Secret file 1

The whole case is in fact overly complex and I spent most of the book wondering what was going on. The explanation and the reason for the title does not become evident until the final few chapters clear it up. This is somewhat paralleled in the plot by the agent's perpetual lack of success in completing a crossword puzzle which his boss's secretary subsequently simply dashes off.

I found the crossword puzzle I had been working on. Alice had completed it. I had got ten down correct. It was EAT. I don't know why I'd ever thought it otherwise. The agent's working class origins are played up in most of the publicity of the Deighton books. This was accentuated by Michael Caine's cockney accent in the movies.

This doesn't stand out very much on the page in the agent's tastes. Instead of beer, the agent's go-to drink appears to be Tio Pepe sherry, and sometimes Dubonnet with bitters.

I did still enjoy the banter and gibes between the agent and his boss and other head office staff: 'Think you can handle a tricky little special assignment? I might be able to grope around it. This is followed up later with: 'You are a bit stupid, and you haven't had the advantage of a classical education. You never overcame your advantages. The quality of the film clips in this DVD movie review are much better than those in the dated trailer above. May 14, Simon rated it really liked it.

A very pleasing spy thriller although it is a little low energy. I do think this is one of the rare cases where the movie edges the book although the movie is quite a bit different to the book. What the movie did well was quicken the pace, clarify the threat and build to a strong climax. The book is very much worth your time.

Jul 26, Matthew rated it it was ok. We get a sense of the value of popular fiction when we see how well it dates within a couple of generations. The classic will stay with us, no matter how far social attitudes and concerns have moved on.

The popular novel of little or moderate worth will date less well, and will actually become rather dull for future readers, a strange fate for a book that was written precisely to grab their attention. The popular works of female literature tend to be historical, romantic, family sagas etc. Male l We get a sense of the value of popular fiction when we see how well it dates within a couple of generations. Male literature is more likely to be concerned with war or thrillers.

Often these are marked by a rather stodgy attention to detail, with attempts at factual information often getting in the way of telling a good story. The coolness lies in the downbeat nature of its hero and the story. He does his job professionally, though with a dash of insolence and insubordination, and is as much worried about his backpay or neglected expense claims as he is about foiling Communist plots.

This is part of the charm of the novel, but also one of its greatest failings. We are never encouraged to engage with its tale of brainwashing and dark plots against the state, as we are more usually bogged down in ordinary conversations and observations about Nescafe or cigarettes. It is not helped by the fact that a lot of characters pass our way, but their characterisation is rather perfunctory.

The women are there for our hero to flirt or dally with. There are a lot of male characters, but they have so few defining traits that they blur together. There are a few allies of our hero, who we can safely guess will get killed at some point. The settings move around and show us a range of things from bomb testing to brainwashing, and Deighton includes a range of footnotes for people who are interested in that kind of thing. For myself, I thought the book was readable enough, but found it hard to get too caught up in the story.

May 14, James Hold rated it did not like it. The Ipcress File by Len Deighton. I didn't finish this book. By the time I reached page 50 I had lost all interest in it. Now I happen to be a struggling writer and one of my biggest frustrations is receiving notices about editors and publishers open to submissions only to find they all want manuscripts with a minimum of 60, words. And I ask myself, 'How do you write 60, words? When I first studied the art of writing I checked my library for books on the subject and every one of them stressed the principle of 'omit needless words' and 'make every word count'.

Or more to the point, 'say what you have to say then shut up'. And, simply put, I can't write 60, words. For one thing when I complete a first draft I subject it to a vicious editing that chops it down one-forth or even a third of its original length. Now and then I have a finished story come to 20 or 30, words but that's about it.

So, using Deighton as an example, on page 10 you have the hero walk into a ramshackle projection room that smells of glue and he sits in a seat with a bad spring. None of which has any bearing on the story.

What does it matter that the room is ramshackle and smells and the seats are worn? Absolutely nothing. Later he goes to Beirut and you get several pages of description of the streets. Nor do we need to be told how closely a character shaves, or how he holds a cigarette, or how expensive is the suit he's wearing--not unless those things come into play later. Descriptions can reveal character; but only if that character hangs around. If they're just walk-ons then you hardly need mention them at all.

Oh, but if you didn't mention all these needless details then how would you get your 60, word count? Deighton's story is fairly straight forward. A man is either kidnapped by the enemy or else he defects and a British agent is dispatched to bring him back. The 50 pages I managed to get thru could have been pruned to If I want descriptions of the countryside I'll buy a travel book. And if I want action and espionage then skip the scenery--unless it somehow comes into play--and don't tell me about your grocery bag of butter and garlic sausage.

