A review by tomfairfax
Funeral in Berlin by Len Deighton

4.0

My first Len Deighton book and a very good read. The (unnamed) protagonist is imperfect, witty, capable and sufficiently unreliable to keep the reader in suspense. He is an everyman who voices barrack-room opinions somewhere above the misanthropy of Callan but closer to it than to other agents one could mention. The plot is intricate yet believable, driven by human motivations rather than vague megalomania. The footnotes were an unexpected bonus, explaining the structure of various intelligence services, the post-war situation, German idioms and so on. I picked the book up in a charity shop and will look out for others with the same protagonist. Having seen the Ipcress File film, one does picture and hear the narrator as Michael Caine despite him coming from the north of England: will have to research some alternative actors.