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Secret File #7
Catch a Falling Spy
1st Edition, 3rd printing
Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
59 people are currently reading
558 people want to read
About the author
Len Deighton
237 books906 followersDeighton was born in Marylebone, London, in 1929. His father was a chauffeur and mechanic, and his mother was a part-time cook. After leaving school, Deighton worked as a railway clerk before performing his National Service, which he spent as a photographer for the Royal Air Force's Special Investigation Branch. After discharge from the RAF, he studied at St Martin's School of Art in London in 1949, and in 1952 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1955.
Deighton worked as an airline steward with BOAC. Before he began his writing career he worked as an illustrator in New York and, in 1960, as an art director in a London advertising agency. He is credited with creating the first British cover for Jack Kerouac's On the Road. He has since used his drawing skills to illustrate a number of his own military history books.
Following the success of his first novels, Deighton became The Observer's cookery writer and produced illustrated cookbooks. In September 1967 he wrote an article in the Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop - an SAS attack on Benghazi during World War II. The following year David Stirling would be awarded substantial damages in libel from the article.
He also wrote travel guides and became travel editor of Playboy, before becoming a film producer. After producing a film adaption of his 1968 novel Only When I Larf, Deighton and photographer Brian Duffy bought the film rights to Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop's stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! He had his name removed from the credits of the film, however, which was a move that he later described as "stupid and infantile." That was his last involvement with the cinema.
Deighton left England in 1969. He briefly resided in Blackrock, County Louth in Ireland. He has not returned to England apart from some personal visits and very few media appearances, his last one since 1985 being a 2006 interview which formed part of a "Len Deighton Night" on BBC Four. He and his wife Ysabele divide their time between homes in Portugal and Guernsey.
Deighton worked as an airline steward with BOAC. Before he began his writing career he worked as an illustrator in New York and, in 1960, as an art director in a London advertising agency. He is credited with creating the first British cover for Jack Kerouac's On the Road. He has since used his drawing skills to illustrate a number of his own military history books.
Following the success of his first novels, Deighton became The Observer's cookery writer and produced illustrated cookbooks. In September 1967 he wrote an article in the Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop - an SAS attack on Benghazi during World War II. The following year David Stirling would be awarded substantial damages in libel from the article.
He also wrote travel guides and became travel editor of Playboy, before becoming a film producer. After producing a film adaption of his 1968 novel Only When I Larf, Deighton and photographer Brian Duffy bought the film rights to Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop's stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! He had his name removed from the credits of the film, however, which was a move that he later described as "stupid and infantile." That was his last involvement with the cinema.
Deighton left England in 1969. He briefly resided in Blackrock, County Louth in Ireland. He has not returned to England apart from some personal visits and very few media appearances, his last one since 1985 being a 2006 interview which formed part of a "Len Deighton Night" on BBC Four. He and his wife Ysabele divide their time between homes in Portugal and Guernsey.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
July 2, 2016
If you compare spy novelists to glam bands, Len Deighton is the T Rex to Graham Greene's Roxy Music and John le Carre's David Bowie -- he may lack the elegance of the former or the artistry of the latter, but is a lot more fun than either. In this mid-70's romp, his nameless hero (most likely Harry Palmer of "The Ipcress File") assist a blowhard CIA operative in unraveling a KGB espionage ring that has sunk its claws deep into the US government, stealing scientific knowledge with the apparently unwitting complicity of a kooky Russian scientist trying to establish contact with alien civilizations. Deighton could have worked hardy to obscure a couple of obvious plot twists, and has little patience for the moral ambiguities and psychological complexity that mark Greene's and le Carre's best work, but he's a fairly talented prose stylist and his action sequences are gripping.
April 22, 2020
Cold War thriller,also published as Catch a Falling Spy.
A British agent,a CIA major,a Soviet defector and an ending in the Sahara desert.The action takes place across three continents.
Started well,after that,like many of Deighton's books,it became convoluted.
A British agent,a CIA major,a Soviet defector and an ending in the Sahara desert.The action takes place across three continents.
Started well,after that,like many of Deighton's books,it became convoluted.
