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mburnamfink's review
4.0
I picked this up on a whim, having heard Deighton described as a master of the understated spy thriller. This is all that, and more. Even in alt-hist Nazi occupied England, people are shot and murders have to be investigated. But this being an espionage novel, nothing is simple, and our protagonist, Douglas Archer, finds himself drawn into a deadly web of intrigue between factions in the SS, Wehrmacht, and the struggling British Resistance.
The characters and plot are nothing that stands out, but that's all part of the subtle English charm of the book. It is a very, very gray novel. Even the Nazis refuse to be cast as genocidal monsters; merely self-interested conquerors who are taking advantage of the moment to loot everything not nailed down. And of course, there is little honor or glory in collaboration--even collaboration which might soften the iron grip of the Third Reich.
And as for the setting, it's great alternate history. It skips the part when Operation Sea Lion works (military history consensus: lol, nope), to focus on the bitter aftermath of life under occupation, and trying to salvage some sort of dignity from the wreckage of defeat. Great book, lots of fun, if that level of grimness is your thing.
The characters and plot are nothing that stands out, but that's all part of the subtle English charm of the book. It is a very, very gray novel. Even the Nazis refuse to be cast as genocidal monsters; merely self-interested conquerors who are taking advantage of the moment to loot everything not nailed down. And of course, there is little honor or glory in collaboration--even collaboration which might soften the iron grip of the Third Reich.
And as for the setting, it's great alternate history. It skips the part when Operation Sea Lion works (military history consensus: lol, nope), to focus on the bitter aftermath of life under occupation, and trying to salvage some sort of dignity from the wreckage of defeat. Great book, lots of fun, if that level of grimness is your thing.
sheamussweeney's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
milos_dumbraci's review
2.0
Un policier noir scris corect, dar pentru mine mai degrabă plictisitor.
Oarecum original e mai degrabă background-ul - Axa a câștigat WW2, dar din 1978 (când e scrisă cartea) a mai fost folosit de multe ori și a devenit destul de banal; pe deasupra, SS-iștii nu mi s-au părut credibili - se comportă ca niște lorzi britanici, nu ca militari fanatici ai unei dictaturi. Dialogurile sunt bune, dar am avut o problemă cu personajele (de ex. și cu ”dama” - mult prea noir șablon) și cu unele potriviri prea ușoare ca să înainteze ancheta.
Sincer, m-a plictisit considerabil și, deși mă așteptam la ceva mai germanificat în mentalitate și referințe, e 100% britanică.
Dacă vă plac noir-urile pe rețetă, go for it. Dacă vă așteptați (ca mine), la un fel de ”Omul din Castelul Înalt” (cartea, nu leșinătura de serial), veți fi dezamăgiți.
Oarecum original e mai degrabă background-ul - Axa a câștigat WW2, dar din 1978 (când e scrisă cartea) a mai fost folosit de multe ori și a devenit destul de banal; pe deasupra, SS-iștii nu mi s-au părut credibili - se comportă ca niște lorzi britanici, nu ca militari fanatici ai unei dictaturi. Dialogurile sunt bune, dar am avut o problemă cu personajele (de ex. și cu ”dama” - mult prea noir șablon) și cu unele potriviri prea ușoare ca să înainteze ancheta.
Sincer, m-a plictisit considerabil și, deși mă așteptam la ceva mai germanificat în mentalitate și referințe, e 100% britanică.
Dacă vă plac noir-urile pe rețetă, go for it. Dacă vă așteptați (ca mine), la un fel de ”Omul din Castelul Înalt” (cartea, nu leșinătura de serial), veți fi dezamăgiți.
whatmeworry's review
4.0
This is a book that I'd wanted to read since I saw it on my dad's bookshelf as a kid. The central concept (Britain loses the Battle of Britain and is occupied by the Nazis) is immediately appealing and Deighton tales great pains to portray it convincingly. Against this backdrop he tells a gripping tale about a murder investigation led by the hero, an English police defective. It was pretty much everything you could want from a thriller, lots of action and intrigue and a twisting plot that only fully reveals itself in the final pages.
smcleish's review
4.0
Originally published on my blog here in July 2004.
