Spy Sinker

Bernard Samson #6

by Len Deighton

Spy Sinker is a 1990 spy novel by Len Deighton. It is the final novel in the second of three trilogies about Bernard Samson, a middle-aged and somewhat jaded intelligence officer working for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Spy Sinker is part of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy, being preceded by Spy Hook and Spy Line. This trilogy is preceded by the Game, Set and Match trilogy and followed by the final Faith, Hope and Charity trilogy. Deighton's novel Winter (1987) is a prequel to the nine novels, covering the years 1900-1945 and providing the backstory to some of the characters.

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

387 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

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

[Peter McCambridge · Rating 2 out of 5]

I LOVED all the previous books in the series, but I was glad to see the back of this one. I even liked it a little more after the author's note at the very end, explaining what he was doing throughout. I agree with the concept, but I just don't think he pulled it off. Yes, I missed Bernie. Yes, Deighton writes much better in the first person. But for me the pacing was just off. Conversations would drag on forever, when they only existed to let us know a certain fact. Then big, important events would be glossed over with precious little added to them (along the lines of "And this happened. And then this happened."). I found the whole thing quiet tedious and the few revelations were scant reward for plot points we had already guessed at. If you're not enjoying the addition to the series, I'd recommend you skip it and move on to Faith. Honestly, you won't be missing much. The whole thing reads like a director's cut or backstory to the series that we could have survived without knowing. Nice to know it's there, but wading through it all was pretty unrewarding.

[Nigeyb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spy Line (Bernard Samson, #5), the book before this one, maintained the magnificent storytelling and fascinating character development of Len Deighton's Bernard Samson series.

One of the themes of this series is trust and Spy Line had Bernard questioning virtually every relationship in his life. He got very few straightforward answers.

In Spy Sinker (Bernard Samson, #6) we discover just how duplicitous Bernard's intelligence service has been. We revisit the events covered in the previous books but, instead of seeing everything from Bernard's perspective, we see the viewpoint of many of the other characters. Readers get fabulous insights into the behind the scenes machinations for what has transpired in previous books. Len Deighton must have spent ages working out how all the pieces were to fit together.

It's a stunning series and, whilst I say this every time I read the next book in the series, this is the best so far.

Next up is the final trilogy - Faith, Hope and Charity. I cannot wait to get stuck in.

5/5

Spy Sinker is a 1990 spy novel by Len Deighton. It is the final novel in the second of three trilogies about Bernard Samson, a middle-aged and somewhat jaded intelligence officer working for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Spy Sinker is part of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy, being preceded by Spy Hook and Spy Line. This trilogy is preceded by the Game, Set and Match trilogy and followed by the final Faith, Hope and Charity trilogy. Deighton's novel Winter (1987) is a prequel to the nine novels, covering the years 1900-1945 and providing the backstory to some of the characters.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the second in this trilogy, Spy Line, Brett, Bernard and Fiona were still in California.
Now, in Spy Sinker, we go back in time to when Brett first conceives of his plan to place a double agent in communist Germany.
It is in the earliest chapters we learn an important fact. All through the previous books, and on to the next ones, we hear from Bernard and other characters how he was better suited for the German Desk than Dicky Cruyer. After Brett is told by Sir Henry that it's Bernard's wife who is to be the double agent he reveals that up until that point he was going to give the position to Bernard, but now that was impossible. Bernard never gets to know that his greatest grievance in life was a result of his wife accepting her offer.
If you've not read this book yet, or the remainder of the series, there are spoilers ahead.

It's Brett and Fiona's story, told from their viewpoints, with a couple of small detours, rather than Bernard's and fills in some of the gaps in the other books.
This is the book that made me dislike Fiona.
She is under considerable stress from the beginning. Being prepared for her mission by Brett in utmost secrecy, unable to confide in anyone other than Silas, and having to lie to her husband, she takes up with another man, Kennedy.
Now whilst I can understand this, whilst not condoning it, it's the fact that after her ' defection ' and vowing to give up Kennedy, she restarts it when in Germany and keeps it going right up to when Bernard brings her back.
Considering she knew that she was going, at some point, to return to her husband and children, this does not sit well with me.
Not only that, but when she does return she acts as though Bernard was in the wrong for taking up with Gloria. Considering as far as he was concerned Fiona had not only left her country for good, but also her husband and children, her view over Bernard's love for Gloria is grossly misplaced. One wonders what her response might have been had Bernard told her that he knew all about Kennedy, but he held his tongue.
It's for this reason that I felt the last book in the next trilogy failed. Deighton says he wrote it in response to people's wish to know ' what happened to.. ' questionable as without that book the last trilogy would consist of two books.
I, for one, wanted Fiona to get her come uppance and for Gloria to get what she always wanted, and deserved, Bernard and his children. Deighton sold her short.