March 19, 2018
Published in 1977, this is the last book where Deighton used an "unnamed spy" as his protagonist, and it's a corker. In what is essentially a buddy spy story, our hero from MI6 is paired with the brash, no-nonsense Major Mann of the CIA on the case of a Soviet defector, Professor Bekuv.
Beginning in the Sahara desert, our heroes rendezvous with the Bekuv and he's brought to America with promises of a chair at a university, in return for co-operation. But Bekuv wants his wife and son to join him. The plot gets more and more complex as the novel moves from Manhattan to Miami, Paris, Dublin, back to America, before a finale in the heat of the Sahara.
Loyalties are tested at each twist in the plot. The action scenes are handled deftly, especially a shoot out at an airport and a breakneck car chase across the desert. The real delight is the wise-cracking, prickly bromance between Mann and his British counterpart. Superb dialogue, as always. This is Deighton near his best with a globe-trotting Cold War story and although the ending feels a bit perfunctory, it's still well worth the time of any spy fiction fan.
I can't help feeling that this would have worked brilliantly as a movie back in the late 70s. Entice Caine back to play the unnamed spy one more time, pair him up with, say James Caan as Major Mann, throw in Faye Dunaway as the love interest.....could have been a hit. In fact this story, with a bit of updating, could still work today.
After this Deighton would embark on his Magnum Opus, the Bernard Samson trilogies, his last word on Cold War espionage.
Beginning in the Sahara desert, our heroes rendezvous with the Bekuv and he's brought to America with promises of a chair at a university, in return for co-operation. But Bekuv wants his wife and son to join him. The plot gets more and more complex as the novel moves from Manhattan to Miami, Paris, Dublin, back to America, before a finale in the heat of the Sahara.
Loyalties are tested at each twist in the plot. The action scenes are handled deftly, especially a shoot out at an airport and a breakneck car chase across the desert. The real delight is the wise-cracking, prickly bromance between Mann and his British counterpart. Superb dialogue, as always. This is Deighton near his best with a globe-trotting Cold War story and although the ending feels a bit perfunctory, it's still well worth the time of any spy fiction fan.
I can't help feeling that this would have worked brilliantly as a movie back in the late 70s. Entice Caine back to play the unnamed spy one more time, pair him up with, say James Caan as Major Mann, throw in Faye Dunaway as the love interest.....could have been a hit. In fact this story, with a bit of updating, could still work today.
After this Deighton would embark on his Magnum Opus, the Bernard Samson trilogies, his last word on Cold War espionage.
August 22, 2020
The opening and closing of Twinkle Twinkle Little Spy, set in the desert, have "sizzle," as the newspaper reviewers might put it. Fast paced, witty quips, episodes of fear, lust, and surprise fix on virtually every page. You simply don't want to put the book down--until you come to the middle part, which tends to be a repetitive slow-go at times. Nonetheless, it's a first rate spy novel and adventure story. Complete with plenty of cultural markers contemporary to the time it was written, many of which will zoom right past contemporary readers.
One comparison to make. This novel bears some similarity to Hammond Innes' wonderful 1956 spy thriller set in Morocco and the desert among the Berbers, The Strange Land. Innes' story is better. So are the stories of defecting spies and vengeance. I might even go so far to say that Len Deighton's story is a more space age update on Innes' book than anything else.
One comparison to make. This novel bears some similarity to Hammond Innes' wonderful 1956 spy thriller set in Morocco and the desert among the Berbers, The Strange Land. Innes' story is better. So are the stories of defecting spies and vengeance. I might even go so far to say that Len Deighton's story is a more space age update on Innes' book than anything else.