Because of Deighton's long history as a successful thriller writer before the appearance of SS-GB, it is packaged as a thriller; but in fact it is science fiction dealing with a classic theme of that genre, and would doubtless have been classified as such if it had been a first novel. For this is alternative history, set in a Britain occupied by the Third Reich after a successful 1941 German invasion. Central character Douglas Archer is a senior officer at Scotland Yard, now under the control of the SS. Like many in occupied England, he tries to carry on with his job - criminal investigation - without getting in the way of or thinking too hard about the German occupiers. Crime is, after all, still crime. However, he is gradually drawn into a Resistance plot, much against his better judgement.
The Second World War is a conflict which, because of the hateful policies of the Nazis, has generated many myths, ideas which have become entrenched in popular culture and unquestionable, especially in Britain, no matter what their historical accuracy. These myths include the plucky but ineffective Home Guard, the dedicated airmen and so on - and one of the most powerful is the role of the Resistance in occupied countries. Everybody was apparently on the side of the Resistance, even if they were unable to do anything active, apart from a small number of moral degenerates, congenital traitors. A moment's thought would show that this could not have been the case, particularly given the exceptionally vicious fighting between rival Resistance groups in countries like Greece and Yugoslavia, but it would be hard to write a novel as cynical as Deighton's about a country that had actually been occupied without causing offence. In SS-GB, most people collaborate to some extent or another; many even welcome the Germans for all kinds of reasons; the Germans are far more attractive characters than a lot of the Resistance members.
Another reason for writing this kind of novel is the ability it gives the author to make oblique criticisms. About three quarters of the way through, in a conversation about German brutality, one character says "I wonder if we'd be as bad as they are, if we'd won the war and were occupying Germany". You don't hear much about brutality from the British and American troops occupying West Germany after the war, but it is certainly a comment with an uncomfortable resonance these days in which we hear all the time about abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers. It rubs against another Second World War myth, that the Germans were all brutal bullies and the Allies honourable young men.
SS-GB is a fascinating novel, extremely convincing (being based, of course, on Deighton's exhaustive knowledge of the period).
Because of Deighton's long history as a successful thriller writer before the appearance of SS-GB, it is packaged as a thriller; but in fact it is science fiction dealing with a classic theme of that genre, and would doubtless have been classified as such if it had been a first novel. For this is alternative history, set in a Britain occupied by the Third Reich after a successful 1941 German invasion. Central character Douglas Archer is a senior officer at Scotland Yard, now under the control of the SS. Like many in occupied England, he tries to carry on with his job - criminal investigation - without getting in the way of or thinking too hard about the German occupiers. Crime is, after all, still crime. However, he is gradually drawn into a Resistance plot, much against his better judgement.
The Second World War is a conflict which, because of the hateful policies of the Nazis, has generated many myths, ideas which have become entrenched in popular culture and unquestionable, especially in Britain, no matter what their historical accuracy. These myths include the plucky but ineffective Home Guard, the dedicated airmen and so on - and one of the most powerful is the role of the Resistance in occupied countries. Everybody was apparently on the side of the Resistance, even if they were unable to do anything active, apart from a small number of moral degenerates, congenital traitors. A moment's thought would show that this could not have been the case, particularly given the exceptionally vicious fighting between rival Resistance groups in countries like Greece and Yugoslavia, but it would be hard to write a novel as cynical as Deighton's about a country that had actually been occupied without causing offence. In SS-GB, most people collaborate to some extent or another; many even welcome the Germans for all kinds of reasons; the Germans are far more attractive characters than a lot of the Resistance members.
