Spy Line

Bernard Samson #5

by Len Deighton

The long-awaited reissue of the second part of the classic spy trilogy, HOOK, LINE and SINKER, when the Berlin Wall divided not just a city but a world. winter 1987. Through these grey streets, many people are hunting for Bernard Samson - London's field agent. He is perhaps the only man who both sides would be equally pleased to be rid of. But for Bernard, the city of his childhood holds innumerable grim hiding places for a spy on the run. On a personal level there is a wonderful new young woman in his life but her love brings danger and guilt to a life already lacking stability. In this city of masks and secrets lurk many dangers - both seen and unseen - and only one thing is sooner or later Bernard will have to face the music and find someone to trust with his life.

Genres: Fiction, Espionage, Thriller, Spy Thriller, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Mystery

304 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 1989

About the author

Deighton 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.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Len Deighton's Spy Line is another novel in the Bernard Samson series about a British spy whose wife has defected to the Soviets and is operating for the KGB out of Berlin. The thing about a good spy novel is that one is never quite sure what has happened. On one hand, there is the literal truth. On the other hand, there is what the spy masters want to make of it in their reports to their superiors. We never really learn either the one or the other, especially when there are so many sides.

For example, there is an assassin named Thurkettle, who is supposedly a CIA asset, but who kills a fellow CIA agent in Salzburg, Austria. Then, too, we hear that he may be an assassin for the KGB. Which side is Thurkettle really on? We never really know.

Then there is the matter of that skull in Dr. Kent's home dental office, with all the dental work. What is that all about? We suspect, but we don't really know.

If you are not worried about such unresolved characters and issues, then Len Deighton is for you. If, on the other hand, you feel you can't leave behind any unresolved issues, then you had better stick to whodunits of the old school.

As for myself, I like Deighton ... quite a lot.

[Maine Colonial · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth book in the three-trilogy series—though you should also read the prequel, Winter. In this book, it becomes clearer than ever that London Central has irons in the fire that they are not telling agent Bernard Samson about, and that’s even when they send him off on dangerous missions in aid of their secret plots.

One of the underlying themes in this series is how the British class system operates within the intelligence services. Because Bernard didn’t go to Oxbridge—didn’t go to university at all, in fact—and isn’t part of the upper class, he will never be promoted beyond his field agent status. This, despite the fact that Bernard knows more about Germany, especially Berlin, than anybody, and many of his higher-ups are complete bumblers who don’t even speak German.

It doesn’t help Bernard’s prospects that his wife, Fiona, some years earlier defected to East Germany after being viewed as one of the most promising agents in British intelligence. The Fiona-related plot advances quite a bit in this book, which is about all I can say with spoilers.

Now, over the halfway point in this series, I’m more engrossed than ever and looking forward to finding out what happens as we get ever closer to the collapse of communism in eastern Europe.

I listened to the 2021 audiobook. James Lalley is an excellent narrator, and does a good job with the various accents he must tackle.

[Scott Holstad · Rating 3 out of 5]

As utterly atrocious as this book's predecessor, Sky Hook, was -- and it was horrible -- this book is a serious improvement on it. The last book left the reader with all sorts of unanswered questions and was obviously written for the sole purpose of getting readers to buy the sequel, which really pissed me off. So I bought the sequel, which pissed me off even more, and a lot of these questions were finally answered. British spy Bernard Samson is back and remains largely clueless about so much. He's still obsessed with his wife, Fiona, and her defection to the KGB and misses her a lot, even though he's got a great new girlfriend in Gloria, who is hot, young (at 22, half his age), smart, loves him and his kids, dotes on him, is good at parties, etc. He's an idiot. The book generally starts with him being on the run from the Service, who has set him up, but he later comes in and returns to work, only to be sent to an Austrian stamp collecting auction. Yep. And there's a murder. Yep. Weird. Later, he's taken through the Iron Curtain, where he meets Fiona for the first time in a long time and she tells him she's still working for the Service and is about to come back out of Russia, back to Britain. This leaves him in a quandary. Still, later his boss and Fiona's sister go to Berlin and insist he go with them to act as a cover for their affair. While there, he's supposed to bring someone out of Russia and he realizes it's Fiona. There's a gunfight, and I never figured out why. Totally arbitrary. Then there's the reappearance of Bret from the previous book. Annoying prick. At least Samson's dry wit is on display here, something which was lacking in the previous book. This is the fifth book in what is either a six or nine book series. As okay as this book was, I don't think I'll pick up the next book. I'm thoroughly unimpressed with this author and I think I'll stick with Forsyth for my spy books. Not really recommended, and certainly not as a stand alone book.

