Posted on 03/17/2026 9:46:35 AM PDT by Borges
Len Deighton, the British author who brought a documentary-style realism to the spy genre in 1960s Cold War thrillers like “The Ipcress File” and “Funeral in Berlin,” the film versions of which helped make Michael Caine an international star, died on Sunday at his home in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands between England and France. He was 97.
His death was confirmed by Russell Clark, the family’s lawyer.
Unlike the impossibly suave, action-oriented Bond or George Smiley, John le Carré’s dumpy, cerebral, upper-class spy hero, Mr. Deighton’s central character is self-consciously proletarian, with a jaded, frequently hostile attitude toward his superiors, a droll sense of humor and a love of cooking. Mr. Deighton, the son of a chauffeur and cook, had a background as a military photographer, globe-trotting airplane steward and commercial illustrator before turning to literature on a whim. The result was “The Ipcress File” (1962), which he regarded a riposte to the James Bond novels of Ian Fleming
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I found it tedious and dull.
Maybe I was too young. Also probably disappointed that it wasn't like James Bond.
Isn’t it a coincidence he dies NOW???
(/satire)
Good author I read a lot of his work. XPD, Farewell, Mickey Mouse, The Ipcress File, and of course, Berlin Game, Mexico Set, and London Match.
RIP.
Berlin Game, Mexico Set, and London Match. This was made into a series very good.
Deighton was a little more cerebral than Fleming I think. Try some of his other works.
RIP Mr. Deighton. Good writer. I’ve probably read all of his books over the years. Bomber was especially good.
Totally agree. Those were great stories.
RIP….
Enjoyed his books, and Michael Caines portrayal of his characters. RIP and God Bless
I like Martin Cruz also who, like Deighton, had surprise endings.
Loved his work. He had talent...
Len Deighton's protagonists aren't physical heroes, overcoming the bad guys with grit, strength and the ability to endure pain and suffering, and keep going. They are small cogs in a government machine, struggling, sometimes in vain, against the stupidity, passivity, ignorance, fecklessness and parochiality of their superiors.
I probably would not have liked them in high school either.
By the way, I'm looking for recommendations good writers of Western novels. I was kind of late to the genre, but I've pretty much gone through Louis L'Amour, Larry McMurtry, Elmore Leonard, and am now making my way through W.W. Johnstone, but I really can't get into Zane Gray. I have a lot of Johnstone left to get to, but I'd like to mix it up.
I'm looking for good writing with a fast moving stories, strong characters, and a lot of action, a little history, but nothing too raunchy or tedious. Thanks in advance!
Michael Caine is still alive and well. He just had his 93rd birthday on Saturday.
My wife and I very much enjoyed the British television series adaptation starring Ian Holm as Bernard Samson.
You might like these:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden
I know, as a teen, I did.
Available here, fyi:
https://www.amazon.com/A-Sudden-Western-15-book-series/dp/B074CDD4RL
I read two of them.
* The Secret Lovers, a tale that begins with the Spanish Civil War.
* The Tears of Autumn, which speculates that the Vietnamese Diem family killed JFK, in revenge for Kennedy's support of the coup that overthrew Diem.
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