Another reason for writing this kind of novel is the ability it gives the author to make oblique criticisms. About three quarters of the way through, in a conversation about German brutality, one character says "I wonder if we'd be as bad as they are, if we'd won the war and were occupying Germany". You don't hear much about brutality from the British and American troops occupying West Germany after the war, but it is certainly a comment with an uncomfortable resonance these days in which we hear all the time about abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers. It rubs against another Second World War myth, that the Germans were all brutal bullies and the Allies honourable young men.
SS-GB is a fascinating novel, extremely convincing (being based, of course, on Deighton's exhaustive knowledge of the period).
avid_d's review
4.0
In my younger years, I loved reading Ipcress File and Funeral In Berlin but gave up on Deighton after Billion Dollar Brain.
After so many years, I picked this book up because it was cheap and I am so glad I did. A really enjoyable, twisting, alternative history thriller. A cracking read.
After so many years, I picked this book up because it was cheap and I am so glad I did. A really enjoyable, twisting, alternative history thriller. A cracking read.
brettt's review
3.0
Len Deighton did not mess around with a Nazi plot to damage the U.S. or a British peace treaty with Germany -- he posited a successful German invasion of Great Britain that resulted in complete surrender and occupation in 1941. The Nazis work in Whitehall, King George is locked away and Winston Churchill has been executed. But there are still crimes in London, and there is still Scotland Yard around to solve them, in spy novelist Len Deighton's 1978 SS-GB.
Douglas Archer is one of the Yard's keenest minds, but even he is unsure about a man murdered in a London flat which is obviously not his own. There is no identification on the man and there are no clues about his death, but even so the new German masters of the Yard seem very interested in the case. That could make Archer's work easier, or more difficult, depending on what he finds. And depending on whether other interested parties let him live long enough to find anything at all.
SS-GB is as much a mystery thriller as anything else. Different details about how Archer has to go about his business in a bombed and occupied London, and about what underground resistance fighters are trying to do give the book its other-history character, but the core is how Archer finds himself manipulated by people playing a much larger game than he realizes. This is often a theme for Deighton, who sees espionage as a matter in which those in the front are often working for people they don't know who have agendas they would never dream of. They will be the ones who risk everything, even though the cause for which they do so might turn out to be less of a truth than they realize.
Some of SS-GB runs improbably quickly, such as Archer's love interest and his own connection to the underground resistance, and some of the rest is sketched out less thoroughly than is best for the story. Deighton's never been one for bloat, but SS-GB could have used a sandwich or two to help its appearance. It's still a great read and a testament to Deighton's grasp of the ins and outs of espionage and the bureaucratic mess that often lies behind the cloak and dagger in the field.
Original available here.
Douglas Archer is one of the Yard's keenest minds, but even he is unsure about a man murdered in a London flat which is obviously not his own. There is no identification on the man and there are no clues about his death, but even so the new German masters of the Yard seem very interested in the case. That could make Archer's work easier, or more difficult, depending on what he finds. And depending on whether other interested parties let him live long enough to find anything at all.
SS-GB is as much a mystery thriller as anything else. Different details about how Archer has to go about his business in a bombed and occupied London, and about what underground resistance fighters are trying to do give the book its other-history character, but the core is how Archer finds himself manipulated by people playing a much larger game than he realizes. This is often a theme for Deighton, who sees espionage as a matter in which those in the front are often working for people they don't know who have agendas they would never dream of. They will be the ones who risk everything, even though the cause for which they do so might turn out to be less of a truth than they realize.
Some of SS-GB runs improbably quickly, such as Archer's love interest and his own connection to the underground resistance, and some of the rest is sketched out less thoroughly than is best for the story. Deighton's never been one for bloat, but SS-GB could have used a sandwich or two to help its appearance. It's still a great read and a testament to Deighton's grasp of the ins and outs of espionage and the bureaucratic mess that often lies behind the cloak and dagger in the field.