[Nigeyb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since recently finishing, and loving, Spy Hook (Bernard Samson, #4) I've been itching to get back to the series.

Spy Line (Bernard Samson, #5) picks up the story, which ended in Spy Hook on something of cliffhanger. It's winter 1987 in Berlin and Bernard Samson is now on the run.

One of the themes of this series is trust and Spy Line has Bernard questioning virtually every relationship in his life. Needless to say he gets very few straightforward answers.

The less you know about the plot the better, suffice to say that just when I thought this series couldn't get any better Len takes it up another level. A five star read - and what a series.

I was so gripped by the ending I stayed up late to finish it.

I have no idea where Spy Sinker (Bernard Samson, #6) will take me, but I can't wait to find out.

5/5

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did review this, but must not have saved it!
This is a continuation of Hook, all books leave you in the middle of the story, so, unless you are prepared to not buy the next one, don't pick up this book! Friend gave me Hook, and I fell, Hook, Line and Sinker, and had to buy the next one, and the next etc. Good for her, as she now gets to read them at my cost!
Story: Bernard is on the run in Berlin, he is hiding out, the British Intelligence agency knows where he is hiding out, so he is not fooling anyone. He is brought back into the fold. He has an odd assortment of friends, everyone is in the business either thru his friendship, his wife's family, his girlfriends family, his parents, everyone, it appears is a spy for someone! Wife is still billed a traitor and is the other-side of the wall, or is she. Is she coming out? Why is her sister Tess not wanting to give back the fur coat, why is the fur coat being mentioned at all? As always, murder, mystery, intrigue and a lot of back stabbing.

[Woody Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like both Deighton's writing style & his Bernard Samson character is sort of an everyman spy. I felt sorry for Bernd, as he is known in pre-Wall Fall Berlin, at so many turns. He is still deeply in love with his wife, Fiona, who has thrown him over in the most hurtful way imaginable. He is trying to reconcile his feelings for his new lover, Gloria, a Hungarian woman approximately half his age. He has his & Fiona's children to care for. His upper hierarchy continues to treat & use him as a mere pawn. It is a tangled, convoluted web being woven by Deighton, full of deception, lies and loads of inter- & intra-continental travel. This is Book 5 of 9, so it would not do the casual reader to pick up here since there is an implied familiarity with so many of the characters. I had to laugh out loud at the absurdity of the costume party of Chapter 18, especially when taken in juxtaposition with the harrowing events of Ch. 19. I have fallen for the series Hook & Line, so bring on Sinker!

[Trevor Seigler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bernard Samson is on the run as "Spy Line" opens, having had his life blown all to hell at the end of the previous novel. He's unsure of who he can trust among his peers in British intelligence, and he's convinced that the story of his wife's defection some years prior is part of an effort to run her as a double agent. As the summer comes along, he'll learn the truth, and he'll see his personal life get rocked by the events in turn.

Len Deighton is operating on all cylinders here, showing Bernard at his lowest point. He can't stay on the run, of course; London Central still needs him for their plan to unfold. And that plan involves extracting an agent from behind enemy lines. Could that agent be Fiona Samson herself?

Initially I was a little iffy about "Spy Line"; it felt a little off at first, and I wasn't sure how Deighton would thread the needle of pulling together all the events of the previous four books. But Len is a master of espionage fiction, and I came away satisfied and eager to revisit "Spy Sinker," which I actually read *way, way back* (and which tipped me off to Fiona's true loyalties when I started the Bernard Samson novels). Bernard is James Bond with a mortgage and kids to support; it's the very domestic nature of his life that makes his work and his relationship to it such a draw. "Spy Line" works, in the end, as the conclusion to at least this chapter of Bernard's life. I'm interested to read how it unfolds from here.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dual review comparing my two most recently completed novels -- The Murder Room "police procedural" and Spy Line, the fifth "Bernard Sampson" by Len Deighton spy novel. I seem to have thought them both worth four Goodreads stars, said to mean "really liked it." But I'm going to be more likely to continue reading the P.D. James "Adam Dalgliesh" series than the Deighton series. So why do I think that?

