Len Deighton - Free Library Land Online - History

An Expensive Place to Die

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 16:55:39 +0300

An unnamed spy - perhaps the same reluctant hero of The Ipcress File - is sent to Paris to deliver a file of nuclear secrets to a French doctor, but soon finds himself sucked into a twilight world of sex, blackmail and hidden motive, where friend and enemy become indistinguishable.

A ‘clinic’ on Paris’s Avenue Foch designed to cater lavishly for multiple perversions, staffed by a group of sexually and intellectually high-powered girls and equipped with devices ranging from an Iron Maiden to psychedelic truth-drugs – that’s the set-up operated by the enigmatic Monsieur Datt.

Naturally, it has a hidden purpose: to compile dossiers of tape and film on influential political clients from East and West. Into this twilight world of decadence and hidden motives come the agents of four world powers.

Are they after Datt’s pornographic blackmail dossiers? Or is their purpose altogether more deadly than a trip to the blue movies…?

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.

Review

'His most intriguing yet' Daily Express 'A first-rate storyteller who rarely if ever strikes a false note' Daily Mail 'Take this excellent thriller at a single gulp' Sunday Times 'The poet of the spy story' Sunday Times 'For sheer readability he has no peer' The Standard

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.

City of Gold

Mon, 09 Mar 1992 16:01:32 +0200

January 1942. Rommel?s seemingly invincible Afrika Korps is at the gates of Egypt ? perhaps soon to threaten Cairo itself. And Rommel has a spy in the city ? a source so well-informed that the German commander knows in advance every movement of the allied forces. Amongst the teeming streets and bazaars, the British, led by Major Albert Cutler, must find him. But Cairo is a city of fool?s gold, where nothing and nobody, not even Cutler, can be taken at face value? 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.

Blitzkrieg

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 10:20:18 +0200

'Deighton has a desire, unobtrusive but inflexible, to see the truth ... Blitzkrieg is full of insights' Financial Times
This is the story of the Nazi conquest of western Europe, from Hitler's rise to power and 'lightning-fast war', to his fatal mistake in halting the German advance on Dunkirk in 1940. Drawing on technical mastery and interviews with both Allied and German participants, Blitzkrieg sets out the technical thinking behind the attack and the weapons that made it possible. It is a compelling, detailed account of Europe's darkest hour.
'What Deighton did for the Battle of Britain in Fighter he has done for the land-war here ... A rattlingly good yarn' Guardian

Samson 04 - Faith

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:20:13 +0200

Violent Ward

Wed, 03 Feb 1993 08:55:18 +0200

If America is a lunatic asylum, then California is the Violent Ward. Mickey Murphy is a criminal lawyer with an office in LA?s downtown low-rent district, an ex-wife who bleeds him for money, clients who would plead the Fifth Amendment if they could count that high, and an unrequited passion for his wealthiest client?s wife. To make matters worse, Mickey finds himself embroiled against his wishes in an elaborate and clever scam that?s going askew, and being interrogated by the LAPD about a brutal murder. With an observant eye and ear for the California ?scene?, Deighton once again uses his brilliant storytelling skills to propel an exciting and suspenseful narrative at breakneck speed to a dramatic climax in a riot-torn city. 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.

Bomber

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 10:20:22 +0200

The classic novel of the Second World War that relates in devastating detail the 24-hour story of an allied bombing raid.

Bomber is a novel war. There are no victors, no vanquished. There are simply those who remain alive, and those who die.Bomber follows the progress of an Allied air raid through a period of twenty-four hours in the summer of 1943. It portrays all the participants in a terrifying drama, both in the air and on the ground, in Britain and in Germany.In its documentary style, it is unique. In its emotional power it is overwhelming.Len Deighton has been equally acclaimed as a novelist and as an historian. In Bomber he has combined both talents to produce a masterpiece.

Samson 07 - Spy Hook

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:20:23 +0200

Winter

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:55:19 +0200

Epic prelude to the classic spy trilogy, GAME, SET and MATCH, that follows the fortunes of a German dynasty during two world wars.

Winter takes us into a large and complex family drama, into the lives of two German brothers - both born close upon the turn of the century, both so caught up in the currents of history that their story is one with the story of their country, from the Kaiser's heyday through Hitler's rise and fall. A novel that rings powerfully true, a rich and remarkable portrait of Germany in the first half of the twentieth century.

In his portrait of a Berlin family during the turbulent years of the first half of the century, Len Deighton has created a compelling study of the rise of Nazi Germany.

With its meticulous research, rich detail and brilliantly drawn cast of characters, Winter is a superbly realized achievement.

Close-Up

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 10:20:15 +0200

SPECIAL PRICE FOR A LIMITED TIME The legendary, incendiary novel of the film industry back in print after 20 years. A Hollywood Babylon for our time Marshall Stone, international superstar and charismatic member of Hollywood's elite. Abundantly blessed with charm, genius and wealth, the one gift he most desires – everlasting youth – seems within his grasp when an eminent writer begins the star's biography. But painful memories and suppressed scandals threaten to expose the fiction of his life. Dazzled by flattery and numbed by threats, the biographer is caught up in the big-daddy world where books are properties, films are investments, ratings are rigged, and stars and directors are bought and sold like slaves at an auction. The rituals, the wheeler-dealing politics, and back-stabbing tactics of the richest industry in the world have never been more effectively portrayed. And at the heart of this glittering machine, a brilliant star who will do almost anything to remain...

Samson 05 - Hope

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:20:21 +0200

Samson 06 - Charity

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:20:16 +0200

Samson 08 - Spy Line

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:20:20 +0200

Fighter

Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:45:33 +0200

Summer, 1940: western Europe has been conquered, and all that stands between Hitler and the invasion of England is the matter of air supremacy. And the RAF...

Hitler's top-secret Directive No. 16, July 1940: 'The English air force must be beaten down to such an extent, that it can no longer muster any power of attack worth mentioning against the German advance.'

'Fighter' is Len Deighton's thrilling history of the ensuing Battle of Britain -- the aerial combat between the RAF and the Luftwaffe that was fought over the summer of 1940. Ex-RAF pilot Deighton has written a balanced study of strategies and tactics that also expertly recounts the development of the aeroplanes that fought each other in the skies -- the Spitfires and Messerschmitts -- and of radar. Behind the strategies and tactics, and in the cockpits of the aeroplanes, are the men brought vividly to life by Deighton's skill as a novelist.

Blood, Tears and Folly

Mon, 25 Jan 2021 10:20:25 +0200

'Every page of Deighton's work glows with the excitement of discovery ... wonderful' Geoff Dyer, Guardian
This unflinching history of the darkest days of the Second World War covers the entire world stage, from the Battle of the Atlantic to Pearl Harbor. Rooted in the personal accounts of the soldiers themselves, Blood, Tears and Folly is a sweeping, moving account of the political machinations, the strategy and tactics, the weapons and the men on both sides who created a world of devastation.
'If he had never written a word of fiction Deighton would still be remembered for his scholarly and merciless history of the Second World War, Blood, Tears and Folly' Peter Millar, The Times