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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A drop in the usual very high quality for Deighton but still quite good.
This isn't really a standalone book in the series, so perhaps not the best book to start on. Bernard Samson gets curious about something people rather he wasn't so curious about. I wasn't quite sure how many of the characters I might have recognised if I had in fact read some of the previous books, most of the events in this one seemed to be setting up for the next two in the trilogy so I kind of came away feeling not much had happened.
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very frustrating read. I wanted it to be as wonderful as Le Carré which is a tall order I knew but not a lot happened. Very frustrating and dull. Every single encounter Bernard had ended up with someone warning him off and he seemed just like a plodder with no intelligence or insight to speak of. Even the revelations when they came were terribly dull. Not sure whether I'll continue with this trilogy
I may have to re-review this after I read another Deighton book this was my first. It might be my last. I really couldn't get into the rhythm of the writing at all. And I found nothing to like or care about in Samson as a protagonist or narrator--he just seemed kind of blank and without agency as all the other characters played him. I could go on and on about aspects that annoyed me but I won't.
It's not that I didn't get what was going on--I guessed the vague outcome in the first few chapters and I was almost yelling "hey dude!....(vague spoiler).." I will probably try at least one other Deighton book before I give up.
It's not that I didn't get what was going on--I guessed the vague outcome in the first few chapters and I was almost yelling "hey dude!....(vague spoiler).." I will probably try at least one other Deighton book before I give up.
A favorite author. That wry (British?) humor is as taunt and lively as ever in the little spy mystery. No knowledge of previous stories is necessary at all. Like a lot of movies of late, the parts may be better than the whole. But who cares when the parts are so charming? Not me.
The book is not a standalone story. Lots of loose ends. But whatever, I enjoyed it as usual and have started reading the next one 'Spy Line' as soon as I finished 'Spy Hook'. The espionage world of Len Deighton is much different from other authors and much more believable.