P.D. James is a more elegant fiction writer than Deighton, at least judging by this book, which apparently is the only book I've read by James. I have read six Deighton books, four novels and two nonfiction, and I've found his nonfiction superior.

Is it writing style? Characters? Plot? Not sure. But some of it might be that I find the story set in London more enjoyable than the stories set in Berlin . . . and the main reason for that may be that I am familiar with London neighborhoods and infrastructure, etc., but only know Berlin from what I've read.

The Murder Room concerns a police investigation of deaths at a small privately owned museum in the Hampstead Heath area of Greater London. The museum is a character in itself, which plays an important role in the novel. Other characters are established individually in early chapters, which is an interesting technique. I wonder if it is the author's regular method -- I guess I'll find out if I read more in the Dalgliesh series. The twists and turns in the plot are logical but not obvious, which I always appreciate. There's a good deal of information on Dalgliesh's private life . . . this is novel #12, after all . . . but I am comfortable with where I came in, thanks to James's handling of the situation.

Spy Line is perhaps the more complicated of the two, since in the spy world one can't trust anyone and one never knows who, if anyone, is what he or she seems. The story takes place at a point in the protagonist Sampson's career when neither Sampson himself or the reader can be sure of the future direction. Clearly by starting with the fifth novel I have wandered into the middle of Sampson's career story, but Deighton, like James, does a good job of helping the reader understand what came before without a lot of dreary exposition, thus helping earn four Goodreads stars.

Bottom line, as they say: I enjoyed both novels and am comfortable awarding four stars, which I don't part with easily, but I haven't found Spy Line particularly memorable and so it's doubtful that I'll take up the story of Bernard Sampson again. P.D. James, on the other hand, I wouldn't mind sampling again -- probably with the first in the Dalgliesh series unless another in the series falls in my lap.

[Jose Vera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Las visicitudes de Bernard Samson contnúan cuando los amigos que creía muertos empiezan a aparecer y a pedirle que deje de indagar sobre su mujer desertora, sobre Prettyman. La paranoia de Bernard se vuelve cada vez más intensa mientras trata de dar un orden a su vida, tanto laboral como personal.

Hice una reseña de la novela en mi blog:
http://lectorcompulsivo.com/2023/02/s...

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

TDLR: Disappointing

Better than the first entry into this second trilogy, but not by much. I'll probably stop here without continuing. I don't dislike it, but it's pushed me to a point where I no longer care.

[Quinn Fields · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one had enough twists and turns at the end to bump it above spy hook, but still a slower burn than the first Samson trilogy.

[Tras · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than book 4.

[Zach Franz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is evidently one chapter in a trilogy, or longer series, detailing the lives and exploits of Bernie Samson and other principle characters. As I hadn't read Deighton before--and had already bought "Spy Line"--I didn't care enough to search out the beginning and instead read this one.

Overall, it's a good, engaging book. Deighton's style--subtle, cynical, gloomy, British--and his talent deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Le Carre, Greene, Ambler and Furst. His prose--especially his dialogue--is intelligent and dynamic; he's often funny, which sets him apart from his contemporaries.

At the same time, not much really happens in "Spy Line" until the final fifty pages. It feels as if Deighton is coasting a bit, not earning his audience; the book was written in the late eighties, but feels twenty-five years older. That's not necessarily a good thing. It was interesting enough, but didn't make me want to rush out and fill in the missing pieces of Samson's life through further volumes.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing on from Spy Hook, Bernard Samson manages to pull himself out of one set of trouble which had ended the previous book and straight into the next. Answering along the way a number of the loose ends left by the previous book, but also producing a number of clever twists and turns that leave though important unanswered questions for the final book in the series.

Len Deighton continues to write books of well rounded characters, that concentrate on plot lines and characters rather than the the equipment. Now that most of the loose ends have been tied up in this book, you know that Mr Deighton has something major left to complete the series in the final book. Looking forward to more surprising twists and turns.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aside from the amusing witty moments and one liners, I wasn't all that keen on this book. There seemed to be a lot of random and unrelated events that just happened with no explanation, either before or after, and Samson seems to switch between being accepted as an agent and then a traitor and back again. The story is twisting and typical of a good spy novel, which I often find a bit unbelievable and convuluted, although I know many love that kind of thing but I find difficult to keep track of never mind believe. As I said, for me the only saving grace was the dry British wit that is found throughout, which often had me chuckling to myself and re-reading bits to make sure I'd read it right.