[Joel Thimell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I love Len Deighton and his Bernard Samson series especially, this was not one of the better installments. What makes the other books so wonderful is that they are told in the voice of Bernard Samson who is hilarious in describing the banality of the British intelligence service and its upper class "leaders."

But Spy Sinker is written in the third person and it's narrator(s) are simply not nearly as funny or engaging as Samson is. The second major disappointment is that this book does NOT advance the story line at all. It simply retells the first 5 books in the series from the point of view of some of the other main characters. You do pick up some interesting tidbits of background that hard core fans will want to know, but you're left with a major disconnect between Samson's interpretation of events and everyone else's and the reader lacks the means to judge fairly between them.

Although the author claims this book can be read w/o reading the other volumes first, I advise against it as it will spoil the plots all 5 of the earlier books.

[Alex Gherzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Len Deighton's Spy Sinker is a fascinating novel, acting partly as a respite from the Bernard Samson series' main story and partly as a clarification for the reader, filling in a lot of blanks and showing us the scope of the massive intelligence coup at the center of the saga. Samson's perspective was limited, and not only does he not know a lot of the details, but he's wrong about some things he thinks he knows. Deighton pulls this off masterfully, and Spy Sinker never feels like a retread.

Spoilers...

Bernard Samson takes a back seat in Spy Sinker, and much of the story focuses on Fiona, Bret Rensselaer, Sir Henry Clevemore and Silas Gaunt, the main players in Fiona's phony defection. Till now, they've all been background characters, popping in and out so Bernard could give us his estimations of them. He is, it turns out, dead wrong about them all, at least in some respects. What I appreciate, though, is that this doesn't really diminish Bernard or his skills; if anything, it makes him even more sympathetic.

Fiona is the obvious showcase, as she and her motives have been a cipher till now, as we couldn't trust anything she said. Spy Sinker details her recruitment and her mindset throughout the operation. Deighton deserves a lot of credit for his characterization, because Fiona comes out of Spy Sinker immensely unlikable. Even before she left, she was cheating on Bernard (and, of course, justifying it), not with Rensselaer as Bernard suspected, but with Harry Kennedy, a guy she happened upon at Waterloo Station. All the things she initially claims she loved about Bernard are the reasons she gives for having an affair, and it's infuriating to think that Bernard is so devoted to someone who was always betraying him in some fashion. That Kennedy turns out to be a KGB asset sent to feel her out is a bit satisfying, but she carries on her affair when they run into each other in East Berlin, and even considers running away with him, believing his declarations of love to be the truth (whether or not they are is up in the air, which I really like; has Kennedy truly become smitten with his mark, or is he just that good a spy?). I get the (spy) sinking feeling that Bernard is going to sabotage his relationship with Gloria -- someone who actually does love him and treat him fairly -- for Fiona, and that's heartbreaking.

Bret Rensselaer is also quite cold. Fiona's mission is his brainchild, something he'd planned for a long time, a way to make a name for himself and help crush the Soviet Union for good. Along the way, though, sacrifices have to be made, and one of them is Bernard Samson. Not only is Bernard kept in the dark about Fiona's operation, but his career is ruined in service of it. Bernard was right about his qualifications for running the German desk, and his superiors thought so too, but to cover Fiona's mission, he's passed over in favor of foppish twit Dicky Cruyer. Bernard is also right about Rensselaer's affection for Fiona; it isn't reciprocated, but Bret is in love with her, and from this stems a resentment of Bernard. Bret gets righteously indignant when Bernard takes up with Gloria, apparently believing he should wait forever for the adulteress who abandoned him and his children. This offers a bit of insight into Samson's character; he is both a pragmatist and a hopeless romantic at once. He rationalizes that Fiona is gone and won't be coming back, so he allows himself to attempt to move on with Gloria, but in the back of his mind he holds out eternal hope that his wife will return, and so won't let himself commit to Gloria. (Gloria has very little to do in Spy Sinker, but she's perhaps the most tragic figure of all, giving everything to a man who will never fully love her.) Bret's disdain for Samson reinforces his desperation when he seeks Bernard's help while being investigated for possibly being a traitor, and it colors his own perspective of some of the events from the previous novels; I don't fully trust his assessment of the laundromat shootout, for example, and while Bernard is a hardened killer, I think Bret makes him out to be more bloodthirsty than he really is.

