLC is better. 3.75 for this book rounds up to 4*.And one more thing... I read in Wiki that LD considered that he had asked too much of his readers in this - his first - book. I can see that. His later books were easier to read.
—Chris Gager