[Adrian Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although only the second book in the second Bernard Samson trilogy, this brings us to the conclusion of the saga. A further trilogy was written, but the author himself said he only did so in response to requests. While satisfying in many ways, the ending is more than brutal and also, perhaps bordering on the difficult to believe. Could people, Silas Gaunt in particular, really be that ruthless?
Nevertheless, the book is a good read and a satisfying conclusion to the tension that builds up across all the previous four books. If you like spy stories, then this cold war thriller is for you. Bernard Samson, for me, makes James Bond look like a bit of a prima donna. Hard, ruthless yet sensitive. One of my favourite fictional characters.

[Kw · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I picked this up at a sale, loved it, and now must find The Hook and The Sinker to make the sandwich complete! I usually avoid series books, but this one makes the search for it's predecsssor and sequel worth it. Great writing (where have I been all his career?) and clever amusing sentences when you least expect them. Set in the Cold War, and comparable to other writers who spotlight that era, such as Ludlum and LaCarre, in my view.

[Alex Gherzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Len Deighton's Spy Line is the payoff to Spy Hook, a fun and exciting spy thriller that puts Bernard Samson on the front lines and under fire as he seeks the truth about his wife's deception. One lingering plot point from Spy Hook is brushed aside too quickly, but the rest of the book is good enough to make up for that cop-out.

Bernard Samson is hiding out in Berlin now that British Intelligence has put out a warrant for him. Soon, he finds himself traveling to Vienna, competing with the CIA and running afoul of a deadly assassin as he unravels the full scope of Fiona's spy mission.

Spoilers...

My biggest -- and, really, my only -- gripe with Spy Line is that Samson stops being on the run almost instantly. He never has a chance to seem like he's in danger from his former colleagues because in the second or third chapter he's sitting in on an official interrogation. Not long after that, he negotiates a deal to come in from the cold, and suddenly he's back to work. Why even bother forcing him to go rogue if you're not going to do anything with it? It would've been cool seeing Samson outwit his buddies, proving that he really is better than they are, at least in the field. With this plotline discarded so fast, it feels like a waste.

Once you accept that, however, Spy Line really kicks into gear, and it might be the fastest paced, most exciting and consequential book in the series. The sequence at the auction reminded me of Ian Fleming's short story "The Property of a Lady" (which became a scene in the film Octopussy), with Samson having to bid on an item the British want to get before the CIA does, with an assassin thrown into the mix for good measure. Soon after, Samson is taken on a heavily-guarded trip to see his wife (who also tells him to leave well enough alone), attends a costume party at the hotel formerly owned by Lisl and now run by Bernard's best friend Werner, and finally finds himself Fiona's only hope of making it out of Berlin alive. This one is a grand adventure, and feels like the culmination it's clearly intended to be.

That meeting with Fiona is a tremendous piece of writing. Once again, Bernard is caught between his anger at being betrayed and the love for his wife he can't deny. Part of him wants to lash out in anger, but he keeps his cool... mostly. He lets out the occasional verbal jab, and instantly hates himself for it, even though he's more than earned a few shots. These moments are incredibly human and make Bernard Samson relatable. His wife destroyed his life, ran out on him and their children, and now he can't even be mad about it because she's doing it for Queen and Country. Fiona will get all the accolades, be celebrated as a national hero (if only behind closed doors), while he has to swallow all his pain and join in the applause. Fiona won't get off completely clean, of course; her kids will likely never forgive her, and if she really does love Bernard she has to know things with him -- if there even is a relationship there anymore -- will never be the same. She, however, signed up for this; Bernard didn't. He's a victim in every sense, and his wife had to give the okay to tear his heart out. Spy Line ends at the right moment, but I'm glad there will be more to this because I really want to see how this plays out.

There are two major new characters in Spy Line and I really like them both. When he reaches Vienna, Bernard makes contact with an Austrian operative named Otto Hoffman. and he's delightful. He takes great joy in rich deserts and audibly revels in them as he briefs Bernard on his mission. I couldn't help picturing Christoph Waltz, and I hope he turns up again. Then there's Ronnie Thurkettle, the former homicide convict turned CIA asset who is now a killer for hire. His introduction is not what we think it is, and that makes him even more interesting (not to mention scarier). He appears to be working for the KGB, but the way things go in this series we can't even be sure of that. Thurkettle makes it out of Spy Line alive, and we'd better meet him again down the line, because he and Bernard are owed a showdown.

