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Secret File #1
The Ipcress File
Len Deighton’s classic first novel, whose protagonist is a nameless spy – later christened Harry Palmer and made famous worldwide in the iconic 1960s film starring Michael Caine.
The Ipcress File was not only Len Deighton’s first novel, it was his first bestseller and the book that broke the mould of thriller writing.
For the working class narrator, an apparently straightforward mission to find a missing biochemist becomes a journey to the heart of a dark and deadly conspiracy.
The film of The Ipcress File gave Michael Caine one of his first and still most celebrated starring roles, while the novel itself has become a classic.
The Ipcress File was not only Len Deighton’s first novel, it was his first bestseller and the book that broke the mould of thriller writing.
For the working class narrator, an apparently straightforward mission to find a missing biochemist becomes a journey to the heart of a dark and deadly conspiracy.
The film of The Ipcress File gave Michael Caine one of his first and still most celebrated starring roles, while the novel itself has become a classic.
342 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
About the author
Len Deighton
158 books787 followersDeighton was born in Marylebone, London, in 1929. His father was a chauffeur and mechanic, and his mother was a part-time cook. After leaving school, Deighton worked as a railway clerk before performing his National Service, which he spent as a photographer for the Royal Air Force's Special Investigation Branch. After discharge from the RAF, he studied at St Martin's School of Art in London in 1949, and in 1952 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1955.
Deighton worked as an airline steward with BOAC. Before he began his writing career he worked as an illustrator in New York and, in 1960, as an art director in a London advertising agency. He is credited with creating the first British cover for Jack Kerouac's On the Road. He has since used his drawing skills to illustrate a number of his own military history books.
Following the success of his first novels, Deighton became The Observer's cookery writer and produced illustrated cookbooks. In September 1967 he wrote an article in the Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop - an SAS attack on Benghazi during World War II. The following year David Stirling would be awarded substantial damages in libel from the article.
He also wrote travel guides and became travel editor of Playboy, before becoming a film producer. After producing a film adaption of his 1968 novel Only When I Larf, Deighton and photographer Brian Duffy bought the film rights to Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop's stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! He had his name removed from the credits of the film, however, which was a move that he later described as "stupid and infantile." That was his last involvement with the cinema.
Deighton left England in 1969. He briefly resided in Blackrock, County Louth in Ireland. He has not returned to England apart from some personal visits and very few media appearances, his last one since 1985 being a 2006 interview which formed part of a "Len Deighton Night" on BBC Four. He and his wife Ysabele divide their time between homes in Portugal and Guernsey.
Deighton worked as an airline steward with BOAC. Before he began his writing career he worked as an illustrator in New York and, in 1960, as an art director in a London advertising agency. He is credited with creating the first British cover for Jack Kerouac's On the Road. He has since used his drawing skills to illustrate a number of his own military history books.
Following the success of his first novels, Deighton became The Observer's cookery writer and produced illustrated cookbooks. In September 1967 he wrote an article in the Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop - an SAS attack on Benghazi during World War II. The following year David Stirling would be awarded substantial damages in libel from the article.
He also wrote travel guides and became travel editor of Playboy, before becoming a film producer. After producing a film adaption of his 1968 novel Only When I Larf, Deighton and photographer Brian Duffy bought the film rights to Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop's stage musical Oh, What a Lovely War! He had his name removed from the credits of the film, however, which was a move that he later described as "stupid and infantile." That was his last involvement with the cinema.
Deighton left England in 1969. He briefly resided in Blackrock, County Louth in Ireland. He has not returned to England apart from some personal visits and very few media appearances, his last one since 1985 being a 2006 interview which formed part of a "Len Deighton Night" on BBC Four. He and his wife Ysabele divide their time between homes in Portugal and Guernsey.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 452 reviews
April 30, 2019
”Weapons aren’t terrible,” I said. “Areoplanes full of passengers to Paris, bombs full of insecticide, cannons with a man inside at a circus--these aren’t terrible. But a vase of roses in the hands of a man of evil intent is a murder weapon.”
Michael Caine is “Harry Palmer”.
The protagonist of this novel is nameless. Though there is a moment in the novel when someone whispers:
“Hello Harry.”
Now my name isn’t Harry, but in this business it’s hard to remember whether it ever had been.