In other words, do as my teachers taught me and get to the effing point! All that said, one cannot argue with success. And Deighton is definitely successful. I just can't figure out what it is that makes him so. Originally published on my blog here in December In today's thrillers, we have come to expect that the heroes are likely to be flawed, disillusioned characters.

Go back a few decades, and all that was different. I'm talking straight thrillers, here, not detective stories; a significant source for the change to the the thriller genre was the hardboiled detective school of fiction. Graham Greene was probably the writer who introduced this style to the spy story, but Len Deighton was not far b Originally published on my blog here in December Graham Greene was probably the writer who introduced this style to the spy story, but Len Deighton was not far behind.

Spies also tended to be upper class think James Bond , and it was really Deighton who popularised the alternative. Harry Palmer the narrator, not actually named in this novel is a bright man with a good war record, who has had a successful postwar career in intelligence at the beginning of the novel, he is about to become second in command of a powerful department. Yet he has an obvious chip on his shoulder; he says things like "Ross was a regular officer [i.

It was, after all, the year in which the prosecuting lawyer in the Chatterley trial could say, "Is this a book you would want your servants to read? It turns into an attempt to fram Palmer as a traitor, a charge which in those post-Burgess and MacLean days he can only refute by uncovering the colleague who is really in the pay of the other side. While many of the positive features of The Ipcress File became staples of the spy thriller genre, making them now seem less innovative, it still has nice touches all of its own.

The ironic chapter headings, supposedly Harry Palmer's newspaper horoscope for the day, form one which I particularly liked. The Ipcress File is a paramount classic of the genre, establishing the mould for hundreds of imitators ever since, both as novels and in film. View all 3 comments. Feb 21, Jim rated it liked it Shelves: fiction , spy. I remember seeing the film of the book when it came out in and believed I had also read the book. Instead of a re-read, this turned out to be a first-timer.

The protagonist is never named though for the movie, Michael Caine himself invented the name Harry Palmer for him. In addition, there are two longish scenes, one set in Lebanon and the other on an atoll in the Pacific scene of an upcoming American nuclear test.

In both cases, the action is excessively murky. Although the protagonist tries to explain it all in the final chapter, I cannot help but think that Len Deighton does not run a tight ship. In the end, I like it but do not love it. Jul 09, Jester Gilchrist rated it did not like it. Atrocious book. Possibly the worst I've read. So bad. The plot is a disjointed mess; it is laughably bad. If you want a spy book - Le Carre is an absolute master.

This book is described as a thriller. It is not only dated, but seriously badly written. Pain in the hole to read. Reminds me of The Big Sleep; another atrocious book. Some sentences make no sense.

Deighton is a dull writer who annoyingly describes every character's looks in inane detail. However fails to write Atrocious book.

However fails to write a plot. P is hilarious - "For feet I rocketed into the air, the circle of fencing falling around my feet like a spent hula hoop" What?

No mention of an explosion or him being injured. Just walks away and meets some guy. He's now an astronaut? Gibberish Deighton, absolute garbage. I ended the book there, at p It sounds like it's written by a 17 year old, and after reading the Introduction it lamely refers to how he got his inspiration.

I'm actually rounding up to 4 stars because I might not have put enough attention into it to fully appreciate what was happening. It was pretty confusing, and I found my mind wandering sometimes and not really paying attention. This is especially bad with an audiobook, as the narrator has no idea I'm not listening, unlike a printed book.

I did go back many times, but it didn't do that much good. I had some trouble keeping up with the characters, but that might not matter, as they often didn't see I'm actually rounding up to 4 stars because I might not have put enough attention into it to fully appreciate what was happening. I had some trouble keeping up with the characters, but that might not matter, as they often didn't seem to be who I thought they were anyway.

So, the characters were confusing and not what they seemed to be, the plot was confusing and maybe not what it seemed to be, and the ending was confusing, but by that time, I had kind of given up and just wanted to finish already, so I didn't try to figure it all out. But the dialog was interesting, and I did finish, so that counts for something. All in all, I probably wouldn't recommend it to any sane people, not that I know any. Aug 15, Michael Martz rated it liked it.

I've become a Len Deighton fan since making my way through a few of his spy trilogies. He's a solid writer with great characters and a seemingly up-to-date knowledge of the spy game. I reached back nearly 60 years into his extensive catalog to check out his initial foray into the genre, 'The Ipcress File', and it was interesting to see from whence he came.