It's good that Deighton introduced a couple of new characters, because in the excellent climax we say goodbye to two series stalwarts. Fiona's philandering sister Tessa drunkenly (among other things) tags along with Bernard and his team on the rescue mission -- dressed as a butterfly, as they're coming from a costume party -- and is the first to die in the resulting shootout. This was a big surprise, but not as big as Bernard's suspicion that Tessa was actually a target as opposed to a bystander. Why was she marked for death? Does Dicky Cruyer talk in his sleep? The other big death is Erich Sinnes, the KGB agent who played and humiliated Samson. I'm glad Bernard got a little bit of revenge, and Stinnes doesn't die easy either. Even more satisfying than Stinnes getting shot in the throat, though, is Samson finally punching out Dicky. That was perfect.

Spy Line is great, and easily the most satisfying of the Samson enealogy so far. Rushing past Bernard's fugitive status is a bummer, but the rest of the novel is sensational.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of the Hook - Line - Sinker trilogy.

[Nick Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intriguing one because although this is intended as a trilogy, I think you could read Spy Hook and Spy Line and leave it at that. The books are written from the first-person perspective of Bernard Samson and Deighton is quite clear that Samson presents things from an unreliable perspective. The story actually finishes at the end of Spy Line; Spy Sinker presents things from multiple third person perspectives of the same events as its predecessors, intended to fill in some of the gaps and give the points-of-view of other characters. Which is an interesting way of doing things.

But before we get to that, we're finishing the story of Spy Line. This and Spy Hook are definitely a pair. Deighton intended them as separate, standalone stories and it sometimes comes across; he'll refer to characters from Spy Hook as thought they've never been heard of before. But it also doesn't really work. I read them as a pair and I think you'd be quite lost if you didn't, and if you hadn't read Game, Set and Match first. Read them in order.

But it's a decent story and it retains a lot of the same elements from the first book. Samson's relentless cynicism comes across and if you're a certain kind of person, you'll sympathise with his frustrated ambitions. He's competent, but reached as high up as he'll go, whilst people better at schmoozing and with no field experience get promoted ahead of him, at least in his telling of it. If you've ever served in the military or suchlike, you'll probably know what he means. His narrative is funny for his gloomy observations about things, such as the motives of his superior Dicky Cruyer and it's an entertaining read.

If you've read the first book, you'll know what to expect here because it's more of the same. The same secrets held amid a slow-moving, paperwork-heavy bureaucracy, a very slow moving plot punctuated with sudden bursts of action and it focuses equally heavily, if not more so, on Samson's personal life as his work life. He is clearly a very conflicted individual. He's struck up a relationship with Gloria, a lady half his age, but who seems to genuinely love him and want to be with him. But he still loves his absent wife, still technically married and it's this that drives his relentless and unwanted burrowing into her actions.

Perhaps something that comes through a bit more here is the department's cynical and poor treatment of some of the people that work for it. Samson is not told anything and chucked into situations and certainly by the end, his personal life is in complete tatters. And he just has to accept it. Thereagain, going back to how we started this review, maybe that's just Samson's telling of things. When I get into Spy Sinker, I might revise my opinions.

I would say that this is a slow burn, and it's intended (I think) that you don't know everything and not all the loose ends are tied up. There is a reference to heroin smuggling that is alluded to, but never really taken anywhere and ultimately used as an excuse for blaming someone for everything that's gone wrong. If you want James Bond action and everything laid out for you like Frederick Forsyth, this is not the book for you. But if you're prepared for many shades of grey about the people, the actions and the plot, then you'll probably enjoy it. I certainly did.

[Rafeeq O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Len Deighton's Spy Line, fifth in the Bernard Samson series and second in the "Hook, Line, and Sinker" trilogy that follows the "Game, Set, and Match" trilogy, takes the world-weary ex-field agent from exile in his childhood city of Berlin through a classic Deightonesque landscape of secrets, double-dealing, and danger.

Prequel Spy Hook ended, after Bernard's ever-more intrusive snooping into what either was inexplicable embezzlement from the Department or perhaps was, um, a hidden slush fund for some very highly secret operation, with an attempt by an oddly out-of-place contingent of British MPs in the French Zone to arrest him...whereupon lifelong friend Werner Volkmann casually identifies himself as the wanted man, allowing Samson to escape.