December 17, 2023
মনে খচখচানি রয়ে গেল। তখন স্নায়ুযুদ্ধ চলছে। এক রাশিয়ান ডিফেক্টরকে নিয়ে কাহিনি শুরু হয়। সে আবার বিজ্ঞানী। চায় ভিনগ্রহবাসীদের সাথে যোগাযোগ করতে। এটাই ছিল শুরুর গল্প।
কিন্তু তারপর কাহিনি ঘোঁট পাকাতে থাকে। এজেন্ট, ডাবল এজেন্ট, সিআইএ, কেজিবি, সর্ষের মধ্যে ভূত, অ্যাকশন - সবই আছে।
কিন্তু ঠিক তৃপ্তি পেলাম না। যে মোরাল ডিলেমা লে ক্যারেতে পাই, সেটা ডেইটনে আশা করা ঠিক না। আমি সম্ভবত ওই আশা নিয়ে বসেছিলাম।
কিন্তু তারপর কাহিনি ঘোঁট পাকাতে থাকে। এজেন্ট, ডাবল এজেন্ট, সিআইএ, কেজিবি, সর্ষের মধ্যে ভূত, অ্যাকশন - সবই আছে।
কিন্তু ঠিক তৃপ্তি পেলাম না। যে মোরাল ডিলেমা লে ক্যারেতে পাই, সেটা ডেইটনে আশা করা ঠিক না। আমি সম্ভবত ওই আশা নিয়ে বসেছিলাম।
August 12, 2025
2.5? Personal stuff better than the spy stuff
January 3, 2013
I'm a latecomer to Len Deighton's novels. I first read "Blitzkrieg" over thirty years ago and followed that with "Fighter" and "Battle of Britain", but for some reason I have never read one of his novels until now.
It's a well written novel. Understated and full of little clues that the reader will come back to later and go "Ah-ha" when it becomes apparent what the events were foreshadowing.The story is interesting as well in that on the surface it seems to be very simple, but there is actually a whole lot going on underneath. Sometimes those other activities are revealed and explained and others are not.
A very British ,or rather, a classic British story. Understated, some dry wit and a protagonist who is very capable, but also rather passive. This is not James Bond. Closer to John le Carré than Ian Fleming or even John Gardner.
An unintentional aspect of this novel is that it is also nostalgic.Written in the mid-seventies it is totally mired in the Cold War. Looking back from 2012 one finds oneself almost wishing things still had the "clarity" that the world seemed to possess back when it was just the Capitalist West against the Communist East. For ,while things are murky and people are ambiguous, in the story there is a sense of having a side - unlike the world of today. Of course this is more likely something I have put onto the story - having come of age during the last decade of the Cold War and being a Regan Kid.
Anyway an interesting read. Classic spy novel stuff with wit and intelligence.
It's a well written novel. Understated and full of little clues that the reader will come back to later and go "Ah-ha" when it becomes apparent what the events were foreshadowing.The story is interesting as well in that on the surface it seems to be very simple, but there is actually a whole lot going on underneath. Sometimes those other activities are revealed and explained and others are not.
A very British ,or rather, a classic British story. Understated, some dry wit and a protagonist who is very capable, but also rather passive. This is not James Bond. Closer to John le Carré than Ian Fleming or even John Gardner.
An unintentional aspect of this novel is that it is also nostalgic.Written in the mid-seventies it is totally mired in the Cold War. Looking back from 2012 one finds oneself almost wishing things still had the "clarity" that the world seemed to possess back when it was just the Capitalist West against the Communist East. For ,while things are murky and people are ambiguous, in the story there is a sense of having a side - unlike the world of today. Of course this is more likely something I have put onto the story - having come of age during the last decade of the Cold War and being a Regan Kid.
Anyway an interesting read. Classic spy novel stuff with wit and intelligence.
March 28, 2018
This book is deliberately confusing for the majority of the first two-thirds, but at the end delivers a rewarding conclusion. In a similar way to Le Carrie, this book comments effectively on the way that the espionage system can wreak havoc on a personal level.
November 9, 2013
I haven't read a lot of Deighton's books. This was an excellent cold war spy thriller; defectors, chases across 3 continents, well-paced and well-crafted. I liked very much.
July 18, 2017
Originally published on my blog here in June 2004.
At the start of this novel, the main characters (Major Mann of the CIA and the narrator, a British agent) pick up a Soviet defector in the middle of the Sahara Desert. This is an unusual start for a spy novel, where it would be more common for the plot to work up to the retrieval of the defector. But here the point of the novel is the investigation of some leaks of US research to the Russians, and it is this which makes Professor Bekuv valuable, as he was one of the beneficiaries before becoming disenchanted with the system and receiving a punishment appointment as a scientific advisor in Mali.
