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Spy Story
by
Len Deighton
general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author
| Title: | Spy Story |
| Author: | Len Deighton |
| Genre: | Novel |
| Written: | 1974 |
| Length: | 224 pages |
| Availability: | Spy Story - US |
| Spy Story - UK | |
| Spy Story - Canada | |
| Manœuvres en eaux troubles - France | |
| Eiskalt - Deutschland | |
| Juegos de Guerra - España | |
| from: Bookshop.org (US) |
- Spy Story was made into a film in 1976, directed by Lindsay Shonteff and starring Michael Petrovitch
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Our Assessment:
B : somewhat elusive, but comes together well
See our review for fuller assessment.
| Source | Rating | Date | Reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|
| The NY Times Book Rev. | A- | 13/4/1975 | Gene Lyons |
| Sunday Times | . | 5/5/1974 | Edmund Crispin |
| The Times | A | 2/5/1974 | H. R. F. Keating |
From the Reviews:
- "(A) superior entertainment. (...) The plot is far too elaborate to summarize in this space -- if anything it is a bit too subtle and diffuse and some readers may have trouble understanding what exactly is going on and why. This minor difficulty is more than compensated for by the narrator's trenchant wit and sharp eye for the absurd." - Gene Lyons, The New York Times Book Review
- "Mr Deighton's current fad is war games -- which , to be candid, are more interesting to play than to have described. Even so, there's an excellently exciting final sequence in a nuclear submarine under the Arctic ice. " - Edmund Crispin, Sunday Times
- "(H)ere is the spy story (how earned that title) at its best. What you get, as of old, is a massive and complex intrigue (spy-submarines and top-level realpolitik, well reflecting no doubt what actually goes on) moving, with real-world slowness, almost always below the surface while above glitter the activities of a coolly abrasive agent (.....) You read not for the suspense, though I record that at the climax my heart beat measurably faster, but for the delights waiting as you turn each page. " - H. R. F. Keating, The Times
Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.
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The complete review's Review:
Spy Story is narrated by Patrick Anderson, who spent years: "working for the goddamn intelligence service" but has now settled into what is meant to be a somewhat quieter role. We don't know the details of what came before, but apparently it's a big page that has been turned; as someone sums up:
New name, new job, the past gone forever. You're happy and I'm glad it all went so well. You deserved that. You deserved more than that, in fact, it was the least we could have done.He has even settled into something of a domestic life, in love with the doctor Marjorie -- though they still dance around one another some, unable to fully commit (not least because Marjorie keeps getting tempting job-offers, including now one from far abroad, a Los Angeles research institute), as they are: "in love but determined not to admit it. Or worse: declaring our love in such a way that the other could not be sure".
Armstrong now works at the Studies Centre in London, basically running war game simulations using computer programmes, re-visiting old battles to see how else they might have (been) played out. (As one of his colleagues also explains: "Once we made a strenuous effort to stop the word "game" being used about anything we do here -- "studies" is the operative word -- but it was no use, people like "game" better".) Each chapter of the novel also comes with an epigraph from some Studies Centre document -- the rules of the games, a glossary for wargamers, etc. --, a short, technical bit that contrasts with the messy real-life events that unfold in each chapter.
Armstrong does get out of the office: the novel opens with him having returned from a six-week tour on a submarine in the northernmost reaches -- "Forty-three days without a night". Upon arriving, he wants to head straight back home to Marjorie, but he strays to his old work-apartment and is in for a surprise there: he finds his things -- or rather a duplicate of all his things, just slightly off -- his wardrobe, for example, just in slightly: "Different sizes and some slight changes". Even photographs -- practically the same setting and pose, the man in them looking very much like him except that he: "was older than me and heavier".
Armstrong isn't meant to have stumbled back into his flat, much less discovered what was in it -- or, as he then also does, the neighboring one. He's curious, then, what the hell is going on, and investigates -- digging deep and hard, to the annoyance of the powers that be, that are clearly trying to keep him outside the loop. But eventually there's no helping it: Armstrong is pulled into the complicated plot, and while they assure him: "Should you want no part of it -- no hard feelings" he has to see it through to the end.
The plot is complicated, but basically involves a high-level Russian military figure who happens to look a lot like Armstrong and who has a very strong motive to defect to the UK. Complications include the need to try to keep the Americans from swooping him up -- and the Soviets themselves. War games are played out, at the Studies Centre as well as then in very real life.
There's some solid suspense and action here, from the amusing ways everyone tries to keep Armstrong in the dark or point him in other directions, to the way things finally play out -- involving submarines under the polar ice, a helicopter, and a corpse that has to be lugged around.
The cast of characters Deighton has around Armstrong helps too: as he notes: "'With a cast like that,' I said, 'who needs a plot ?'"
The plot is, certainly at first, convoluted and opaque, but the odds and ends Deighton presents -- from the strange state of Armstrong's apartment to the simulation-games (which get considerably more intense once the Americans elbow their way in) -- are intriguing from the start, and by the end there are several good set pieces, including one at a restaurant Armstrong wants to take Marjorie to lunch to. Little is what it seems -- and quite a few people aren't who they seem to be (though Armstrong has a pretty good nose for figuring out who he can trust and how to act).
It's a strange little spy-thriller, but entertaining enough, with some excellent bits. The humor helps -- though Armstrong could be a bit more forthcoming as narrator, letting readers in on more than he does.
- M.A.Orthofer, 29 May 2026
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Spy Story:
- Penguin Classics publicity page
- Grove Press publicity page
- See Index of Mysteries and Thrillers
- See Index of Contemporary British fiction
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British author Len Deighton lived 1929 to 2026.
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© 2026 the complete review
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