The 5th book in the Bernard Sampson series.

Berlín-Kreuzberg, invierno de 1987. En las grises calles de la ciudad, la policía militar británica persigue a Bernard Samson, pero Berlín, la querida ciudad de la infancia de Bernard, posee innumerables escondites para un espía fugitivo. Desde un siniestro cabaret en Potsdamerstrasse, un piso franco del SIS en Charlottenburg o un hotel de la Ku-Damm hasta un bloque de apartamentos abandonados, cno precarios comercios de bicicletas usadas. Ciudad de máscaras y secretos, ciudad de amigos que no repararán en hacer lo que sea por un hombre a quien conocen y quieren desde niños. Ciudad de enemigos, visibles e invisibles, cualquiera de los cuales puede localizar y traicionar a Bernard Samson. Puede ser Lange, el agresivo y viejo yanqui con tantos años de residencia en Berlín, o Clemmie, la joven esposa de un agente inglés, que busca la variante a la "tristeza de Berlín" y es fruta madura para el mal. O incluso el veleidoso barón vienés que sabe demasiado de valiosos sellos falsificados. Sólo una cosa es segura: que, tarde o temprano, la esposa de Bernard tiene que dar un nuevo paso. Fiona es disidente, traidora, agente del KGB, pero no deja de ser su mujer, y su repatriación, que constituye el centro gravitatorio de la novela, con no pocas ramificaciones inesperadas de la acción, anuncia el final de un juego apasionante.

As utterly atrocious as this book's predecessor, Sky Hook, was -- and it was horrible -- this book is a serious improvement on it. The last book left the reader with all sorts of unanswered questions and was obviously written for the sole purpose of getting readers to buy the sequel, which really pissed me off. So I bought the sequel, which pissed me off even more, and a lot of these questions were finally answered. British spy Bernard Samson is back and remains largely clueless about so much. He's still obsessed with his wife, Fiona, and her defection to the KGB and misses her a lot, even though he's got a great new girlfriend in Gloria, who is hot, young (at 22, half his age), smart, loves him and his kids, dotes on him, is good at parties, etc. He's an idiot. The book generally starts with him being on the run from the Service, who has set him up, but he later comes in and returns to work, only to be sent to an Austrian stamp collecting auction. Yep. And there's a murder. Yep. Weird. Later, he's taken through the Iron Curtain, where he meets Fiona for the first time in a long time and she tells him she's still working for the Service and is about to come back out of Russia, back to Britain. This leaves him in a quandary. Still, later his boss and Fiona's sister go to Berlin and insist he go with them to act as a cover for their affair. While there, he's supposed to bring someone out of Russia and he realizes it's Fiona. There's a gunfight, and I never figured out why. Totally arbitrary. Then there's the reappearance of Bret from the previous book. Annoying prick. At least Samson's dry wit is on display here, something which was lacking in the previous book. This is the fifth book in what is either a six or nine book series. As okay as this book was, I don't think I'll pick up the next book. I'm thoroughly unimpressed with this author and I think I'll stick with Forsyth for my spy books. Not really recommended, and certainly not as a stand alone book. ( )

החלק החמישי ולפני האחרון בשישיה האינסופית. הולך ונהיה גרוע מפעם לפעם, אני מעריך שלשישי כבר לא תהיה לי סבלנות ( )

Every time I read an installment in the Bernard Samson series I think, "Okay, THIS one is my favourite, I swear." Deighton's "Samson Saga" is made up of consistently good thrillers with an excellent narrator and lashings of Deighton's famously detailed descriptions, and Spy Line is no exception. In this installment we find Bernard living in a squalid corner of Berlin, on the run from London Central, considered a traitor for reasons that may have been provided in the previous installment, Spy Hook (but don't take my word for it; I read that one a while ago and may just be assuming reasons were provided there). But naturally, London Central is able to track him down and send him on a mission that will help clear his name, and perhaps shed some more light on what has happened to his wife, Fiona.

I enjoyed this book from the get-go, with the very first sentence making me laugh, and Bernard's characteristic dry-witted narration moving the story along nicely. One thing I really like about the narration is Bernard's natural use of German. After all, he grew up in Berlin and is fluent in the language. The text contains German dialogue that is often paraphrased by Bernard immediately afterward, so you get the atmosphere of the language and the benefit of knowing what the person said, not to mention a bonus German lesson. The dynamics of the various intelligence services are also well done: Bernard observes that the British take greater pains to keep secrets from the Americans than they do from "just" the KGB.

In terms of predictability, I was occasionally just ahead of Bernard in the deductions department, but the breathtaking, page-turning climax leads me to cut that sort of thing some slack. And I would suggest that you not read the dust jacket on any hardcover editions, if you do not appreciate spoilers of key (surprising) plot points.

I would definitely recommend this book to Deighton fans and those who like twisting, turning plots (but it would help if you read the rest of the books first). ( )