The title is an acknowledgement that this style of spy story was becoming old fashioned (even though Deighton continued writing them for another twenty years); it is the riposte given by the narrator to Major Mann's observation that in a few years the sky will be full of spy satellites, with the implication that this will render the old style of espionage obsolete. Even a quarter of a century later, though, I have never read a thriller which has a satellite as a major character; today's fictional spies may make far more use of computers and electronic surveillance, but they are still human.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy is not ashamed to be old fashioned - in fact it revels in it. It's exciting all the way, right up to the ending when the scene returns to the Sahara. Len Deighton's plots are usually quite complicated; Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy is a more straightforward thriller than most of his novels. Even so, it is excellently done, far better written than most of the genre. This is the Len Deighton to read if you are a fan of, say, Colin Forbes or Helen MacInnes, for those who think his other novels are too convoluted. To me, being someone who really enjoys working through the complexities, the novel is lacking something, entertaining though it is.
At the start of this novel, the main characters (Major Mann of the CIA and the narrator, a British agent) pick up a Soviet defector in the middle of the Sahara Desert. This is an unusual start for a spy novel, where it would be more common for the plot to work up to the retrieval of the defector. But here the point of the novel is the investigation of some leaks of US research to the Russians, and it is this which makes Professor Bekuv valuable, as he was one of the beneficiaries before becoming disenchanted with the system and receiving a punishment appointment as a scientific advisor in Mali.
The title is an acknowledgement that this style of spy story was becoming old fashioned (even though Deighton continued writing them for another twenty years); it is the riposte given by the narrator to Major Mann's observation that in a few years the sky will be full of spy satellites, with the implication that this will render the old style of espionage obsolete. Even a quarter of a century later, though, I have never read a thriller which has a satellite as a major character; today's fictional spies may make far more use of computers and electronic surveillance, but they are still human.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy is not ashamed to be old fashioned - in fact it revels in it. It's exciting all the way, right up to the ending when the scene returns to the Sahara. Len Deighton's plots are usually quite complicated; Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy is a more straightforward thriller than most of his novels. Even so, it is excellently done, far better written than most of the genre. This is the Len Deighton to read if you are a fan of, say, Colin Forbes or Helen MacInnes, for those who think his other novels are too convoluted. To me, being someone who really enjoys working through the complexities, the novel is lacking something, entertaining though it is.
July 28, 2016
(NOTE: My copy is entitled Catch A Falling Spy, which is the US title for the same book.) Like Spy Story, this is another of Deighton’s “nameless hero” novels that isn’t about Harry Palmer. It may not even be the same guy in in Spy Story, but it arguably doesn't matter since the main focus of the book is CIA agent Major Mickey Mann, who is working with the unnamed British agent to aid in the defection of Andrei Bekuv, a Russian scientist searching the skies for alien life who may know who is leaking classified US science documents to the Kremlin. Naturally, what appears to be a simple defection operation turns out to be something far more complicated and devious as Bekuv’s wife is also brought over and Mann and the narrating British agent chase clues on the leak that take them across the globe. Like Spy Story, it pales in comparison to the Palmer novels and the Bernard Samson series, but it’s an entertaining espionage tale nonetheless.
August 18, 2015
I read this when I was at school, and a lot of it must have gone over my head, because I could remember barely any of it (except for one scene on an Irish farm, in the rain, which leaped back at me with perfect clarity as soon as I reached it). What stands out this time is what a smart writer Deighton is. His characters may not have a great deal of depth, but their descriptions are spot on. No conversation can occur without a background event that either tells us more about the characters involved or subtly imparts a clue. Standout line: airport buildings, viewed through the heat haze from a jet engine, turning to 'grey jelly'.
June 21, 2012
For newcomers to Len Deighton this book would be a pretty good start. It contains all the Deighton elements, particularly a degree of misinformation, observations of events and items without comment which would guide the alert reader (I have never been alert enough) and great interaction between the main players. "You've never been a very good loser have you?" - "Well, I haven't had as much practice as you." Not to mention a rollercoaster ride all over the western hemisphere. You've got to concentrate towards the end of course.
September 3, 2018
I am a big Mick Herron fan, and someone said he was the heir apparent to Len Deighton, who I somehow have never read. So I randomly picked this one as an entrance and, wow. This took forever to get going, and then had a startling left turn that came out of nowhere and must have been shocking in the 1960s but was more of a, huh?, moment for me. I'll stick with Herron unless anyone has a better Deighton book to recommend as a starting point.