When the producers and directors met with Michael Caine about making the movie version they decided that they had to refer to the protagonist by some sort of name so Caine christened him Harry Palmer. Later in this series of novels “Harry” is referred to as “Charles”. Neither of them are of course his real name.
We know that he used to work in military intelligence, but has recently been put in charge of a small agency called WOOC(P) which is so secret that no one seems to even know what the acronym stands for. He has a very efficient secretary suffering/benefiting from OCD named Alice who is always trying to get him to be more tidy with his files. He is always teasing her with jibs like: ”Your seams are crooked.” He requisitions an attractive female assistant, since Alice doesn’t seem to find him even remotely attractive, and no one is more amazed than he is when she shows up.
”She was wearing that ‘little black sleeveless dress’ that every woman has in reserve for cocktail parties, funerals and first nights. Her slim white arms shone against the dull material, and her hands were long and slender, the nails cut short and varnished in a natural colour. I watched her even, very white teeth bite into the croissant. She could have been the top kick in the Bolshoi, Sweden’s first woman ship’s captain, private secretary to Chou En-lai, or Sammy Davis’s press agent.”
The lovely Sue Lloyd is Jean in the movie version. I have such fond memories of watching her star on the TV series The Baron with Steve Forrest.
Her name is Jean Tonnesson and she falls for “Harry’s” snarky charm and is soon providing him with stimulation like a secretary on Mad Man. He might be swapping fluids with her, but he still doesn’t trust her. There is something not to be fully understood about her and “Harry” has a natural distrust of everything.
“Harry” has a daily rondevu in a seedy London business to fetch a particular envelope. He reseals the money and fake passports into another envelope and mails it to himself again. He is prepared for something to go disastrously wrong every day.
”It doesn’t take much to make the daily round with one’s employer work smoothly. A couple of ‘yessirs’ when you know that ‘not on your life’ is the thing to say. A few expressions of doubt about things you’ve spent your life perfecting. Forgetting to make use of the information that negates his hastily formed by deliciously convenient theories. It doesn’t take much, but it takes about 98.5 per cent more than I’ve ever considered giving.”
In other words “Harry” is a complete pain in the ass.
He is invited to attend an atomic bomb weapons test event by the US government on an atoll in the Pacific. “Harry” is kidnapped and subjected to cold war brainwashing which was of particular interest to the author Len Deighton. When he escapes instead of finding himself in some desert hellhole, he discovers that he is within walking distance of London. It seems there has been a double cross or a triple cross or maybe just your standard diabolical attempt to infiltrate and take over the British government. Someone is kidnapping top level scientists and brainwashing them. But to what end? And why attempt to brainwash poor “Harry”?
Len Deighton pulled that rug off his head and pulled it over all our eyes.
It is all rather confusing. In fact the whole plot of the novel is completely unfathomable. When Len Deighton approached Ian Fleming’s publisher they asked him to simplify the plot and bring it back. He refused and took the book to a rival publisher who accepted the novel as written. The editor over there must have been cockeyed, cross-eyed, inebriated, or merely brilliant because the book though proving so puzzling to readers somehow became a huge success.
Kingsley Amis famously weighed in with it is "actually quite good if you stop worrying about what's going on".
And that is the key, when I finally let go and quit trying to figure out exactly what was going on I started to really enjoy the writing. Deighton expects a lot of his readers which is probably why his novels have fallen out of favor these days. The asides though witty are reasonably obscure. It is all lost in translation from the mind of Deighton into English. I’m sure this book made perfect sense to him or it is all one elaborate ruse on the reading public.
At the beginning of many of the chapters Deighton would put a horoscope that loosely reflected the contents of the chapter.
”--Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19). A good week for your hobbies and romance, but you can expect some difficulties with evening arrangements. Forthright talking may well clear the air.--”
Maybe the cipher for the plot resides in the horoscopes.
Regardless of being befuddled for most of the book I ended up absolutely enjoying the ride. The wit, the charm, and the snarky irreverent behavior of “Harry” kept the pages turning and a smile on my face. Sometimes we just have to let go of the rigid confines of a definable plot.
