Pulse en una miniatura para ir a Google Books.
Cargando... Yesterday's Spy (1975)por Len Deighton
Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Sinister rumours link clandestine Arab arms dealing with the man who led the old anti-Nazi Guernica network. Time to reopen the master file on yesterday's spy... Sinister rumours link clandestine Arab arms dealing with the man who led the old anti-Nazi Guernica network. Time to re-open the master file on yesterday's spy... This new reissue includes a foreword from the cover designer, Oscar-winning filmmaker Arnold Schwartzman, and a brand new introduction by Len Deighton, which offers a fascinating insight into the writing of the story. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Debates activosNingunoCubiertas populares
Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)823.9Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern PeriodClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
¿Eres tú?Conviértete en un Autor de LibraryThing. |
Review of the Penguin Modern Classics paperback edition (September, 2021) of the original Jonathan Cape hardcover (1975)
Penguin Modern Classics lists this as the third of four 'Patrick Armstrong' novels, preceded by An Expensive Place to Die (orig. 1967) & Spy Story (orig. 1972) and followed by Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy (orig. 1976). Author Deighton hedges his bets in his 2012 Afterword and acknowledges that many of his readers have taken to naming his bespectacled, otherwise-nameless, spy protagonist as 'Harry Palmer,' after the name used in the Michael Caine films of the earlier books (The IPCRESS File, Funeral in Berlin, etc.), even though that name never appeared in the books themselves.
The later quartet of books doesn't have quite the charm of the earlier ones however. I think this is mostly due to them not having the banter between working-class 'Harry' and his former upper-class boss Dawlish. Yesterday's Spy has the otherwise nameless spy operating under his old World War II Resistance name of 'Monsieur Charles.' He is sent by his current boss, ex-Marine Col. Schlegel in 'The Department,' to resume acquaintance with Steve Champion, a former ally in a French underground resistance network during World War II. Champion now makes his living from arms dealing, and is suspected of selling to terrorists and governments in the Middle East. The concern is that his latest scheme involves nuclear weapons.
Yesterday's Spy has the usual sorts of betrayals and seemingly inexplicable plot turns of the other Deighton books, with all not being explained until the final chapter. It does lean towards several of the James Bond-like tropes of the Ian Fleming books and film adaptations. There is the somewhat charming evil villain. There is the femme fatale. There is the villain's lair which is infiltrated by the hero. There is the somewhat absurd final confrontation of the single hero vs. the overwhelming forces of the bad guys. So it was more of an 'it was ok' sort of book, compared to earlier, more anti-James Bond, type of books.
See cover image at https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346898814...
Cover image from the original 1975 Jonathan Cape hardcover edition. Image sourced from Goodreads.
Yesterday's Spy is the 7th of my re-reads of the early Len Deightons (I first read almost all of them in the 60's/70's/80's) after having learned of the Penguin Modern Classics republication of all of his novels, which were published during 2021 as outlined in an online article Why Len Deighton's spy stories are set to thrill a new generation (Guardian/Observer May 2, 2021).
Trivia and No Link
Yesterday's Spy did not receive a movie adaptation, unlike several of the other early Deighton novels. ( )