Perhaps most shocking, though, are Director General Sir Henry Clevemore and kindly old Silas Gaunt. They're real pieces of work, these two. Sir Henry, first of all, is not the doddering old man he allows people to think he is; rather, he's a quick, calculating spymaster who has no compunctions about destroying innocent people's lives, in more ways than one. Silas is the same way; while officially retired, he is still very much involved with the inner workings of British Intelligence, mostly through his longstanding friendship with Sir Henry, and he is as much a part of Fiona's mission as Sir Henry and Bret Rensselaer are. When the truth about Tessa's death is revealed, it's a shocker that casts these two men in quite a different light; they had an innocent girl murdered and mutilated to buy themselves a few months of free intelligence work. I really hope that by the end of the series Bernard is able to pay back all three of these monsters.

Also surprising is Werner Volkmann's role in the op. Werner was recruited by Fiona to be her go-between with London, specifically Sir Henry. It was Werner's chance to be a real spy, to prove himself to people who would otherwise never have trusted him, and he accepted. He also agreed to keep Bernard in the dark, like everyone else. Again, this calls Bernard's testimony about their interactions into question; he believed Werner never liked Fiona and would reassure Bernard that she was a good woman in jest. Actually, though, Werner greatly admired her, and his assurances that Fiona was good were his way of trying to get Bernard to keep the faith. Still and all, this is another blow for Bernard; his own best friend was in on the scheme too, and lied to him for years. This poor man is going to end up having no one in his life he can trust.

A couple of things about Spy Sinker bother me. Tessa's death seems a bit haphazardly explained. That she was killed on purpose -- and by the British, no less -- is a neat twist, but how did they know she'd be there? She forced herself into the van in Spy Line, and Jeremy Teacher seemed eager to get her out. Was it Dicky who pushed her in? If not, it doesn't make much sense. I was also disappointed to see Thurkettle die so unceremoniously. He was a terrific villain, and it felt like he was being set up as someone against whom Bernard would come up again; that he was actually working for Silas and Sir Henry made this even more fitting. The shootout from the end of Spy Line is seen from his perspective here, and he reiterates that Bernard is not someone he'd want to have to face in battle. But then he's just quickly shot to death by Werner, his body disposed of like those of his victims. What an unsatisfying waste.

Spy Sinker is great, though, and even with those couple of missteps, it's an enthralling addition to the ennealogy. It feels like Deighton has primed us for the final leg of the journey, and I can only hope he has a great ending in store.

[Maine Colonial · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this closer to the second of the three trilogies in the Bernard Samson series, we don’t see much of Samson. Instead, this novel mostly revisits the events of prior novel (and some of the earlier books) from Fiona’s point of view, and tells of her high-stress life as a double agent. We also learn that Bernard’s old friend, Werner, isn’t just sitting at home playing solitaire when Bernard isn’t in Berlin.

This book also fills in details left a little mysterious in prior books, including explaining what happened at the end of the series’ prequel novel, Winter.

This series is going strong and I’m headed right into the next book, Faith, the first in the final trilogy.

[John Defrog: global citizen, local gadfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

SPOILERS, DUDE: The sixth Samson book and the third of the second trilogy, and one of the most enjoyable of the series. First things first: the book jacket blurb is rather misleading. It promises a story about Bernard Samson, his wife Fiona and her sister Tessa. In fact it’s essentially a recap of the first five books, focusing mainly on the tale of Fiona’s defection to the KGB – how and why it was arranged, by whom, and the impact on her. That might sound like a lot of retread, but remarkably it’s not. For a start, it’s told in objective third-person instead of Samson’s first-person narrative. Also, it covers mostly events outside of Samson’s direct experience, shedding light on a lot of unanswered questions (though not all), with minimal repetition. I can’t say how well it would read if you haven’t read the first five books, but Fiona’s story is every bit as thrilling and satisfying as an espionage story as Samson’s. The fact that Deighton makes it a compelling experience, even if you know how it ends, speaks volumes.

