I can’t get enough of Bernard Samson, Len Deighton’s beautifully constructed British spy person, so I’m embarking on the second trilogy (of three). I have a backlog of reading and I haven’t been doing much lately. Call it a reading slump. I was hoping this would shake some of the reading cobwebs free.
Samson has moved to the suburbs with his 23 year-old girlfriend (she’s half his age) and his two kids (elementary school age) and is once again concerned that British Intelligence, or some faction within, is out to get him. Remember, his wife defected in the first book and is now a high-ranking KGB officer.
This one is different from the first three books in the series because it ends in a cliffhanger. It feels like a transition book somewhat because it also downplays the spy-craft aspects of the genre and focuses more on the human drama of it all. However, the ending portends a spate of spy novel style action right off the bat in the next book. This has certainly shaken the cobwebs from my reading funk. As soon as I finished it I went to Abe Books and ordered up the last five in the nine volume series.
I’m loving the epic – the trilogy of trilogies – the Bernard Samson novels.