Title:
Spy Line
Genre:
Adventure
Drama
Mystery
Thriller
Show More
Series:
Hook Line
Binding:
Paperback
Type of Book:
Fiction
Number of Pages:
316
Date Added:
2018-06-26 17:53:53
Synopsis:
Spy Line is a 1989 spy novel by Len Deighton. It is the second novel in the second of three trilogies about Bernard Samson, a middle-aged and somewhat jaded intelligence officer working for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Spy Line is part of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy, being preceded by Spy Hook and followed Spy Sinker. This trilogy is preceded by the Game, Set and Match trilogy and followed by the final Faith, Hope and Charity trilogy. Deighton’s novel Winter (1987) is a prequel to the nine novels, covering the years 1900-1945 and providing the backstory to some of the characters.
Plot summary:
The novel starts with Bernard Samson in hiding in Berlin after the events in the first book of the series. He is soon found by the SIS and is invited by Frank Harrington to sit in on a debriefing of an undercover agent, where it is revealed that Eric Stinnes has been smuggling drugs into East Germany.
Bernard is eventually recalled to London, and sent on a mission to Vienna to pick up a package from a stamp auction. This is revealed to be a Russian passport, which he uses to meet his wife Fiona, whom it is now revealed is a double agent (It is not made clear for how long Bernard knew this).
Finally, Fiona attempts to escape from East Germany, whereupon Eric Stinnes, and Fiona’s sister Tessa are both killed. Bernard and Fiona escape back to the other side of the wall and are transported to America for debriefing.
Spy Line
Len Deighton
From Publishers Weekly:
Deighton’s novels Berlin Game , Mexico Set and London Match initiated the stories about British secret agent Bernard Samson, whose wife Fiona has defected to the U.S.S.R. As narrated by Samson, the three tales are intensely exciting, a quality that continued at high pitch in Spy Hook , the first volume in the new trilogy. This is the second, opening with Samson in Berlin, a fugitive from England where the intelligence service accused him of spying for the Soviets. With the CIA and KGB also menacing him, Samson is suddenly cleared of the charge of treason and returned to London and to warm welcomes from colleagues, his lover Gloria and his children. The situation changes, however, when he’s sent on a "simple” mission to Vienna and a deep-cover meeting with Fiona. In the resulting events, the loyal agent’s safety becomes even more tenuous than it was during his darkest days in Berlin. Maintaining unrelenting tension and chronicling an escalation of intrigue and violent death, the new thriller will make readers eager for the answers in the next. 200,000 first printing; BOMC selection.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review:
’Spy Line is vigorous and sleazy, psychologically complex and action-packed. It is always exciting’ Daily Mail ’This is vintage Deighton’ Sunday Times ’For sheer readability he has no peer’ The Standard ’No one can evoke the city of Berlin better than Deighton’ Sunday Telegraph ’Deighton’s grip on the tensions of espionage grows ever tighter’ Mail on Sunday
Product Description:
British agent Bernard Samson finds himself inexplicably hunted as a traitor, forced to abandon his life, his job, his position, and plunge into hiding in the most dangerous and darkest corner of Berlin. What is happening? What has he done? Nothing makes sense until Samson discovers that the Secret Service has known all along where he is. In fact, they have never taken him off the payroll. And now they are prepared to return his freedom and good name -- but there are strings attached, strings that begin to tighten around his neck even before his plane lands in Vienna
From the Inside Flap:6
British agent Bernard Samson finds himself inexplicably hunted as a traitor, forced to abandon his life, his job, his position, and plunge into hiding in the most dangerous and darkest corner of Berlin. What is happening? What has he done? Nothing makes sense until Samson discovers that the Secret Service has known all along where he is. In fact, they have never taken him off the payroll. And now they are prepared to return his freedom and good name -- but there are strings attached, strings that begin to tighten around his neck even before his plane lands in Vienna
About the Author:
Born in London, Len Deighton served in the RAF before graduating from the Royal College of Art (which recently elected him a Senior Fellow). While in New York City working as a magazine illustrator he began writing his first novel, The Ipcress File, which was published in 1962. He is now the author of more than thirty books of fiction and non-fiction. At present living in Europe, he has, over the years, lived with his family in ten different countries from Austria to Portugal.