[Tras · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

Excellent backstory to the events of the preceding 5 books.

[Michael Martz · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Spy Sinker' was, at least to me, an indispensable wrap up to Deighton's Hook/line/Sinker trilogy. It answered many of the questions I still had in mind from the first 2 books and added considerable depth to what was already an extremely well-developed set. It was a truly unique way to put a bow on a masterful series.

Spy Sinker's approach is to begin at the beginning of Bernard Samson's life and play it out until the 'end' of the Spy Line novel, filling in the blanks using a 3rd person narrator to explain exactly what went on during not only his early life, recruitment, and career but also that of his wife, Fiona, who had defected to East Berlin to become a big wheel in the Russian KGB. Various other characters we encountered during the initial 2 books of the series are likewise fleshed out.

I don't know about you, but as I read through a good spy novel there are always layers upon layers of intrigue to wade through which often leaves me with a hefty number of unanswered questions (for example, did Fiona Samson really defect to the west or is she part of a devious British plot to plant her as a spy?). Sinker provides all the background needed to answer the myriad open questions and wrap things up nicely.

Deighton is a masterful writer of spy fiction and the Hook/Line/Sinker trilogy is an outstanding example of the best the genre has to offer.

[David]

A bit of a shock on a first read. Of all the sellouts, betrayals, and infidelities going on in the background during the Game, Set, Match, Hook & Line novels (of which first-person narrator Bernard Samson was unaware), probably the hardest for me to take remains—even after nearly 30 years—the infidelity of Fiona, which begins even before Bernard takes up with Gloria. It always seems to me that Deighton simply could not, as a man, accept the Samsons unless both of them cheated on each other. It has that kind of a gendered feel to me, that Fiona is made to be unfaithful almost entirely because her male author can’t seem to bear the thought of her not having committed most of the same sins (I choose the religious word deliberately) as her husband. Deighton works hard to make the whole thing part of the plot, but I always think he could have done without it. Meanwhile, the idea that Bernard doesn’t know anywhere as much as he thinks he does is quite effective in this sudden shift into 3rd-person narration. As of this re-reading, I think I still think Deighton should have stopped here, but with “work to be done” in the last sentence of the novel, there is the foreshadowing of the final trilogy in the set.

[William Coombs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Renowned James Madison University philosopher and Student Union Director David Barnes, who many consider the basis for the Dos Equis most-interesting-man-alive character, and originator of the quote, “You’re the reason this country has to put directions on bottles of shampoo,” was right when he said if this had been the first in the series, there would not have been a second. Goodnight Mrs Calabash, wherever you are.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one- a rehash of prior stories told from 3rd person with emphasis on Fiona's story. One thing I've noticed about these books is that the deaths feel realistic and sad since they're sometimes pointless.

[Quinn Fields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome pull back the curtain finale to the first and second trilogy. kind of the avengers endgame of this series. Didn’t quite go to 5 stars because it didn’t add too much more beyond giving all the secrets.

[Kristi Duncan-priest · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a thoroughly tiresome recap of what has been revealed before, but from another point of view. I finished it, but it was a slog.

[Andrei Talamba · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is extremely boring, dialogues are nerve wretching and lacks in any real feel. A spy tale hard to believe even by small children. Whatsmore, it tries to be some kind of synopsis for previous Bernard Samson books. I understand that tastes may differ, but definetily not a 4 stars book. Spolier: beats me why, but no Bernard in this book.

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

When someone writes five complex novels densely popluated with so many characters, not to mention institutions and settings and historical moments, then writes a sixth novel that shatters everything that went before and reassembles them to form a new picture, or perhaps another picture that had been hidden behind the first all along, it's usually hailed as a narrative coup, the sort of clever post-modern game played by Iain Banks or David Mitchell. Not that Deighton's books weren't acclaimed and bestsellers when first published, and revelations that change everything you thought you knew, or at least reveal the truth about mysteries or ambiguities or explain the hidden secret lives of characters that we only knew through a first person point of view, is certainly a staple of the espionage novel, but the scale of it here is staggering. Not that it makes any concessions to flashy postmodern games-playing.

