I’d never read a Len Deighton, and knew little about him, somehow having the impression he was the writer of cheap thrillers. But seeing his recent obituaries and comparisons to Le Carre meant that had to change.
Berlin Game is the first of a trilogy built around Deighton’s character Bernard Samsom, a brilliant intelligence officer who is out of place in London surrounded by Oxbridge types, but absolutely at home in Cold War Berlin where he grew up.
The plot is intricately assembled, with the constant uncertainty and misdirection proving a rolling tension to the story. Set in the early 80s it really evokes that period before mobiles, the internet, and the fall of Communism; actually not too much is different from the world of skycraft in the 60s.
My first impression from this novel is that Deighton isn’t quite as hot on the tiny observations of human behaviour and physicality as Le Carre… but he can brilliantly craft a spy story.