It was supposedly a very hot novel when first released, but it's pretty dated language wise, the plot is confusing, and the conclusion a litt I've become a Len Deighton fan since making my way through a few of his spy trilogies. It was supposedly a very hot novel when first released, but it's pretty dated language wise, the plot is confusing, and the conclusion a little on the incredible side. The main character, the narrator who shall remain nameless, is a British spy.

He's initially assigned an off-the-books role in tracking down a foreign agent who's snatching scientists working on the hottest new technologies.

After much intrigue and with the unfortunately common usage of English colloquialisms from the early 60s that impeded any modern reader's understanding of some of the action, he finds himself on a Pacific atoll as an observer to an upcoming nuclear test. He's actually, though, being tested to see if he's a spy giving away secrets to the other side of the Iron Curtain. One of the more irritating aspects of the plot is that, at the conclusion, the narrator lets us in on his explanation of what occurred in the previous several hours the readers have put in trying to make sense of the story.

In fact, the narrator himself during the course of his escapades and escapes , had little concept of what was going on but once things settled down he graciously gave us an explanation. That type of thing always irritates me. The Ipcress File was an imperfect beginning for a writer who became a legend in the genre.

It's not a bad book but it hasn't aged well. Dec 26, Stuart Aken rated it really liked it. Of course, the film and the reputation of the book gives the reader motivation to stick with it. This s spy story has far more depth and character development than the Bond novels that were more or less contemporaneous. The use of the unreliable first person narrator was risky but actually worked well, adding an extra layer of uncertainty to the described events.

I can recall being similarly fascinated by the literature about brain-washing at the time, as a teenager. And this central theme lifts the tale out of the usual spy story genre.

It is, of course, a thriller. The reader cares about the characters. The action is driven by those characters rather than formula driven. There are places where aspects of the story are almost incomprehensible, dialogue sections where the identity of the speakers is all but impossible to ascribe, passages that appear meaningless until later in the book, when they fall into place.

All this adds to the general air of confusion, uncertainty and mystery. Deighton introduces female characters with personality, strength and intelligence and improves the story no end by so doing. His male characters are varied, detailed and credible.

His depictions of the worlds of the high-ranking military, politics and the intelligence community come across with great authority, as though he was personally involved in each of these spheres of activity. I can only assume that his research was meticulous and involved many personal contacts. Unless, of course, he was so steeped in the burgeoning spy literature of the time that he absorbed the most striking and probable aspects of these worlds and was able to apply his own brand of fiction in such a way as to make them utterly believable.

Certainly, I read most of the Bond novels through my teens and early twenties. I did, of course, catch the film. I must try to see it again. For the book, I can say that I enjoyed it as a thriller with real character.

Oct 31, Paul Cornelius rated it it was amazing Shelves: literature-britishth-century. I'm not so sure that I agree, simply because it is one of the best examples I have yet seen of a work that captures the essential flavor and atmosphere of its times, the very few years of the late 50s and very early 60s.

Unlike a "classic," it seems only identifiable with its era. For if ever there was a "beatnik" spy novel, this is it. S1, Ep4. Morgan is sent to Amsterdam to interrogate an international gangster who was caught at the airport using a forged American passport.

Add Image S1, Ep5. Know what this is about? Be the first one to add a plot. Add Image S1, Ep6. Morgan teams up with an Awol American soldier to foil a Soviet plot to bomb an American troop train. Add Image S1, Ep7. Add Image S1, Ep8. In occupied Paris, Morgan impersonates an anti-British Irishman in an effort to steal British invasion plans from the Nazis.

He is aided by a Can-Can dancer working for the French Resistance. Add Image S1, Ep9. Counterfeit American 20's are being smuggled from Copenhagen into West Germany, so Morgan is in Copenhagen to find the source with assistance from Danish police. Add Image S1, Ep Morgan is tipped off about an imminent putsch in Austria. He is initially skeptical of his informant, but when the informant is found floating in the Danube, Morgan begins to take the threat more seriously. S1, Ep A fatherless German boy wanders into the communist area and taken captive.

C convinced them to find and secure the native woman known as Subject 1 and transport her to the research facility in the jungle. Tests were run, but conclusions weren't reached. W managed to isolate the pathogen and combine it with the mutagen.

Colonel W injected himself, mistakenly believing it was a vaccine. The results were quite promising. Research is continuing on Palanai , but C will be debriefed as it is believed his ambitions and aims weren't entirely aligned with those of our organization.

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