Told in a third person omniscient, with oddly formal prose and dialogue, it's a merciless flourescent-light interrogation of Fiona Sampson, her life, her thoughts, her emotions, her motivations. Merciless but, oddly, non-judgemental, one can only sympathise with her sacrifice, her dedication, the immense strain it puts her under, and her intense awareness of the damage she is inflicting. Other characters are fleshed out into three dimensions, but remain unsympathetic, such as the dilletente Bret, with his master plan, or the D-G, the cunning old goat. Some things remain unknowable - we get a clearer picture of the final shoot-out, but some confusion remains, though maybe that's because it's too long since I read Line. Who was the guy in the gorilla suit again?

Any way you look at it, a masterful achievement, the unravelling of a cunningly constructed plot mechanism, and the harrowing coalface of psychological and emotional damage inflicted and endured in the name of patriotism.

[Rafeeq O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Len Deighton's 1990 Spy Sinker is the third book in the Hook, Line, and Sinker trilogy that follows the Game, Set, and Match trilogy, all of which cover the Cold War intrigues surrounding tough and cynical British agent Bernard Samson and also his wife Fiona, who appeared to have defected to the Soviets back in the first book but who actually was a double agent so deep in that even Bernard did not know. Unlike all the previous novels' first-person narratives of Bernard, this one is third person, bouncing from character to character, though with a central focus on Fiona. In addition, the timeline here is much different as well, actually starting prior to Berlin Game and spanning the events of the following four books to near the end of Spy Line, meaning the first chapter beginning in September 1977 and the last chapter concluding in June 1987.

Spy Sinker thus is quite a different animal from the preceding five books. A novel that spans five other novels, often mentioning their events almost in passing while with its own plot filling in the Fiona-centric details that those others leave merely guessed-at, is a little difficult for me to characterize. That is, each of the other books most likely can be read singly, even without knowledge of the previous ones, since after some careful yet brief authorial setup here and there, each book truly can stand alone in terms of plot. The asides about the events that led to the problems in each novel, along with the somewhat ambivalent endings possibly inviting a sequel, merely whet the appetite for more of the Bernard Samson series rather than frustrating the reader with unanswered confusion.

With this book, though... Well, having read the previous five books, although the first three not for a solid year or more, I cannot help noticing how important events dealt with in great detail elsewhere seem so small and peripheral here, matter-of-factly shrugged off. I think that probably this book could stand alone as much as the others do, or at least almost as much. But my knowledge of those others really makes me want to go back and explore the full six-book plot again and compare things back and forth.

Whereas everything in the previous five books comes through narration of Bernard, meaning that--as with our own lives, of course--nothing is known of the other characters beyond what he himself sees, hears as history or rumor, or supposes or reasons out--here the third-person narrative allows examination of those other central characters in revealing, sometimes surprising detail. The Director-General of the Secret Intelligence Service, for example, rather than being the dotty old geezer he seems to Bernard in the other books, actually is quietly shrewd and calculating, in fact having recruited Fiona and having been grooming her "for years and years" to appear as a possible traitor for the Soviets (1991 Harper paperback, page 49). Similarly, Bret Rensselaer, an administrator two levels senior to Bernard, has always seemed to that agent almost a mere shallow, fashionably clad poser, but here, though some of his shallowness and insecurity remain, he is much cleverer, and indeed the novel begins and ends with him.

Of course, it is Fiona who receives perhaps the most significant and revealing characterization here. In the other books, after all, Fiona is something of a mystery--icily beautiful, self-composed, apparently a loving wife, and yet ultimately enigmatic. Here, though, we find out that "Fiona Samson, a thirty-one-year-old careerist, was a woman of many secrets and always had been" (page 91). We learn more about the emotional investment of her "[y]ears of preparation, years of establishing her bona fides. Years of deceiving her husband, her children, and her friends" (page 68). We see her last-minute qualms that make her almost abandon the mission before insertion (pages 144-51). And once she is behind the Iron Curtain, we discover her "pain...made worse by inflicting it on the man who loved her" (page 210), the feeling that "it [is] all a terrible dream" (page 211), the "too many of these racking headaches" she keeps having (pages 215-216), the fact that "[s]he [hasn't] had one sound night of natural sleep since" her supposed defection (page 223), and "the chronic ache of being separated from her family" (page 223).