Samson is, as a Berlin club-owner tells him, "the only man I know who both sides would be glad to get rid of": "If you were found dead tonight there'd be ten thousand suspects: KGB, CIA, and even your own people" (1991 Ballantine paperback, page 8). It's true. The experienced agent, son of intelligence officer Brian Samson, who was stationed in occupied Berlin after the war, has run many a daring caper himself from West Berlin into East Germany, and now he has provided further years of analysis and evaluation back at London Central. He is no beloved of the Communists...and after the defection of his wife Fiona to become a high-ranking Soviet KGB officer, he knows he could be eliminated, whether because of his value against them or simply because of wifely vengeance or whim. Yet from his own side, his dogged investigation into the mysteriously missing funds--an investigation that seems to point toward the traitorous Fiona and also his former boss, Bret Rensselaer, who previously was described as having died in a gunfight in Berlin but who in the previous book suddenly reappeared in the United States--brings a peculiar series of warnings-off of various levels of obliqueness. And in that prequel he indeed was getting a strange vibe from the boys from Langley, too...

So-- Why the attempted arrest of a man far more dogged and capable and loyal than many in the business? Why the inability--or is it unwillingness?--to track the fugitive down to his "squalid room" (page 13) in the city where "[his] people and the Americans still have military powers" and "can censor mail, tap phones, and jail anyone they want out of the way" (page 8)? What of the idea beginning to flicker in and out of his belief that maybe, just maybe, Fiona's appalling defection in fact might have been a play in a long game far subtler than he ever had imagined? And what of his girlfriend Gloria, at 22 only half his age, who loves him and his children dearly and yet who wants to go back to school and who also in this book's prequel had introduced him to an old friend of the family who had ended up trying to kill him?

A twisty, twisty place is the world of Cold War espionage, and, really, nearly any discussion of the many surprises of this novel I would love to discuss would be a plot-spoiler. Suffice it to say, then, that Deighton's Spy Line is, as we have come to expect of this series, a compelling 5-star read.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Berlin, Londyn, Salzburg, Wiedeń, Praga, Londyn, Berlin, Kalifornia... a w każdym z tych miejsc nowe wydarzenia, przykre niespodzianki, giną ludzie. Bernard Samson jest niby coraz bliższy odkrycia prawdy ale jednocześnie coraz bardziej zdezorientowany i wzburzony. Niektóre jego przypuszczenia, o których mówił już w poprzednim tomie, wydają się potwierdzać. Jednak, czy Fiona naprawdę nie jest wiarołomną małżonką, która zdradziła nie tylko jego, ale przede wszystkim swój kraj? Czy rzeczywiście jest podwójnym agentem? Kto z jego Departamentu brytyjskiego wywiadu o tym wie? Jaką rolę miał pełnić on, agent operacyjny a w rzeczywistości pionek w tej grze? Czy Departament chce go zniszczyć, bo był zbyt dociekliwy? Co dalej, także z jego osobistym życiem, z Glorią, jego nową zakochaną w nim dziewczyną?

Dużo się w tej części serialu dzieje. Już pod koniec poprzedniego tomu Samson zaczyna sobie uświadamiać, że połknął haczyk. Jednak wędkarska żyłka jest tak pokręcona, że trudno mówić o odkryciu prawdy o wędkarzu, czy o złowieniu naprawdę dużej ryby. Ciekawość, co stanie się dalej nie słabnie. Tym bardziej, że czasy są interesujące. Gorbaczowowska pierestrojka na razie żadnych zmian w walce wywiadów nie przyniosła. Przy próbach przekraczania berlińskiego muru nadal giną ludzie. W życiu ludzi podzielonego Berlina, którego opis należy do najciekawszych wątków całego cyklu, też niewiele się zmienia. Jednak, choćby ze względu na to, że dobiega końca czas weteranów zimnej wojny, wielu z nich będących jeszcze świadkami hitlerowskiej próby przebudowy świata, z dużym zaciekawieniem oczekuję rozplątania „wędkarskiej” intrygi brytyjskiego wywiadu. Czyli czas na Szpiegowski spławik. No a potem przyjdzie jeszcze pora na ostatnią trylogię cyklu o Bernardzie Samsonie, „Faith, Hope, Charity”. Według mojej wiedzy, nie ma polskich tłumaczeń szpiegowskiej „Wiary, Nadziei i Miłosierdzia” Lena Deightona. Może to i lepiej, że będę musiała siegnąć po wersje oryginalne. Odnoszę bowiem wrażenie, że w przekładzie umyka dużo z kunsztu językowego autora.