November 30, 2018
Here's my one word review: dated. If you're a fan of old school spy novels, you'll probably like this author and his books. If you're old enough to remember the cold war, WWII era spy versus spy, this book might float your boat. If you long for the simpler times of US = good/Soviet Commies = bad, you will probably find this book a welcome elixir for the current state of affairs. Maybe I'm just crabby today, but I think not.
August 26, 2016
I have recently re-read this book and I had forgotten just how much the plot is about betrayal. Betrayal by everybody. The sardonic humour of the main protagonist rescues the novel and I loved it as much as I loved it when I first read it.
January 22, 2008
I've never read a bad Len Deighton.
June 29, 2025
Típica novela de la Guerra Fría. Aunque la trama no tiene demasiado en común, por momentos me recordó un poco a La caza del Octubre Rojo, en el sentido de que son el tipo de historia.
Un científico soviético decide escapar y llevar su persona (y su trabajo) a Estados Unidos. El problema -sin problema no habría trama- es que este hombre posee mucha información, y no solo sobre los rusos: buena parte de sus investigaciones las pudo llevar adelante gracias a información que recibía de espías en occidente. Eso lleva a que no sean solamente los soviéticos los que respirarían más tranquilos si este buen hombre desapareciera de la escena. El mayor Mann, agente de la CIA, y un colega británico (quien es además el narrador) son los responsables de mantenerlo con vida y, en simultáneo, sacarle toda la información disponible sobre la red de espionaje soviética.
La trama es atrapante y está cargada de numerosos giros, como se espera de una novela de este tipo. Debo reconocer que en algunos pasajes me costó un poco seguir el hilo a las investigaciones, y como llegaban de un personaje al otro. La trama da tantas vueltas, que se vuelve todo un poco enredado.
No solo hay giros en el argumento: también la escena cambia constantemente a lo largo de la novela: comienza en el Sahara y pasa por EE.UU., Irlanda y París, antes de volver al desierto africano.
Algo que me gustó bastante fue el protagonista elegido. Por momentos nos hace pensar que se trata del típico narrador testigo, que acompaña pasivamente al mayor Mann en su trabajo. Sin embargo, con el correr de los hechos su participación cobrará cada vez más relevancia, y al final tendrá un papel fundamental en la historia, demostrando una inteligencia y sagacidad impresionantes.
Desde ya que es una novela que recomiendo, aunque el tema haya pasado un poco de moda (a veces me pregunto si realmente es así: aunque la Guerra Fría haya terminado hace mucho, las sagas cinematográficas de James Bond o Misión imposible siguen más vivas que nunca, demostrando que el entusiasmo del público por las historias de espías va más allá del contexto histórico que las envuelve). Atrapar al espía., como se tradujo el título en español, es una novela entretenida, ideal para leer en vacaciones.
Un científico soviético decide escapar y llevar su persona (y su trabajo) a Estados Unidos. El problema -sin problema no habría trama- es que este hombre posee mucha información, y no solo sobre los rusos: buena parte de sus investigaciones las pudo llevar adelante gracias a información que recibía de espías en occidente. Eso lleva a que no sean solamente los soviéticos los que respirarían más tranquilos si este buen hombre desapareciera de la escena. El mayor Mann, agente de la CIA, y un colega británico (quien es además el narrador) son los responsables de mantenerlo con vida y, en simultáneo, sacarle toda la información disponible sobre la red de espionaje soviética.
La trama es atrapante y está cargada de numerosos giros, como se espera de una novela de este tipo. Debo reconocer que en algunos pasajes me costó un poco seguir el hilo a las investigaciones, y como llegaban de un personaje al otro. La trama da tantas vueltas, que se vuelve todo un poco enredado.
No solo hay giros en el argumento: también la escena cambia constantemente a lo largo de la novela: comienza en el Sahara y pasa por EE.UU., Irlanda y París, antes de volver al desierto africano.
Algo que me gustó bastante fue el protagonista elegido. Por momentos nos hace pensar que se trata del típico narrador testigo, que acompaña pasivamente al mayor Mann en su trabajo. Sin embargo, con el correr de los hechos su participación cobrará cada vez más relevancia, y al final tendrá un papel fundamental en la historia, demostrando una inteligencia y sagacidad impresionantes.