Interestingly, we also get different perspectives on Bernard Samson, so central to the previous five books and yet there seen only through his own thoughts and actions and observations, never from the views of others. Here, though, the narrative early on describes Bernard as "big and strong" (page 21), and later Fiona thinks of him as "[a] big bearlike man,...the most masculine person she had ever met" (page 93). Although unsurprised at Fiona's description of her husband being "practical" and able "to fix any sort of machine and deal with any sort of people" (page 93), I confess that--while certainly never imagining him to have been less than average stature--in the previous novels I had not picked up on any hint of Bernard being "big," let alone "bearlike." Interesting.

In any event, aside from being "the only person she'd ever met who completely disregarded other people's evaluation of him" (page 92), her husband is, as Fiona before her supposed defection tells a British leftist "doing [the] dirty work" of the Russians (page 67), someone who "likes people to take him for a fool. It's the way he leads them on. If Bernard ever suspected...I'd be done for. He'd take me to pieces" (page 70; ellipsis original). Sternly she warns her contact that "amateurs" such as himself should not attempt to surveil the wily Bernard Samson: "[Y]ou're not in Bernard's league. He's been in the real agent-running business from the time he was a child. He'd eat people like you...for breakfast. We'll be lucky if he's not alerted already" (page 70).

It may be, as Bret somewhat plaintively tells Fiona's "Uncle" Silas, a semi-retired intelligence official, that "You'd search a long way to find someone more arrogant than Bernard Sampson," but Silas explains that "Bernard's arrogance comes from something inside him, some vitality, force, and a seemingly inexhaustible fund of courage" (page 230). And Bret knows that although "Bernard's reputation was of being lucky," actually "his luck came from a professional attitude and a lot of hard work. Bernard was a tough guy" (page 346), one who is "trained to respond violently to his opponents" (page 281) and certainly has killed "many times" (page 280).

Could Deighton's Spy Sinker be read without the benefit of any of the previous five books of the Bernard Samson series? Maybe... Having read the others, I cannot put myself in the frame of mind to tell for sure. But without any plot spoilers in a novel that spans the action of five other ones, filling in fascinating details and perspectives lacking there while also for the first time truly telling the story of deep-cover master double-agent Fiona Samson, I can confirm that the book indeed is a classic Deightonesque 5-star read.

[Woody Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 111th book of CY 2017! I had made up my mind to get through this one before the end of the CY, but it was a bit of a slog at times.

In a preface, Deighton states "The stories can be read in any order and each one is complete in itself." Rubbish! Perhaps in his mind, but to mine, it would be impossible to pick this one up cold & begin reading it without any background knowledge of the charcaters involved. It differs from the previous true Bernard Sampson books (sans "Winter) in that it is told from an omniscient p.o.v. & was originally intended to pull together all of the loose ends created in the previous five books. This worked so well that Deighton was compelled to write a third trilogy to really put a close to the business.

I liked that it gave us far greater insight into Fiona Samson & her clandestine maneuvers, but I never developed any sympathy for her, making it tough to sustain my interest. After all, at the end of "Spy Hook", I already knew the resolution to this story. It was okay, but not the best of either of the trilogies.

[David Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right then. This novel acts to draw together the tangled strands that the first five books in the series have woven. Previously we have seen the events of four years from 1983 to 1987 solely from Bernard’s point of view but now we have a third person overarching narrative that explains what the hell Bret, Gaunt and the DG were up to and how Bernard’s sensibilities and ambitions were sacrificed to maintain the deception. Altogether it’s pretty faultless. There’s even a brief mention of misappropriated Nazi gold that Len Deighton develops in his super novel XPD.
Although Len Deighton suggests these books can be read in any order I really think it better to read them in sequence i.e. Game, Set, Match, Hook, Line and Sinker. Available in all good second hand bookshops.
Heaven knows what Faith, Hope and Charity have in store but I expect to be wrong-footed, shocked, delighted and turning pages long into the night.

