Product Description

June 11, 1940 - where is Winston Churchill? A private aircraft takes off from a small town in central France, while Adolf Hitler, the would-be conqueror of Europe, prepares for a clandestine meeting near the Belgian border. For more than forty years the events of this day have been Britain's most closely guarded secret. Anyone who learns of them must die - with their file stamped: XPD - expedient demise

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #187963 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Review
'A stunning spy story... Deighton remains the incomparable entertainer' The Guardian 'Exciting and well made.' Daily Telegraph 'Deighton in top form... the best kind of action entertainment' Publishers Weekly 'Deliciously sharp and flawlessly accurate dialogue, breathtakingly clever plotting, confident character drawing... a splendidly strongly told story' The Times 'A master of fictional espionage.' Daily Mail '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.

Customer Reviews

A timeless classic
Deighton has surpassed even his normally high quality work with this post-World War II thriller. Weaving a compelling tale of finance, intrigue and history, he draws the reader into the story with subtle proficiency. This departure from his established run of 'spy' novels was an inspired decision. It's a shame this book isn't on the active inventory here.

The story recalls the recovery of hidden Nazi gold, art and documents by American soldiers at the end of World War II in Europe. Some of the soldiers seize the opportunity to filch some of the treasure, setting up a Swiss bank. The real prize, however, resides in the documents - they possess a secret from the early days of the war. The pivotal point of the story, the secret is sought by many, each with their own focus. It's a compelling idea, given impetus by the 'discovery' of a set of 'Hitler's Journals' a few years ago. The bogus Journals don't detract from Deighton's quite credible suggestion hidden in the documents' pages.

Without taking anything away from the plot, it is Deighton's characters that remain his strong point. In this book he conveys unalloyed identity to a diverse cast of participants from the US, Germany, the UK and Russia. None of them fails to convince the reader of their authenticity. You come to know them intimately, even the unpleasant ones. Strangely, the weakest character is the British Intelligence agent, Boyd Stuart. Remoulding Bernard Samson into Stuart would have been transparent, leaving Stuart slightly inconsistent. The real star of Deighton's cast in this book is Charlie Stein. Deighton displays his finest talent in painting this American war veteran in perfect colours. Tom Clancy couldn't have bettered Deighton's depiction of this sergeant running an Army Company with absolute confidence. Officers are merely decorative and built into the organization by default. The sergeants are the real managers, and Stein typically carries the ability through to today. Not having had a brain transplant from an American, Deighton's descriptive presentation of all of the Americans is more than just impressive.

Deighton's prodigious research underlying this book is clearly brought into view through his adept writing skills. You will learn much from this book, while enjoying the story he weaves. Surprises abound, but nothing is out of place. A fine addition to any collection of Deighton, historical speculation, or just plain captivating reading. Why wasn't this story put on film?

Dreary and dated
Re-issued to celebrate Deighton's 80th birthday in 2009, XPD shows how incredibly dated spy novels from the 1980's have become. This is terribly dreary and pedestrian throughout, with an impenetrable plot and characters that make cardboard cutouts look interesting. Misleadingly, the book is billed as a novel about the so-called Hitler Minutes, from a meeting that supposedly took place between Churchill and Hitler that could have resulted in a very different outcome for the Second World War.

In fact, it's a novel that allows Deighton to show off all sorts of knowledge about spying, technology, military hardware, the film industry, food and drink, the geography of Los Angeles, Nazi military and political history, with scant regard for decent writing and tight plotting. I used to love Deighton's work. But re-reading XPD has made me re-appraise things. The ending couldn't come quickly enough, and it's been a revelation just how out-dated his work has become.

Rather than "the master of fictional espionage" as billed on the cover of the paperback edition, Deighton in many ways heralded in the age of the techno thriller with this novel -doorstep sized books of impossible political double-dealings where the military hardware and technology became more important than character and story-telling. Something of a mixed blessing, I think.

Masterful!!!!!!!
I have now read a number of books by Deighton, the last being the Billion Doller Brain, throughly disappointing, this however was refreshingly impressive. The lovable rougue that was Boyd Stuart served his purpose well, being manipulated by all those around him yet still being the one to come out on top. The evilness that surrounded Willi Kleiber beggered believe that such a man could have existed. They way in which he made piece at the end was in itself magnificant.

Throughly enjoyable