Berlin Game (Bernard Samson, #1) in Espionage Aficionados

Aug 04, 2014 Feliks rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-thrillers

For anyone who thinks Len Deighton was not as good a writer as John LeCarre; please realize you are mistaken in underestimating him. This series of three books more than shows he can stand alongside his more well-known rival. Reading this work will demonstrate that to you fully. The two authors simply work in different styles, as one might expect of two separate talents. Deighton never needed to imitate LeCarre to produce works of equal stature in this genre. And by the way, Deighton's non-espio ...more

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Feb 18, 2024 Philip rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: cold-war-fiction, 1980s, fiction-series, mckays, first-person, kiss-kiss-bang-bang, spy-fiction-british

Deighton's Bernard Samson is a neat cross between Adam Hall's "Quiller" and John le Carré's "George Smiley," both in style and substance (and that's not a bad thing). Deighton combines Hall's wry first-person voice with le Carré's complicated plotting (and odd fascination with both "moles" and cuckolds) to create a book that - if not truly unique - makes a valuable addition to the British Cold War espionage canon, (not to be confused with American espionage fiction - I recently had to break thos Deighton's Bernard Samson is a neat cross between Adam Hall's "Quiller" and John le Carré's "George Smiley," both in style and substance (and that's not a bad thing). Deighton combines Hall's wry first-person voice with le Carré's complicated plotting (and odd fascination with both "moles" and cuckolds) to create a book that - if not truly unique - makes a valuable addition to the British Cold War espionage canon, (not to be confused with American espionage fiction - I recently had to break those out into two different bookshelves).

The story gets off to a somewhat slow and confusing start, dealing with an intelligence macguffin involving - German banking secrets? Not the most thrilling plot device, if you're used to ticking time bombs and space lasers, but probably more realistic. Unfortunately, like so many Brit-spook stories (and I’m especially thinking "Slow Horses" here), it spends WAY too much time in London rather than the other 99.9% of the world where British spies are actually supposed to be working; but then it does move for a good chunk towards the end into the titular Berlin where what little "action" the story actually has takes place.

Anyway - good book and glad I read it, (though no promises that I'll return, as there are another eight books in the series and I have SERIOUS literary commitment issues). Still, though, a timely call-back to the days when Russia was the Big Bad - which only shows that what goes around, comes around. Makes me wonder…the First World War was originally just "The Great War" until we decided to do it again 25 years later, and so rebranded as "WWI" and WWII." At what point are we going to face reality and accept that - in a similar situation some 30 years later - we should start calling our present situation "Cold War II"?

And finally - need to add a plug here for the late, great Adam Hall, whose "Quiller" books not only hold their own against those of Deighton and le Carre, but also surpass them in terms of both action and exotic locales. But yet for some reason they have not received the same level of recognition or respect, with none (other than the first, The Quiller Memorandum) reaching 500 reviews on Goodreads. Come on, people! ...more

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Mar 16, 2020 Sam Reaves rated it really liked it

I've come late to an appreciation of Len Deighton; after reading The Ipcress File as a breathless teenager (many years ago, soon after the film came out) and a miscellany of his other novels at various points over the years, I only recently discovered the bulk of his espionage fiction and realized what a top-notch practitioner of the genre he is. Le Carré may always appeal more to the literary set, but for a solid, convincing spy tale anchored in reality, you can't go wrong with Deighton.
This is ...more

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