[Duncan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some things are cleaned up in this one. Some things explained. It took awhile for me to get into it because I thought Deighton had kinda run out of ideas on how to finish this 2nd Bernard Samson trilogy. But keep on reading because it's not just an outline of events up until the end of the previous book it's an explanation of things left unsaid, the motivations behind the scenes if you will. One of the things I like about Deighton is he writes espionage as if they were police procedurals. They are really books about crime, more than international intrigue, although of course there is plenty of intrigue, but more internecine than across the Iron Curtain. The Cold War is really just a red herring, the real deal is the deception & evil that men and women do to themselves and each other playing out the mad games of adulthood. Now, onto my 3rd scotch, just like an adult does.

[Gavin Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

"...there was always another layer of onion , no matter how deep you went"

Easy 5 stars if you have read the preceding 5 books. You were a bit lost along with Bernie Samson, who to trust, what's going on, why have they done that, said that, who knew what and when, how could she???? Well its all explained here from the other main players points of view filling in all (?) the blanks. Terrific stuff, really satisfying.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. This is, shall we say, the back story to the Game, Set and Match trilogy, and the first two books of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy. It contains all the high level stuff that goes on in the background and above Bernie Samson's head. It answers all the questions you have about the previous five books. Too many spoilers to say any more, but it is a masterpiece.

[Damian Leverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of the Hook, Line, Sinker and preceding Game, Set, Match trilogy’s this book is fascinating as it tells the other side of the previous 5 books. I do disagree with Len Deighton’s comment that you can read them in any order. Definitely read the proceeding 5 book’s first otherwise it will spoil things and be confusing especially if you read this on first

[Jill Rebryna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was necessary, extremely necessary, but also bittersweet. I always liked Bernie the very best, so knowing these decisions made around him, these things that shattered his life that he wasn't allowed a choice in, that he couldn't even get wind of if it was to happen, it's hard.
Then there was that thing Werner did. I really love Werner, really I do, but... That's harsh.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is just a rehash of the previous five (London? Game, Mexico Set, Berlin? Match, and Spy Hook and Spy Line), told from different points of view than the others. Does not continue past the end of Spy Line.

Waste of time reading it

[Ryan King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this one the most enjoyable certainly of the trilogy (and possibly of the first six). The use of third person narration, seeing things from others’ perspectives and the wonderful, subtle, intricate plotting made this a pleasure to read. Can wait to get into Faith!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it just me? You precis the two previous books and add some explanation and call it a trilogy .. enjoyable enough read though

[Nick Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

All things considered, I thought this was probably the best of the Hook, Line, Sinker trilogy. The first two go together as a pair and, regardless of the author's intentions, really have to be read one after the other. This is a little different because you could theoretically read it before or after the other two, or not at all; Spy Hook and Spy Line work perfectly well toegether as a story in their own right.

With the story wound up in Spy Line, this book is very different. Bernard Samson, previously our first-person protagonist, is now an almost incidental character. He is frequently referenced, but rarely present and much of the action revolves around Fiona Samson, Bret Rensselaer and towards the end, Werner Volkmann. Also featured much more heavily is Silas Gaunt and, surprisingly, the SIS DG Sir Henry Clevemore. Previously only occasionally referenced as a mad old man serving his time until they can pension him off, Sir Henry is very much more ruthless and with it than anyone previously hinted at.

This works extremely well to me because previously, it had (deliberately) been written from Bernard Samson's perspective and thus, therefore with the limitations of what he sees and knows. His own narrative also had a heavily sardonic edge which is missing here. I think it's done extremely well, not only the change in style and move from first to third person, but it does also fill in a lot of the plot points, quite often in rather surprising and unexpected ways.

Limitations? Well, if Spy Hook and Line didn't convince you, you won't find much to like here either. Also the blurb proclaims that Bernard Samson isn't quite the saint he makes himself out to be. I didn't really see this; his character doesn't show up much and is quite often the victim of events beyond his control. Before this, he comes across as having hit a middle-management career-high and is bitter and worn out with life about it. Here if anything, he is lauded, frequently referred to as an effective field operative and a pro. If anything, Fiona Samson is the one who falls hardest from grace, though her actions are perhaps understandable given the life she finds herself leading. One minor gripe is that though Rensselear is the only American, throughout the trilogy, many characters use Americanisms, such as 'sidewalk', which might just reflect how long Mr Deighton had been living in the US himself.