I have the 1965 film on order which I hear is excellent and not confusing at all. I really can’t recommend this book except to the hardiest of Cold War fans. I find it utterly fascinating that the British public made this book a bestseller and Deighton a literary star. In for a penny in for a pound I’m definitely reading the second book in The Secret File series called Horse Under Water. Maybe Deighton will start to make sense or I will just have to accept that sometimes the insensible can still be entertaining.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
Michael Caine is “Harry Palmer”.
The protagonist of this novel is nameless. Though there is a moment in the novel when someone whispers:
“Hello Harry.”
Now my name isn’t Harry, but in this business it’s hard to remember whether it ever had been.
When the producers and directors met with Michael Caine about making the movie version they decided that they had to refer to the protagonist by some sort of name so Caine christened him Harry Palmer. Later in this series of novels “Harry” is referred to as “Charles”. Neither of them are of course his real name.
We know that he used to work in military intelligence, but has recently been put in charge of a small agency called WOOC(P) which is so secret that no one seems to even know what the acronym stands for. He has a very efficient secretary suffering/benefiting from OCD named Alice who is always trying to get him to be more tidy with his files. He is always teasing her with jibs like: ”Your seams are crooked.” He requisitions an attractive female assistant, since Alice doesn’t seem to find him even remotely attractive, and no one is more amazed than he is when she shows up.
”She was wearing that ‘little black sleeveless dress’ that every woman has in reserve for cocktail parties, funerals and first nights. Her slim white arms shone against the dull material, and her hands were long and slender, the nails cut short and varnished in a natural colour. I watched her even, very white teeth bite into the croissant. She could have been the top kick in the Bolshoi, Sweden’s first woman ship’s captain, private secretary to Chou En-lai, or Sammy Davis’s press agent.”
The lovely Sue Lloyd is Jean in the movie version. I have such fond memories of watching her star on the TV series The Baron with Steve Forrest.
Her name is Jean Tonnesson and she falls for “Harry’s” snarky charm and is soon providing him with stimulation like a secretary on Mad Man. He might be swapping fluids with her, but he still doesn’t trust her. There is something not to be fully understood about her and “Harry” has a natural distrust of everything.
“Harry” has a daily rondevu in a seedy London business to fetch a particular envelope. He reseals the money and fake passports into another envelope and mails it to himself again. He is prepared for something to go disastrously wrong every day.
”It doesn’t take much to make the daily round with one’s employer work smoothly. A couple of ‘yessirs’ when you know that ‘not on your life’ is the thing to say. A few expressions of doubt about things you’ve spent your life perfecting. Forgetting to make use of the information that negates his hastily formed by deliciously convenient theories. It doesn’t take much, but it takes about 98.5 per cent more than I’ve ever considered giving.”
In other words “Harry” is a complete pain in the ass.
He is invited to attend an atomic bomb weapons test event by the US government on an atoll in the Pacific. “Harry” is kidnapped and subjected to cold war brainwashing which was of particular interest to the author Len Deighton. When he escapes instead of finding himself in some desert hellhole, he discovers that he is within walking distance of London. It seems there has been a double cross or a triple cross or maybe just your standard diabolical attempt to infiltrate and take over the British government. Someone is kidnapping top level scientists and brainwashing them. But to what end? And why attempt to brainwash poor “Harry”?
Len Deighton pulled that rug off his head and pulled it over all our eyes.
It is all rather confusing. In fact the whole plot of the novel is completely unfathomable. When Len Deighton approached Ian Fleming’s publisher they asked him to simplify the plot and bring it back. He refused and took the book to a rival publisher who accepted the novel as written. The editor over there must have been cockeyed, cross-eyed, inebriated, or merely brilliant because the book though proving so puzzling to readers somehow became a huge success.
Kingsley Amis famously weighed in with it is "actually quite good if you stop worrying about what's going on".
And that is the key, when I finally let go and quit trying to figure out exactly what was going on I started to really enjoy the writing. Deighton expects a lot of his readers which is probably why his novels have fallen out of favor these days. The asides though witty are reasonably obscure. It is all lost in translation from the mind of Deighton into English. I’m sure this book made perfect sense to him or it is all one elaborate ruse on the reading public.
At the beginning of many of the chapters Deighton would put a horoscope that loosely reflected the contents of the chapter.