[Jack Hrkach · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read this after Spy Hook (which you should, even if the author calls each novel "stand-alone" the suspense builds and late in the novel occurs one of the ugliest confrontations/shoot-outs I've read in Deighton's books.

The story is far too complicated to relate here, and even if I tried there would inevitably be spoilers in it that I assure you you would not want to know before you started your reading. The main characters, beginning of course with Bernard Samson, followed closely by Werner, his close friend in Berlin, Dicky Cruyer, Bert Rensselaer, Fiona, Samson's wife who defected to East Germany (or did she?), her sister Tessa, and more all figure in the plot, which ends in a private re-hab/debriefing center in of all places, Southern California.

The suspense was such that even before I finished this Kindle I bought the 3rd book in the trilogy, just as I had Spy Line before finishing the first book, Spy Hook. (I read them all on Kindle due to my increasingly feeble eyes.)

in fact I have already plunged into that third book, Spy Sinker. Whereas the first two had been narrated in first person by Bernard, this one takes a different tack, utilizing third person narration. In spite of that, or perhaps because of it you might say I'm already "hooked".

If you enjoy great espionage fiction (and most of it is only good at best) I'd urge you to pick up this trilogy, the middle of the full Bernard Samson series. In fact it would be very smart of you to begin at the beginning of the Samson series - Berlin Game, followed by Mexico Set and London Match. Or not, of course, as you like it!

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to a lot of series that have an overarching plot, Len Deighton keeps having to invent new ways to rework the chessboard.

Does it always work plot-wise? I’m not sure.

Do I enjoy reading it? Hell yeah I do.

I’m not sure why I land with the Samson series so closely. I concede that Le Carré writes circles around Deighton in terms of espionage tales. And yet, I just love the characters Deighton creates; the ones who have come back to these tales time-and-time again. I know they’re gonna wind up in the same place more-or-less at the end of the novel, save one (the fate of which I’m not spoiling). But I love reading how they get there.

I also love Deighton’s reverence for Cold War era Berlin, but the city itself, not the spy zoo that emerged from there. I don’t know if he spent real time there but he seems to care about the broken-yet-beautiful city and that really shines in each of his books. I get excited every time Bernie is sent off from Britain to Berlin…even if the consequences are sometimes disastrous.

Mostly, I just love Bernie. I’m going through the Smiley books now and again, while Le Carré has no peer, I get kind of annoyed with the pity-our-good-friend-George tone. George the cuckolded husband serving Britain the cuckolded ex-empire, trying to remain relevant as America and Russia jockey for power. Bernie has a relatability to his person, even if he too can lean a little hard on the Woe is Me. It makes me feel invested in his experience.

I got this second hand but remarkably, all three trilogies are back in print. What a gift for a new generation. Get these books.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Len Deighton book that I am reading. And I don’t think it will be my last one. Even though this book continues from Spy Hook, which I haven’t read, it could be read as a standalone book. There were a few spots in the beginning that might have helped if reading Spy Hook first. But I didn’t find it necessary. The story picked up more, half way through the book. This is the story of Bernard Samson who is hiding in Berlin, away from the service that’s accusing him for being a traitor. Bernard is still doing what he learned to do, even though he is told not to. His wife Fiona is also a spy who is trying to defect. Her and Bernard are both estranged in this book, since Bernard is having an affair with Gloria who is also taking care of the children he had with Fiona. Fiona has a sister Tessa who looks a lot like her.

Even though Bernard is hiding in Berlin, he does find a way to go to London. The story line takes the reader to parties that the rich only attend and Bernard attends them with Gloria. The writing is very English and the language is characteristic of the English language. For some reason though, even though the book was written in 1989 and does not have a date in the story line, I felt that the story was taking place more during the late 60’s early 70’s.

I found the book entertaining, enjoyed the story line and everything that went with it. The only reason for the 3 stars is that it was slow in the beginning. But I do recommend it.

[Michael Martz · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Spy Line', the middle entry in Len Deighton's 'Hook, Line, and Sinker' trilogy set back in the Cold War, is yet another expertly plotted, thoroughly confusing, and truly enjoyable description of the escapades of Bernd Samson, the German-raised English spy.

