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A review by phileasfogg
Funeral in Berlin by Len Deighton
5.0
The third in Len Deighton's 'nameless spy' series provides more witty, well-written, spy action. I enjoyed it more than its predecessors; its highs are higher, though it sags a little in the middle. Colonel Stok and Hallam are great fun. The climactic scenes are the best Deighton has yet written, action-packed, laugh-out-loud funny and sad all at once.
Jean, such a good character in The IPCRESS File, is barely present, and might have been better served by being absent entirely.
Deighton exercises a new writing muscle, injecting a few chapters of close third-person narration in amongst the series' usual first-person, abandoning the idea that we're reading a real agent's secret reports.
The movie is very different, and is in some ways better than the book. In particular, the 'funeral in Berlin' of the title plays out very differently, so differently you could see the movie and consider much of the book unspoiled. Sam Steel is more developed: the screenwriters found a better reason for her to be there. But it's a shame the book's superior finale wasn't used.
My copy - a Penguin 1966 - has a few interesting features. It has a great blurb talking up how popular Deighton's books are, invoking Bond and the Beatles. It claims Americans waited in line for hours to get into cinemas showing The IPCRESS File. There are some great excerpts from reviews, including a few surprising names, such as:
A fireworks manufacturer successfully sued the author or publisher (wikipedia is unspecific, and I can't find a better source), over a character's lengthy criticism of the use of fireworks on Guy Fawkes night. They frighten the animals and blind and burn children. Who gains? 'Brock's Fireworks,' says the hero.
At least one later edition had much of the offending conversation removed. My copy strangely has the name of the manufacturer 'redacted' with black texta. It must have still been in a warehouse when the lawsuit was decided, and was made sellable by manually removing the company name.
Jean, such a good character in The IPCRESS File, is barely present, and might have been better served by being absent entirely.
Deighton exercises a new writing muscle, injecting a few chapters of close third-person narration in amongst the series' usual first-person, abandoning the idea that we're reading a real agent's secret reports.
The movie is very different, and is in some ways better than the book. In particular, the 'funeral in Berlin' of the title plays out very differently, so differently you could see the movie and consider much of the book unspoiled. Sam Steel is more developed: the screenwriters found a better reason for her to be there. But it's a shame the book's superior finale wasn't used.
My copy - a Penguin 1966 - has a few interesting features. It has a great blurb talking up how popular Deighton's books are, invoking Bond and the Beatles. It claims Americans waited in line for hours to get into cinemas showing The IPCRESS File. There are some great excerpts from reviews, including a few surprising names, such as:
Tremendously gripping and very well-written. - P.G. Wodehouse
Absolutely perfect - suspenseful, intricate and coldly logical. - Ogden Nash
A fireworks manufacturer successfully sued the author or publisher (wikipedia is unspecific, and I can't find a better source), over a character's lengthy criticism of the use of fireworks on Guy Fawkes night. They frighten the animals and blind and burn children. Who gains? 'Brock's Fireworks,' says the hero.
At least one later edition had much of the offending conversation removed. My copy strangely has the name of the manufacturer 'redacted' with black texta. It must have still been in a warehouse when the lawsuit was decided, and was made sellable by manually removing the company name.