”--Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19). A good week for your hobbies and romance, but you can expect some difficulties with evening arrangements. Forthright talking may well clear the air.--”
Maybe the cipher for the plot resides in the horoscopes.
Regardless of being befuddled for most of the book I ended up absolutely enjoying the ride. The wit, the charm, and the snarky irreverent behavior of “Harry” kept the pages turning and a smile on my face. Sometimes we just have to let go of the rigid confines of a definable plot.
I have the 1965 film on order which I hear is excellent and not confusing at all. I really can’t recommend this book except to the hardiest of Cold War fans. I find it utterly fascinating that the British public made this book a bestseller and Deighton a literary star. In for a penny in for a pound I’m definitely reading the second book in The Secret File series called Horse Under Water. Maybe Deighton will start to make sense or I will just have to accept that sometimes the insensible can still be entertaining.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
June 18, 2023
Deighton's first published book, and now 'modern' classic spy thriller featuring a working class spy getting way out of his depth in a conspiracy involving murder, intrigue and using his ingenuity. This one didn't grasp me in any way and was a huge struggle to finish! Sorry! 2 out of 12, One Star from me.
<2012 read
<2012 read
June 18, 2013
The Ipcress File is one of those novels that, burnished by the passage of time and forgetfulness, is now considered to be a classic in its genre. It was supposedly quite the trendsetter back in 1962, taking on the themes of organizational betrayal using the voice of a working-class spy who has a chip on his shoulder regarding his betters. In the cold light of reappraisal, however, it doesn’t live up to its reputation.
The setup: a semi-unnamed civil servant/spy (referred to once as “Harry”) has to chase down the disappearances of several British defense scientists, an investigation that quickly turns into a hairball that spans half the world and sees Our Hero framed for treason. Along the way, Our Hero discomfits a number of upper-class twits, crosses paths with what we’d now call a “fixer” who works multiple sides at once, and puts the moves on his comely assistant (who happens to be as useful as she is decorative).
Deighton was never a spy, but rather a 1950s illustrator and ad man. As a result, his settings and descriptions of characters are more involved and painterly than is usually the case; you’ll never want for knowing what his cast and sets look like. The dialog is very of-the-moment, and Our Hero has a smart mouth on him. This is the good part.
The not-so-good? This was Deighton’s first novel – the one that launched him into the top ranks of spy- and war-thriller writers – and it shows. The plot wanders off into side streets and gets distracted by shiny things, usually with no real urgency behind it. A long detour to a Pacific atoll destined to be an American atomic testing site feels more like a bid to grab onto a trendy exotic setting (as it would’ve been back then) rather than something that actually needed to happen there. For something billed as a thriller, there are (as usual for thrillers of the period) remarkably few thrills, while the spycraft, atmosphere and intrigue aren’t up to LeCarre standards. Even Our Hero’s relentless smart-assery wears after a while. One further caution, especially for American readers: if you’re not deeply steeped in late-1950s/early-1960s British popular culture, you’re going to be reading this with Wikipedia permanently open by your side. All these issues together left me wondering one thing upon re-reading this novel after [mumble] years: Is that it? This is the “classic” spy novel? Really?
These days, our reactions to the novel The Ipcress File are most likely colored by the classic film The Ipcress File and Michael Caine’s emblematic star turn as Harry Palmer. This may be a case of the film being better than the book that inspired it. If you choose to read The Ipcress File today, especially if you’re drunk deeply from the well of LeCarre, be prepared to be let down. It’s like taking a time machine ride and instead of attending the Battle of Gettysburg or MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, you wind up at a dinner party with Millard Fillmore. Interesting, no doubt, but not at all what you were hoping for.
The setup: a semi-unnamed civil servant/spy (referred to once as “Harry”) has to chase down the disappearances of several British defense scientists, an investigation that quickly turns into a hairball that spans half the world and sees Our Hero framed for treason. Along the way, Our Hero discomfits a number of upper-class twits, crosses paths with what we’d now call a “fixer” who works multiple sides at once, and puts the moves on his comely assistant (who happens to be as useful as she is decorative).
Deighton was never a spy, but rather a 1950s illustrator and ad man. As a result, his settings and descriptions of characters are more involved and painterly than is usually the case; you’ll never want for knowing what his cast and sets look like. The dialog is very of-the-moment, and Our Hero has a smart mouth on him. This is the good part.
