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avid_d's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
3.0
Better to read this for the telling of the tale than for a sense of satisfaction at the end. For this short novel of Deighton's is quite an enjoyable action piece. And his anonymous hero is back, with fewer tart quips but observations that are just as trenchant as those in the earlier works.
In fact, An Expensive Place to Die reads much more like a detective story than a spy thriller. And I suppose that is part of the reason it frequently reminds the reader of Raymond Chandler in places. I'm especially thinking of the trip to Datt's house hidden away in a countryside village. Like Chandler in The Big Sleep, Deighton indulges in images of corruption and society tainted with contact from the immoral and degenerate Far East. It especially applies to immoral sexuality and illicit drugs coming from Oriental masterminds or their sympathizers.
That leaves the ending, at once bitter and so hollow that the shock on the reader is lost. And that is what you are left with. A brief explosion of violence that puts a seal on secrets best kept tucked away. When things are over, they're simply over and finished. Not much in this story weighs on the mind afterwards. But, again, it is a thrill reading through the unfolding of it all.
In fact, An Expensive Place to Die reads much more like a detective story than a spy thriller. And I suppose that is part of the reason it frequently reminds the reader of Raymond Chandler in places. I'm especially thinking of the trip to Datt's house hidden away in a countryside village. Like Chandler in The Big Sleep, Deighton indulges in images of corruption and society tainted with contact from the immoral and degenerate Far East. It especially applies to immoral sexuality and illicit drugs coming from Oriental masterminds or their sympathizers.
That leaves the ending, at once bitter and so hollow that the shock on the reader is lost. And that is what you are left with. A brief explosion of violence that puts a seal on secrets best kept tucked away. When things are over, they're simply over and finished. Not much in this story weighs on the mind afterwards. But, again, it is a thrill reading through the unfolding of it all.
smcleish's review
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in January 2004.
The fifth Len Deighton novel narrated by Harry Palmer is in some ways more like [b:The Ipcress File|171624|The Ipcress File (Secret File, #1)|Len Deighton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1295903974s/171624.jpg|2155765] than [b:Billion Dollar Brain|482121|Billion Dollar Brain|Len Deighton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1220645598s/482121.jpg|3095613] (its predecessor) is. The cynical dark humour returns, and this gives the novel a similar atmosphere. It is, though, a more sordid novel, its subject being a high class Parisian brothel which has a sideline in blackmail, but it also shares the impression that the narrator has very little idea of what is actually going on - something which enables Deighton to spring surprises on the reader.
There is actually very little more to the plot than the existence of the brothel; all that really concerns the reader is to work out which of the characters in the novel is involved in investigating, protecting or running it. This is not very satisfactory from the point of view of the action in the story, something important in the thriller genre; it remains too unmotivated.
Harry Palmer continues to be anonymous, identified only as "the Englishman" by the other characters. In a new departure, his is not the only narrative voice. This is presumably so that the scenes can be rather more varied, with descriptions of events outside the Englishman's viewpoint. However, the scenes narrated from the point of view of other characters do not work so well; Deighton seems to have problems imagining how they will respond to the events they witness.
The novel, whose title comes from an Oscar Wilde quip about Paris, is something of a mixed bag. As a thriller, it isn't really exciting enough, but makes up for this in atmosphere. The plot is too diffuse, but it can be interesting guessing exactly who is on which side. While its predecessor Billion-Dollar Brain is really only for those who want to read everything Deighton wrote, An Expensive Place to Die would probably interest any fan of spy thrillers who picked it up.
The fifth Len Deighton novel narrated by Harry Palmer is in some ways more like [b:The Ipcress File|171624|The Ipcress File (Secret File, #1)|Len Deighton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1295903974s/171624.jpg|2155765] than [b:Billion Dollar Brain|482121|Billion Dollar Brain|Len Deighton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1220645598s/482121.jpg|3095613] (its predecessor) is. The cynical dark humour returns, and this gives the novel a similar atmosphere. It is, though, a more sordid novel, its subject being a high class Parisian brothel which has a sideline in blackmail, but it also shares the impression that the narrator has very little idea of what is actually going on - something which enables Deighton to spring surprises on the reader.
There is actually very little more to the plot than the existence of the brothel; all that really concerns the reader is to work out which of the characters in the novel is involved in investigating, protecting or running it. This is not very satisfactory from the point of view of the action in the story, something important in the thriller genre; it remains too unmotivated.
Harry Palmer continues to be anonymous, identified only as "the Englishman" by the other characters. In a new departure, his is not the only narrative voice. This is presumably so that the scenes can be rather more varied, with descriptions of events outside the Englishman's viewpoint. However, the scenes narrated from the point of view of other characters do not work so well; Deighton seems to have problems imagining how they will respond to the events they witness.
The novel, whose title comes from an Oscar Wilde quip about Paris, is something of a mixed bag. As a thriller, it isn't really exciting enough, but makes up for this in atmosphere. The plot is too diffuse, but it can be interesting guessing exactly who is on which side. While its predecessor Billion-Dollar Brain is really only for those who want to read everything Deighton wrote, An Expensive Place to Die would probably interest any fan of spy thrillers who picked it up.
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