Original available here.
psr's review
3.0
I read this for research purposes, so I shan't review it at length here. It's the second Deighton novel I've read for this reason. What I will say is that old Len knows how to spin a yarn, how to keep the pages turning, etc. And while not the first to posit the scenario, Deighton's book has been hugely influential on the counterfactual novel. This influence can plainly be seen in Robert Harris's excellent Fatherland, the best genre novel I've read in some time. Deighton also creates a suitably gloomy feel for a Nazi-occupied London. And there is some psychological depth to the characters.
Why didn't I rate it more highly? Well, for a start, it falls into the conventions and cliches of the crime novel. There's Detective-Superintendent "Archer of the Yard" and his faithful, older sergeant. There's the American journalist love-interest (another debt Harris owes to Deighton, since he has one of these as well). You have to have an eye on the film or TV rights, don't you? And in the best (for which, read worst) traditions of the spy-thriller, the plot is ridiculously over-complicated. The writing feels old-fashioned, but not in a good way. Rather than evoking 1941, it feels stiff and the use of popular idiom is rather dated.
One thing I did notice, was my reaction to the picture presented; a dismal, defeated England under the heel of the jackboot. Born an Englishman, I could never be anything else, but I'm in no sense a nationalist. Even so, the idea of my birth country being occupied by a foreign force provoked the emotion Deighton intended. In this sense, then, I guess he succeeded.
Why didn't I rate it more highly? Well, for a start, it falls into the conventions and cliches of the crime novel. There's Detective-Superintendent "Archer of the Yard" and his faithful, older sergeant. There's the American journalist love-interest (another debt Harris owes to Deighton, since he has one of these as well). You have to have an eye on the film or TV rights, don't you? And in the best (for which, read worst) traditions of the spy-thriller, the plot is ridiculously over-complicated. The writing feels old-fashioned, but not in a good way. Rather than evoking 1941, it feels stiff and the use of popular idiom is rather dated.
One thing I did notice, was my reaction to the picture presented; a dismal, defeated England under the heel of the jackboot. Born an Englishman, I could never be anything else, but I'm in no sense a nationalist. Even so, the idea of my birth country being occupied by a foreign force provoked the emotion Deighton intended. In this sense, then, I guess he succeeded.
markk's review
3.0
What happens when one's commitment to their duty conflicts with their loyalty to their country? That is the dilemma facing Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer in Len Deighton's alternate history thriller. A leading member of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, he finds himself working for the German occupation in the aftermath of their conquest of Great Britain. This tension becomes unavoidable when Archer is called upon to investigate the murder of a man found in an apartment in Shepherd Market. Though initially unremarkable, the case quickly draws attention from the highest circles of the German government, as Archer finds himself pulled into a dangerous world of political intrigue that forces him to resolve his priorities and take a side - no matter what the cost.
Deighton's book is an dramatic story of intrigue in a world that might have been. He does not explain up front how Britain was defeated or what the point of divergence was, leaving details to trickle out naturally as they would in a normal conversation, without any of the clunky exposition too many writers adopt when explaining the worlds they have constructed. Instead his focus is on the plot and characters, as he constructs a grim yet plausible world in which a depressed population is still coming to terms with their defeat. The mystery itself unfolds gradually, and while some readers may figure out the particulars fairly quickly Deighton still puts together an ending that is difficult to forecast before getting there. Taken together, it makes for one of the best alternate history novels ever written, as well as a suspenseful tale that readers who are not familiar with the genre will enjoy nonetheless.
Deighton's book is an dramatic story of intrigue in a world that might have been. He does not explain up front how Britain was defeated or what the point of divergence was, leaving details to trickle out naturally as they would in a normal conversation, without any of the clunky exposition too many writers adopt when explaining the worlds they have constructed. Instead his focus is on the plot and characters, as he constructs a grim yet plausible world in which a depressed population is still coming to terms with their defeat. The mystery itself unfolds gradually, and while some readers may figure out the particulars fairly quickly Deighton still puts together an ending that is difficult to forecast before getting there. Taken together, it makes for one of the best alternate history novels ever written, as well as a suspenseful tale that readers who are not familiar with the genre will enjoy nonetheless.