Desde ya que es una novela que recomiendo, aunque el tema haya pasado un poco de moda (a veces me pregunto si realmente es así: aunque la Guerra Fría haya terminado hace mucho, las sagas cinematográficas de James Bond o Misión imposible siguen más vivas que nunca, demostrando que el entusiasmo del público por las historias de espías va más allá del contexto histórico que las envuelve). Atrapar al espía., como se tradujo el título en español, es una novela entretenida, ideal para leer en vacaciones.
June 13, 2022
A spy. Over by one of the masters of the genre. For some reason I have never read Deighton, although I liked the film and tv versions of his IPCRESS Files very much. Perhaps I was put off by the covers which seemed pulpy and action packed rather than cerebral, maybe he was a generation too early for me? I found this gem at the used bookstall under the Waterloo Bridge — in pristine condition no less— and read it on and off while traveling in the UK. It is a wee pulpy and the beautiful girls and blazing guns and a dismissive air towards lesbians did not endear me to the book, however it was well written and interesting enough that I might sample another!
June 25, 2023
Liked the b00k easy read can of dated for the current time.
June 14, 2014
"There's often a world of difference between what things mean, and what they are supposed to mean."
This is only going to be a short one (“phew!”), as even though it was by the (otherwise) great Len Deighton, it really didn’t connect with me in any meaningful way. I don’t feel as though I’ve ever really got to know the two main characters. Nor any of the minor ones. I never really felt attached to them in any meaningful way.
A Soviet (we’re back on the Cold War period here), is defecting (rather than defective), as - he says - he wants the freedom to search for life on other planets. The intelligence officers handling the defection, have other ideas and are looking carefully at him, wondering if he might be a plant. Or is it his wife? The main man on ‘our’ side is an American, with a British intelligence officer playing the stooge, his number two. Things go all kinds of wrong, of course, and the story goes racing over from the Sahara, to the US, Paris, Dublin and then ends up back in the Sahara desert. I think you’re supposed to think the Englishman, is ‘Harry Palmer' from ‘The Ipcress File', etc. I didn’t realise that until I read something about it afterwards. So that didn’t make much of an impression, did it?
For all the blurb on the jacket (of the hardback, Book Club Associates version I have) about it revealing ‘a more mature Deighton’ and it being ‘as compelling as it is tantalising’ nothing you could tie it down to or point to in the text, it really wasn’t either. It was a strangely slight tale that was was there and then it was gone. Short, but really not so sharp. Or particularly sweet.
This is only going to be a short one (“phew!”), as even though it was by the (otherwise) great Len Deighton, it really didn’t connect with me in any meaningful way. I don’t feel as though I’ve ever really got to know the two main characters. Nor any of the minor ones. I never really felt attached to them in any meaningful way.
A Soviet (we’re back on the Cold War period here), is defecting (rather than defective), as - he says - he wants the freedom to search for life on other planets. The intelligence officers handling the defection, have other ideas and are looking carefully at him, wondering if he might be a plant. Or is it his wife? The main man on ‘our’ side is an American, with a British intelligence officer playing the stooge, his number two. Things go all kinds of wrong, of course, and the story goes racing over from the Sahara, to the US, Paris, Dublin and then ends up back in the Sahara desert. I think you’re supposed to think the Englishman, is ‘Harry Palmer' from ‘The Ipcress File', etc. I didn’t realise that until I read something about it afterwards. So that didn’t make much of an impression, did it?
For all the blurb on the jacket (of the hardback, Book Club Associates version I have) about it revealing ‘a more mature Deighton’ and it being ‘as compelling as it is tantalising’ nothing you could tie it down to or point to in the text, it really wasn’t either. It was a strangely slight tale that was was there and then it was gone. Short, but really not so sharp. Or particularly sweet.
May 27, 2020
I've read a couple of the books in the Secret Hero / Secret File / Harry Palmer series and this is the best one of those that I've read. It was enjoyable from start to finish with an aura of mystery as loyalties were tested and motivations exposed.
It's essentially a buddy copy story rehashed into the spy genre with our protagonist teaming up with a CIA operative to bring out Professor Bekuv from Russia to assist in finding out who is leaking American scientific knowledge to Russia.