The not-so-good? This was Deighton’s first novel – the one that launched him into the top ranks of spy- and war-thriller writers – and it shows. The plot wanders off into side streets and gets distracted by shiny things, usually with no real urgency behind it. A long detour to a Pacific atoll destined to be an American atomic testing site feels more like a bid to grab onto a trendy exotic setting (as it would’ve been back then) rather than something that actually needed to happen there. For something billed as a thriller, there are (as usual for thrillers of the period) remarkably few thrills, while the spycraft, atmosphere and intrigue aren’t up to LeCarre standards. Even Our Hero’s relentless smart-assery wears after a while. One further caution, especially for American readers: if you’re not deeply steeped in late-1950s/early-1960s British popular culture, you’re going to be reading this with Wikipedia permanently open by your side. All these issues together left me wondering one thing upon re-reading this novel after [mumble] years: Is that it? This is the “classic” spy novel? Really?
These days, our reactions to the novel The Ipcress File are most likely colored by the classic film The Ipcress File and Michael Caine’s emblematic star turn as Harry Palmer. This may be a case of the film being better than the book that inspired it. If you choose to read The Ipcress File today, especially if you’re drunk deeply from the well of LeCarre, be prepared to be let down. It’s like taking a time machine ride and instead of attending the Battle of Gettysburg or MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, you wind up at a dinner party with Millard Fillmore. Interesting, no doubt, but not at all what you were hoping for.
December 25, 2017
“What chance did I stand between the Communists on one side and the Establishment on the other…”
Len Deighton’s first novel features the unnamed spy, re-christened Harry Palmer in the film version; played by Michael Caine. However, in this book we never learn the name of the unnamed narrator, who delivers his report on, “the IPCRESS affair,” to the Minister of Defence. He has been transferred from military intelligence to WOOC(P) a small, civilian intelligence agency, reporting to the British Cabinet directly and headed by Dalby.
A number of scientists have been kidnapped and an intelligence broker, code-named, “Jay,” is suspected of being involved in passing those snatched to the Soviets. Unlike previous spies, our hero admits that, when told to meet with Jay and secure the release of a scientist, known as, “Raven,” he “suddenly felt very small and young and called upon to do something that I wasn’t sure I could manage.”
The spies in this novel are involved in exciting escapades, but they also worry about back pay, expenses and are never quite sure who to trust. Our narrator is very aware of his background and class plays a huge part in this novel. This is gritty, un-romantic stuff, with seedy clubs and coffee houses as the settings of many scenes, rather than exotic locations (although he does see action outside the UK). Still, there is certainly a lack of support and he is aware that, should anything go wrong, rather than coming up with some way to whisk him out of trouble, Dalby will deny all knowledge of what he is talking about…
Although this novel was an instant success when it was first published, I found it something of a difficult read. It was slow and, I felt, a little dry. Still, it is an important read, which presented a much more realistic view of the Secret Service than the recently published Bond novels and led to other, similar spy books in the genre.
Len Deighton’s first novel features the unnamed spy, re-christened Harry Palmer in the film version; played by Michael Caine. However, in this book we never learn the name of the unnamed narrator, who delivers his report on, “the IPCRESS affair,” to the Minister of Defence. He has been transferred from military intelligence to WOOC(P) a small, civilian intelligence agency, reporting to the British Cabinet directly and headed by Dalby.
A number of scientists have been kidnapped and an intelligence broker, code-named, “Jay,” is suspected of being involved in passing those snatched to the Soviets. Unlike previous spies, our hero admits that, when told to meet with Jay and secure the release of a scientist, known as, “Raven,” he “suddenly felt very small and young and called upon to do something that I wasn’t sure I could manage.”
The spies in this novel are involved in exciting escapades, but they also worry about back pay, expenses and are never quite sure who to trust. Our narrator is very aware of his background and class plays a huge part in this novel. This is gritty, un-romantic stuff, with seedy clubs and coffee houses as the settings of many scenes, rather than exotic locations (although he does see action outside the UK). Still, there is certainly a lack of support and he is aware that, should anything go wrong, rather than coming up with some way to whisk him out of trouble, Dalby will deny all knowledge of what he is talking about…
Although this novel was an instant success when it was first published, I found it something of a difficult read. It was slow and, I felt, a little dry. Still, it is an important read, which presented a much more realistic view of the Secret Service than the recently published Bond novels and led to other, similar spy books in the genre.