Plot summary:
The novel starts with Bernard Samson in hiding in Berlin after the events in the first book of the series. He is soon found by the SIS and is invited by Frank Harrington to sit in on a debriefing of an undercover agent, where it is revealed that Eric Stinnes has been smuggling drugs into East Germany.
Bernard is eventually recalled to London, and sent on a mission to Vienna to pick up a package from a stamp auction. This is revealed to be a Russian passport, which he uses to meet his wife Fiona, whom it is now revealed is a double agent (It is not made clear for how long Bernard knew this).
Finally, Fiona attempts to escape from East Germany, whereupon Eric Stinnes, and Fiona’s sister Tessa are both killed. Bernard and Fiona escape back to the other side of the wall and are transported to America for debriefing.
Spy Line
Len Deighton
From Publishers Weekly:
Deighton’s novels Berlin Game , Mexico Set and London Match initiated the stories about British secret agent Bernard Samson, whose wife Fiona has defected to the U.S.S.R. As narrated by Samson, the three tales are intensely exciting, a quality that continued at high pitch in Spy Hook , the first volume in the new trilogy. This is the second, opening with Samson in Berlin, a fugitive from England where the intelligence service accused him of spying for the Soviets. With the CIA and KGB also menacing him, Samson is suddenly cleared of the charge of treason and returned to London and to warm welcomes from colleagues, his lover Gloria and his children. The situation changes, however, when he’s sent on a "simple” mission to Vienna and a deep-cover meeting with Fiona. In the resulting events, the loyal agent’s safety becomes even more tenuous than it was during his darkest days in Berlin. Maintaining unrelenting tension and chronicling an escalation of intrigue and violent death, the new thriller will make readers eager for the answers in the next. 200,000 first printing; BOMC selection.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review:
’Spy Line is vigorous and sleazy, psychologically complex and action-packed. It is always exciting’ Daily Mail ’This is vintage Deighton’ Sunday Times ’For sheer readability he has no peer’ The Standard ’No one can evoke the city of Berlin better than Deighton’ Sunday Telegraph ’Deighton’s grip on the tensions of espionage grows ever tighter’ Mail on Sunday
Product Description:
British agent Bernard Samson finds himself inexplicably hunted as a traitor, forced to abandon his life, his job, his position, and plunge into hiding in the most dangerous and darkest corner of Berlin. What is happening? What has he done? Nothing makes sense until Samson discovers that the Secret Service has known all along where he is. In fact, they have never taken him off the payroll. And now they are prepared to return his freedom and good name -- but there are strings attached, strings that begin to tighten around his neck even before his plane lands in Vienna
From the Inside Flap:6
British agent Bernard Samson finds himself inexplicably hunted as a traitor, forced to abandon his life, his job, his position, and plunge into hiding in the most dangerous and darkest corner of Berlin. What is happening? What has he done? Nothing makes sense until Samson discovers that the Secret Service has known all along where he is. In fact, they have never taken him off the payroll. And now they are prepared to return his freedom and good name -- but there are strings attached, strings that begin to tighten around his neck even before his plane lands in Vienna
About the Author:
Born in London, Len Deighton served in the RAF before graduating from the Royal College of Art (which recently elected him a Senior Fellow). While in New York City working as a magazine illustrator he began writing his first novel, The Ipcress File, which was published in 1962. He is now the author of more than thirty books of fiction and non-fiction. At present living in Europe, he has, over the years, lived with his family in ten different countries from Austria to Portugal.
Publisher:
Grafton Books
Publication Date:
1989-01-01
Language:
English
Date Added:
2018-06-26 17:53:53