In this installment, Samson, who is seemingly either hated or distrusted by almost all other members of his profession on both sides of 'the wall' (as well as across the Atlantic), is on the run in Berlin after his own employers put out an arrest warrant for him at the end of 'Spy Hook'. He receives overtures from his superiors through the usual opaque processes that lead him to believe he may be back in everyone's good graces and before you know it he's headed back 'home'. London's where his 2 children and live-in girlfriend reside, but unfortunately his wife, Fiona, is still behind the Iron Curtain where she had defected and apparently taken many English secrets along with. Has Fiona truly thrown away her family and career to help the Russians, or is it a case of the classic 'double'? This is the gist of the plot.... Samson is in the dark as is almost everyone in the British and American spy hierarchies, yet so many odd conversations and occurrences take place that it leads one to believe something big may happen. Or not.

The plot is intricate, the writing excellent, and the tension rarely subsides. Spy Line leaves you wanting to head over to the library to grab the finale of this great trilogy.

[Peter Allum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not great spy lit.

I was perhaps unwise to start my Len Deighton reading here, with the 5th book in the Bernard Samson series. The novel stands by itself, but only just. Key protagonists reappear from earlier novels, and not always with a clear back story. I was initially puzzled why Gloria is looking after Samson's kids and greeting him lovingly on his return from Berlin when he is clearly brooding over his wife who apparently just defected for the East. More context was needed.

Apart from the weak grounding of past events, the plot relies excessively on coincidence. The protagonist, Samson, is rather passive, and the story emerges out of his chance meetings with acquaintances and plots hatched by his seniors and rivals about which he is ignorant. The twin story line--involving his wife's traitorous defection and suspected drug smuggling across the iron curtain--barely makes sense. There are some nice scenes but the connecting links are weak. Somewhat reminiscent of the random plotting in Raymond Chandler.

Despite some nicely jaded description of espionage bureaucracy and marital woes, this is not on a par with early Le Carre. Disappointing overall.

[Sureshkumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book in the series seems to start off a little sluggishly but very soon picks up fast actio. And then there is only action and drama. In the mysteriousfworld of spies, any scenario with bizarre twists and turns are possible and the author fully exploits this aspect. The end is left a little bit hanging again. What is the bigger picture? Or so to say the biggest picture unknown to the chief actors? Many of the characters forming part of these series materialise at different times at totally different laces, play a art and then get aay. For a erson like me, who cannot withstand suspense, the storyline makes me rush to the next book in the series. The author deserves real appreciation for the sustained interest he manages throughout these series. I have become a great fan of his and of the narrator too (since I can only listen and not read) who I totally idetify with Ben Samson now! The author deserved genuune appreciation for sustaining high level interest in the series. For a erson like me, who cannot stand the suspense, it makes me rush to the next book in the series!

[Steve In Ludlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Increasingly isolated we find Samson on the run in west Berlin. This followed his plea to the DG at the end of Spy Hook to look into the dodgy finances if Brett Renslar. We conclude that the DG immediately declared him hostile and to be taken into custody. Samson is finally convinced that Renslar and his wife Fiona are engaged in a very deep plot with Fiona as a double agent. We get introduced to Thirkettle, a shadowy assassin for hire when Samson is sent to Austria.
In an incongruous ending Samson and Teacher are engaged in an operation to take a field agent out of East Berlin. Fiona's sister Tessa manages to tag along and gets shot in the process, and we learn that the agent is of course Fiona.
In Fiona's debriefing with the slippery Renslar we gather that Tessa's involvement may have been planned so that the Russians can be fooled into thinking Fiona died in the operation and her remains left in the burnt out Wartburg.

[Robert Ronsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

About two thirds through this I thought that this is the best in the series. The action, in Vienna this time, and the intrigue in London and Berlin are cranked up another notch and the plot is boiling nicely. Then we reached the climax. I won't go into the detail here for obvious reasons but the action set in an Autobahn lay-by is so preposterous as to devalue everything that went before. I simply did not believe that one of the protagonists would have been present and this also undermined the resolution that followed. I was so negatively affected by this development that I had intended to give Line only three stars but I still 'really liked' the book and its place in the series so rounded the score up.
By the way, Len Deighton says in his comments about the series that he intended each book to be stand-alone so that it is possible to read them in any order. I contend that it would be impossible to understand this one without knowing Bernard Samson's back story.