October 30, 2011
This has been praised as a literary thriller that helped shape the espionage thriller genre, and I've seen Deighton compared to Dickens, contrasted favorably to Ian Fleming.
Frankly, this struck me as rather juvenile. Unlike Fleming, Deighton doesn't have a background in intelligence, and the book never struck me as plausible. It's more Get Smart than Graham Greene or John LeCarre--or even Tom Clancy. This is Len Deighton's first novel--before this he had been working as an illustrator according to his introduction--and it shows. An illustrator (as opposed to an artist) has to pretty much cover the page. His descriptions are overwritten--engorged with random elements rather than carefully chosen telling details. The narration is even crowded with intrusive footnotes.
Set in the early sixties at the height of the cold war, the story is told in a conversational and often sarcastic voice by the unnamed narrator, a British intelligence officer. First person usually allows for a feeling of intimacy and a crisp point of view. Yet this narration was so rambling and confusing I'd go over passages twice to try to get what was going on and failing. And given what I've read in the other reviews, I'm not the only reader confused. A slog to read and not enough payoff to make the difficulties worth it.
Frankly, this struck me as rather juvenile. Unlike Fleming, Deighton doesn't have a background in intelligence, and the book never struck me as plausible. It's more Get Smart than Graham Greene or John LeCarre--or even Tom Clancy. This is Len Deighton's first novel--before this he had been working as an illustrator according to his introduction--and it shows. An illustrator (as opposed to an artist) has to pretty much cover the page. His descriptions are overwritten--engorged with random elements rather than carefully chosen telling details. The narration is even crowded with intrusive footnotes.
Set in the early sixties at the height of the cold war, the story is told in a conversational and often sarcastic voice by the unnamed narrator, a British intelligence officer. First person usually allows for a feeling of intimacy and a crisp point of view. Yet this narration was so rambling and confusing I'd go over passages twice to try to get what was going on and failing. And given what I've read in the other reviews, I'm not the only reader confused. A slog to read and not enough payoff to make the difficulties worth it.
June 1, 2022
Why did it take me so long?
The Ipcress File (1962) was Len Deighton's first novel and I believe he was trying to provide a more realistic depiction of spying than Ian Fleming's Bond books, which he complained were too implausible. He succeeded, and how. It's bleak and cynical, and - most notably - is rooted in the day to day bureaucracy of running a department which makes it much richer and more interesting than my inaccurate classification. It is, in short, the anti-Bond. Len Deighton nailed the life of the spy, especially the loneliness and suspicion. His descriptions of London are spot on, and really evocative. Factor in his imaginative use of words, his emphasis on bureaucracy, his preoccupation with class and hierachy, and it's no wonder that he is held in such high esteem.
It's a confusing plot however the pleasure is in the writing. As I knew the rough story I was able to focus on the writing and the detail which is where the pleasure of this novel really lies. Here's one minor example to illustrate the interesting and perceptive style....
Murray had not liked the peacetime army and it was understandable, there was no place in it for a man with a paperback edition of Kierkegaard in his pocket. The Sergeants tried to talk like officers and the officers like gentlemen, he said. The mess was full of men who would sit in a cinema all the weekend and come back with stories about house parties on the river.
I look forward to reading more by Len Deighton
4/5
The blurb...
Len Deighton’s classic first novel, whose protagonist is a nameless spy – later christened Harry Palmer and made famous worldwide in the iconic 1960s film starring Michael Caine.
The Ipcress File was not only Len Deighton’s first novel, it was his first bestseller and the book that broke the mould of thriller writing.
For the working class narrator, an apparently straightforward mission to find a missing biochemist becomes a journey to the heart of a dark and deadly conspiracy.
The film of The Ipcress File gave Michael Caine one of his first and still most celebrated starring roles, while the novel itself has become a classic.
