Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64586 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Customer Reviews

A brilliant "altenative history" thriller - vintage Deighton
It's November 1941 in Nazi-occupied Britain, and Detective Inspector Archer of Scotland Yard finds himself reporting to SS Gruppenfuehrer Fritz Kellermann. The King is a prisoner in the Tower of London; Churchill has been shot after a brief trial in Berlin; Germany and the USSR are still the best of friends; and the USA is reluctant to intervene. Austerity holds Britain in its icy grip, with luxuries more or less limited to the German occupying forces and those who succeed in ingratiating themselves.

The successful invasion left swathes of ruin and destruction that have not yet been repaired. The blackened shell of a Panzer IV tank still sits halfway up Wimbledon high street. Anyone violating curfew, or breaking regulations, is likely to be shot or sent to a concentration camp. Yet there is no point in rebellion - that would just get more people killed. Apparently, the only way forward is to cooperate with the Germans. Kellermann hints to Archer that his young son might possibly attend the good German school in Highgate... On the other hand, perhaps he should be sent to a training school for young Nazis in Germany.

While developing one of his usual opaque plots, Deighton cleverly shows the dilemma facing Archer and others in positions of responsibility. We see the British resistance as more like the present-day Iraqi insurgency ("terrorists, thugs and diehards") than in the heroic light that has restrospectively fallen on those who fought the Nazis after their countries had surrendered.

As usual in a Deighton story, it is no use trying to work out which side anyone is on. Mostly, each of the leading players is on his (or her) own side. The question is: who can profit most by cooperating with whom? The answers turn out to be surprising indeed. Tension starts to build with the abrupt arrival of SS Standartenfuehrer Huth from Berlin - a man who stands for no nonsense, works for Himmler, and has dauntingly direct methods. Can the Resistance exploit tensions between the German Army and the SS to rescue the King? What is the secret of the scientist who is found shot dead, apparently suffering from an extreme case of sunburn? Add a beautiful American journalist, a sinister British secret service officer, a US military expedition, sundry criminals, black-marketeers and collaborators, stir vigorously... and get ready for some stunning entertainment.

Alternate history of World War 2
In this complex reworking of history, the Germans won the second world war in 1941 and now rule Britain. The story line weaves several layers - a murder story seen through the eyes of a British Scotland Yard Superintendent, a plot to rescue the King from the Tower of London, and a desparate race of the main nations (US, USSR and Germany) to be the first to create the atomic bomb - and rule the world.

With many Deighton books it is hard to determine who are the good guys and who are the bad guys - and this is no exception. We have an English Resistance "army" who are not as good as they ought to be, some "good" coppers, a variety of upper class Brits (up to no good), a beautiful American reporter, and so many different flavours of SS, SA, SP, SIPO each of who are trying to outdo the others that it all gets a bit confusing, and one needs a bit of a lie down.

After a slowish start the pace picks up and gets pretty exciting towards the end. Highly recommended for alternate history fans.

A suspenseful mystery set in Nazi-occupied Britain
What happens when one's commitment to their duty conflicts with the loyalty to their country? That is the dilemma facing Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer in Len Deighton's alternate history scenario. A leading member of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, he finds himself working for the German occupation in the aftermath of their conquest of Great Britain. This tension becomes unavoidable when Archer is called upon to investigate the murder of a man found in an apartment in Shepherd Market. Though initially unremarkable, the case quickly draws attention from the highest circles of the German government, as Archer finds himself pulled into a dangerous world of political intrigue that forces him to resolve his priorities and take a side - no matter what the cost.

Deighton's book is an dramatic story of intrigue in a world that might have been. He does not explain how Britain was defeated or what the point of divergence was, leaving details to trickle out naturally as they would in a normal conversation, without any of the clunky exposition too many writers adopt when explaining the worlds they have constructed. Instead his focus is on the plot and characters, as he constructs a grim yet plausible world in which a depressed population is still coming to terms with their defeat. The mystery itself unfolds gradually, and while some readers may figure out the particulars fairly quickly Deighton still puts together an ending that is difficult to forecast before getting there. Taken together, it makes for one of the best alternate history novels ever written, as well as a suspenseful tale that readers who are not familiar with the genre will enjoy nonetheless.