Well worth a look if you've enjoyed some of Deighton's other works, can certainly be read as a stand alone novel without reading the prior books in the series.
It's essentially a buddy copy story rehashed into the spy genre with our protagonist teaming up with a CIA operative to bring out Professor Bekuv from Russia to assist in finding out who is leaking American scientific knowledge to Russia.
Well worth a look if you've enjoyed some of Deighton's other works, can certainly be read as a stand alone novel without reading the prior books in the series.
June 15, 2015
1970's Macho spy thriller. Plenty of twists and turns, exciting if sometimes the motivations for some twists are vague or unlikely. The last outing for the nameless spy that first appeared in the classic Ipcress Files - this is not up to that standard but a good one.
In previous books much of the fun is derived from the wise cracking nameless Spy - this time the wordplay is doubled with the addition of a partner Major Mann.
A worthwhile flash back to the 1970's.
In previous books much of the fun is derived from the wise cracking nameless Spy - this time the wordplay is doubled with the addition of a partner Major Mann.
A worthwhile flash back to the 1970's.
October 14, 2013
Len Deighton's spy novels from the 60s and 70s (along with Adam Hall's Quiller books) energized a publishing trend that probably started with Eric Ambler. This one was a worthy addition, involving the defection of a Russian scientist, two trips to the North African desert, and a Soviet mole. It's exciting stuff full of wry humor.
February 3, 2019
Not my preferred Deighton (I'm more a Bernard Samson fan than a Harry Palmer one), still a pretty good espionage novel, with all the ingredients of a classic cold war spy plot and the elegance and wit of Deighton's style.
A weak spot of the book is probably character development, as none of the main or minor protagonists manage to really engage me.
A weak spot of the book is probably character development, as none of the main or minor protagonists manage to really engage me.
April 6, 2018
Probably the best “unnamed spy” book by Deighton. Easier to comprehend and faster paced than The Ipcress File & far more interesting than his more recent attempts. I WAS losing interest, but after this I’ll check out the Bernard Samson trilogies too.
June 30, 2013
Perfectly serviceable international cold war thriller. Never got ludicrous despite the extraterrestrial elements of the plot.
February 26, 2019
Len Deighton writes a pacey, entertaining novel. The tight structure and descriptive language brings the reader right into the events.
June 11, 2025
My most recent experience reading a Len Deighton novel was quite a disappointment, to say the least. I can appreciate what he was trying to do with "Goodbye, Mickey Mouse" but I think the story just plain doesn't work for me. So it's a relief to return to Deighton at his best, with a clever tale of intrigue, love, and desert winds scrambling the airwaves during a search for intelligent life among the stars.
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy" is another "unnamed spy" novel with a first-person narrator (could be Harry Palmer, could be Frederick Anthony, could be Patrick Armstrong) who finds himself embroiled in an effort to extract a Soviet scientist whose knowledge of some very top-secret technology might yield the West an advantage during the ongoing Cold War. But as he and his American contact/friend Major Mann realize, all is not as it seems, and Andrei Bekuv is not to be trifled with.
This is quite an enjoyable romp, and it carries with it a sense of love and loss, as our narrator meets and beds a glamorous female gambler. But the truth is more complicated than our would-be Romeo would like to admit, as is the complications surrounding Comrade Bekuv, who wants to find proof that little green men from Mars really exist. The Soviets aren't taking this lying down, and a body count begins when the KGB starts trying to get Andrei back. But how much is real, and how much is counterfeit? And what does this all mean for our narrator and his love life?
I really enjoyed losing myself in the world that Deighton concocts here, where no one is really on the level and everyone is for sale to the highest bidder. "Little Spy" is one of Deighton's books that isn't as weighty as the work of his contemporary Le Carre, but spy novels can be fun, too. The globe-trotting owes a bit to 007, while not as glamorous as James Bond's cinematic jaunts. But our narrator eventually returns to where it all began, in the midst of the Sahara, and uncovers the truth. This was a fun ride of a book, and a nice return to fork after my last Deighton read.