The Ipcress File (1962) was Len Deighton's first novel and I believe he was trying to provide a more realistic depiction of spying than Ian Fleming's Bond books, which he complained were too implausible. He succeeded, and how. It's bleak and cynical, and - most notably - is rooted in the day to day bureaucracy of running a department which makes it much richer and more interesting than my inaccurate classification. It is, in short, the anti-Bond. Len Deighton nailed the life of the spy, especially the loneliness and suspicion. His descriptions of London are spot on, and really evocative. Factor in his imaginative use of words, his emphasis on bureaucracy, his preoccupation with class and hierachy, and it's no wonder that he is held in such high esteem.
It's a confusing plot however the pleasure is in the writing. As I knew the rough story I was able to focus on the writing and the detail which is where the pleasure of this novel really lies. Here's one minor example to illustrate the interesting and perceptive style....
Murray had not liked the peacetime army and it was understandable, there was no place in it for a man with a paperback edition of Kierkegaard in his pocket. The Sergeants tried to talk like officers and the officers like gentlemen, he said. The mess was full of men who would sit in a cinema all the weekend and come back with stories about house parties on the river.
I look forward to reading more by Len Deighton
4/5
The blurb...
Len Deighton’s classic first novel, whose protagonist is a nameless spy – later christened Harry Palmer and made famous worldwide in the iconic 1960s film starring Michael Caine.
The Ipcress File was not only Len Deighton’s first novel, it was his first bestseller and the book that broke the mould of thriller writing.
For the working class narrator, an apparently straightforward mission to find a missing biochemist becomes a journey to the heart of a dark and deadly conspiracy.
The film of The Ipcress File gave Michael Caine one of his first and still most celebrated starring roles, while the novel itself has become a classic.
June 27, 2021
‘The Ipcress File’ is certainly a child of its time. It’s a thriller with a working class protagonist caught between the home establishment and the communist enemy. Lightly comic and heavily anti-authoritarian, it is certainly an entertaining read even if I never really knew what was going on at any point in the novel. I was surprised to find out that Kingsley Amis summed up my feelings in a letter to Phillip Larkin in 1985, “Actually Deighton’s quite good if you stop worrying about what’s going on”.
October 1, 2016
It's hard to believe this was Deighton's first book. Had I written something as clever, sarcastic, and thrilling as this, I would have stopped there, and admired myself in the mirror for a decade. Good thing Len didn't--this book gets scrambled at the end. By contrast, by the time he hit his stride in the three Bernard Sampson trilogies, there wasn't a hair out of place.
Deighton didn't go to Eton; he's not an Oxbridge grad. But he read like a madman, had some Toff friends, and must have the retention of a sponge. This book is the anti-Bond, in the same way the Samson series is the anti-Le Carré. Which makes it well worth admiring in front of a mirror.
Deighton didn't go to Eton; he's not an Oxbridge grad. But he read like a madman, had some Toff friends, and must have the retention of a sponge. This book is the anti-Bond, in the same way the Samson series is the anti-Le Carré. Which makes it well worth admiring in front of a mirror.
April 26, 2015
Hmmmmmmm - I was looking forward to this book. I've long been a fan of the Michael Caine movie based on this novel, and having read the Bond books a couple of years ago and working through the Smiley novels this year, I was intrigued to see where the unnamed spy of Deighton's books fitted in to the triumvirate.
And unfortunately I was disappointed. I found this the least enjoyable of the three - in both style and content. In content it doesn't have the glamourously comic book style jetsetting of Bond, nor the uncannily believable grey everyday matter-of-fact detail punctuated by intense violence of Le Carre's Smiley books. Instead we have a sexist, glorified police officer with an un-expanded upon class-based chip on his shoulder who just wanders about not doing a lot.
The writing style doesn't have Flemming's over the top flamboyance or Le Carre's Austen-like calm, but instead uses a 40s-style noir method of writing that, for me, grated intensely - I couldn't read it without an american accent in my head and then I kept getting reminded that he was from Burnley - even though nothing in the book backed that up apart from his saying he was from Burnley and he didn't like posh blokes. There's also absolutely no explanation as to why he writes / speaks like a bad Raymond Chandler - why does he talk constantly like an American Private Eye from the 1940s? I have no idea. It must have sounded as utterly incongruous in the early 60s, just as it does now.
And then .... Deighton spends the last two chapters with the two protagonists sitting down explaining what's happened, because he'd done such a bad job at telling the story through the previous 250 pages.