I'd recommend the whole trilogy, just keep in mind that it's really a pair of books encapsulating a story, with this one serving as a kind of wrapper for all the events.

[Jack Hrkach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This last of the second trilogy in the Samson series takes a different and very interesting tack. Narrated in third person, it takes the reader back to the first trilogy (London Game, Mexico Set, Berlin Match) and through to Spy Hook and Spy Line, filling in loyal readers on incidents along the way, characters barely or not mentioned at all in the first five books, and the real movers and shakers behind the action throughout. Fiona, and not Bernard, Samson becomes the most important character and many surprises as to who knows what when ensue. Spy Line and Spy Sinker end at precisely the same time.

It's a reason, for those of you interested in reading Deighton, and who, perhaps like me, were introduced to the author via two movies made from his novels from waaaaay back when (I was young! almost medieval!) that starred a young, be-spectacled Michael Caine as Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin, to take them in the order written.

It was with this as background that I came to the Samson series and so far at least have read them in order. I highly recommend doing it this way, as Deighton has quite the master plan in hand, while he advocates that any of them can be read as stand-alone tales. In the Kindle versions of each of the Samson series the author holds forth in Introductions (added in 2010) on what he had in mind.

I read the first six in order, and am now embarking on Winter, which begins in the last days of 1899. I'm expecting more insight into the whole from this, before I undertake the last three books in the full series, Faith, Hope and Charity. More on the entire magnum opus after I've finished all of it.

IS it all worth it? So far it has been for me, as an old retiree, weaned on John LeCarre and finding few other writers of espionage fiction who could come near him in skill and scope. I'm not sure that, had I started reading Deighton during my earlier much busier life I'd have taken the time, but it's been a swell project by a reader who generally goes for the "great" novelists such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Zola and Balzac, Dickens and the Brontes. Deighton reads much more easily than most of these and so far has been great fun for a man who is now in a life of leisure...so take EVERYthing I write with several heavy blocks of salt! But if tempted, take my advice as one who has read two thirds of the whole - as you like it if you like it!

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Po raz pierwszy w dziewięcioodcinkowym cyklu o Bernardzie Samsonie odchodzi autor od pierwszoosobowej narracji protagonisty. I to nie koniec niespodzianek. W tym tomie Bernie nie jest postacią pierwszoplanową. Jest to opowieść o wydarzeniach dekady 1977-1987 z perspektywy przede wszystkim Breta Rensselaera, Fiony Samson oraz dwóch starszych panów, dyrektora generalnego, zwanego D-G, Sir Henry’ego Cleveremore’a i Silasa Gaunta, nadal wpływowego emerytowanego szpiega, czyli ekipy SIS, która wymyśliła, przygotowała i realizuje „operację spławik”, polegającą na ulokowaniu brytyjskiego kreta w kontrolowanej przez KGB enerdowskiej centrali wywiadowczej. Nie jest jednak tak, żeby ponowny opis wydarzeń, relacjonowanych w poprzednich częściach serialu przez sfrustrowanego Bernarda Samsona, ich aktywnego uczestnika i jednocześnie pionka w tej grze wywiadów, żeby ten opis byl nudny. Karkołomny zamysł Lena Deightona, okazał się, moim zdaniem, w pełni udany. Nawet, jeśli zmiana sposobu narracji zaowocowała eliminacją ważnego atutu wcześniejszych powieści, czyli specyficznej stylistyki językowej.

Mamy tu zatem do czynienia z autorskim wyborem: coś za coś. Dopiero Szpiegowski spławik ukazuje w pełni blaski i cienie prawdziwej kuchni tej wywiadowczej intrygi, ciekawej ale i brudnej, jeśli oceniać jej skutki, mierzone zarówno liczbą ofiar, jak i realnymi politycznymi następstwami. Należy przy tym pamiętać, że to nie koniec serialu. Berliński Mur co prawda już się chwieje, ale jeszcze nie upadł. Nie bardzo też wiadomo, co dalej z osobistymi losami Bernarda i Fiony Samson, w których życiu dużo się zmieniło. A więc chyba warto kontynuować lekturę tego cyklu Lena Deightona.