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy" is another "unnamed spy" novel with a first-person narrator (could be Harry Palmer, could be Frederick Anthony, could be Patrick Armstrong) who finds himself embroiled in an effort to extract a Soviet scientist whose knowledge of some very top-secret technology might yield the West an advantage during the ongoing Cold War. But as he and his American contact/friend Major Mann realize, all is not as it seems, and Andrei Bekuv is not to be trifled with.
This is quite an enjoyable romp, and it carries with it a sense of love and loss, as our narrator meets and beds a glamorous female gambler. But the truth is more complicated than our would-be Romeo would like to admit, as is the complications surrounding Comrade Bekuv, who wants to find proof that little green men from Mars really exist. The Soviets aren't taking this lying down, and a body count begins when the KGB starts trying to get Andrei back. But how much is real, and how much is counterfeit? And what does this all mean for our narrator and his love life?
I really enjoyed losing myself in the world that Deighton concocts here, where no one is really on the level and everyone is for sale to the highest bidder. "Little Spy" is one of Deighton's books that isn't as weighty as the work of his contemporary Le Carre, but spy novels can be fun, too. The globe-trotting owes a bit to 007, while not as glamorous as James Bond's cinematic jaunts. But our narrator eventually returns to where it all began, in the midst of the Sahara, and uncovers the truth. This was a fun ride of a book, and a nice return to fork after my last Deighton read.
July 12, 2022
See David's review. This one is a keeper on my bookshelves.
If getting there is half the fun, Mr. Deighton is a master. 280 pages that has about 100 twists and turns thru many Mideast, sand-filled countries, & etc. His descriptions are SO apt. A sample:
Percy Dempsey "limped back to join us. He was a curious figure in his floppy hat, cardigan, long bag"gy shorts and gaiters. 'Jesus' said Mann. 'Here comes Miss Marple.' 'I say--old chap,' said the old man. He had difficulty remembering out names." Perhaps that was because we changed them so frequently.'
"From the air it looks like a cluster of fancy boxes washed up onto a tropical shore. But Miami's ocean was blue and inviting and the sky cloudless. Regardless of all those jokes about the Bahamas being where Florida's rich people spend the winter, arrive in Miani straight from an Irish January and you begin to realize that the oranges are not so stupid."
Professor Andrei Bekov wants his wife (and son) to join him in defecting to the U.S. (The son is not mentioned again except in passing.) OK, that said, and done, Bekov has to be moved from place to place with gunshots abounding. Wife Elena Katerina Bekov turns out to be a spy. Our hero, unnamed, falls for Red Bancroft, also a spy. Red is chosen to babysit Mrs. Bekov. (Incidentally, the 1924 Society is a red herring.) Our Englishman interrupts Red and Katerina . . . but I give away some of the plot.
I did not find the ending odd, spy novels should have endings like this; after all, we were TOLD what interested Professor Bekov from the beginning. Good Book!
If getting there is half the fun, Mr. Deighton is a master. 280 pages that has about 100 twists and turns thru many Mideast, sand-filled countries, & etc. His descriptions are SO apt. A sample:
Percy Dempsey "limped back to join us. He was a curious figure in his floppy hat, cardigan, long bag"gy shorts and gaiters. 'Jesus' said Mann. 'Here comes Miss Marple.' 'I say--old chap,' said the old man. He had difficulty remembering out names." Perhaps that was because we changed them so frequently.'
"From the air it looks like a cluster of fancy boxes washed up onto a tropical shore. But Miami's ocean was blue and inviting and the sky cloudless. Regardless of all those jokes about the Bahamas being where Florida's rich people spend the winter, arrive in Miani straight from an Irish January and you begin to realize that the oranges are not so stupid."
Professor Andrei Bekov wants his wife (and son) to join him in defecting to the U.S. (The son is not mentioned again except in passing.) OK, that said, and done, Bekov has to be moved from place to place with gunshots abounding. Wife Elena Katerina Bekov turns out to be a spy. Our hero, unnamed, falls for Red Bancroft, also a spy. Red is chosen to babysit Mrs. Bekov. (Incidentally, the 1924 Society is a red herring.) Our Englishman interrupts Red and Katerina . . . but I give away some of the plot.
I did not find the ending odd, spy novels should have endings like this; after all, we were TOLD what interested Professor Bekov from the beginning. Good Book!
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