Not particularly recommended. This is definitely one case in which the movie is a vast improvement on the book.
And unfortunately I was disappointed. I found this the least enjoyable of the three - in both style and content. In content it doesn't have the glamourously comic book style jetsetting of Bond, nor the uncannily believable grey everyday matter-of-fact detail punctuated by intense violence of Le Carre's Smiley books. Instead we have a sexist, glorified police officer with an un-expanded upon class-based chip on his shoulder who just wanders about not doing a lot.
The writing style doesn't have Flemming's over the top flamboyance or Le Carre's Austen-like calm, but instead uses a 40s-style noir method of writing that, for me, grated intensely - I couldn't read it without an american accent in my head and then I kept getting reminded that he was from Burnley - even though nothing in the book backed that up apart from his saying he was from Burnley and he didn't like posh blokes. There's also absolutely no explanation as to why he writes / speaks like a bad Raymond Chandler - why does he talk constantly like an American Private Eye from the 1940s? I have no idea. It must have sounded as utterly incongruous in the early 60s, just as it does now.
And then .... Deighton spends the last two chapters with the two protagonists sitting down explaining what's happened, because he'd done such a bad job at telling the story through the previous 250 pages.
Not particularly recommended. This is definitely one case in which the movie is a vast improvement on the book.
April 22, 2020
Deighton,Fleming,Le Carre,all these British spy writers bore me big time.But,at least,Fleming and Le Carre came from an intelligence background,Deighton didn't.
The Ipcress File was Deighton's first spy novel,a Cold War thriller with an unnamed narrator.It is supposedly an espionage classic.For me,it certainly isn't.
There is some sort of dark conspiracy and it has to do with nuclear weapons,but the whole thing is too convoluted and confusing.I couldn't get interested at all.
This book was also adapted as a movie,with Michael Caine.It is on youtube.Got to see if it is better than the book.The producer is Harry Saltzman,who co-produced the early Bond films.So,it has something going for it.
The Ipcress File was Deighton's first spy novel,a Cold War thriller with an unnamed narrator.It is supposedly an espionage classic.For me,it certainly isn't.
There is some sort of dark conspiracy and it has to do with nuclear weapons,but the whole thing is too convoluted and confusing.I couldn't get interested at all.
This book was also adapted as a movie,with Michael Caine.It is on youtube.Got to see if it is better than the book.The producer is Harry Saltzman,who co-produced the early Bond films.So,it has something going for it.
October 7, 2021
The Ipcress File has aged remarkably well. It was first published in 1962 but I’d not read it before (although I thought I had!) and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the writing, the excellent sense of place, especially in London, and the laconic but quite realistic tone.
The Ipcress File a spy novel which is often bracketed with Ian Fleming and John le Carré and which seems to me to be something of a bridge between them, both chronologically and in style and content. Much more down-to-earth and realistic than Fleming (who had been producing Bond novels for almost a decade by then) but not as grimly downbeat as The Spy Who came In From The Cold which followed it three years later, it’s a very good read. The plot just about holds water, although I did get a little lost at times. It also depends too much on lengthy explanations at the end, but I didn’t mind too much because the prose is great and the unnamed narrator’s laconic style is just right; it’s believable and witty without being crammed with implausibly smart wisecracks and comebacks and I found it a pleasure to read.
“Classic” modern novels don’t always live up to their billing when read half a century later, but I think The Ipcress File stands up well. I enjoyed it and can recommend it warmly.
The Ipcress File a spy novel which is often bracketed with Ian Fleming and John le Carré and which seems to me to be something of a bridge between them, both chronologically and in style and content. Much more down-to-earth and realistic than Fleming (who had been producing Bond novels for almost a decade by then) but not as grimly downbeat as The Spy Who came In From The Cold which followed it three years later, it’s a very good read. The plot just about holds water, although I did get a little lost at times. It also depends too much on lengthy explanations at the end, but I didn’t mind too much because the prose is great and the unnamed narrator’s laconic style is just right; it’s believable and witty without being crammed with implausibly smart wisecracks and comebacks and I found it a pleasure to read.
“Classic” modern novels don’t always live up to their billing when read half a century later, but I think The Ipcress File stands up well. I enjoyed it and can recommend it warmly.
September 28, 2019
Well that was a slow read. One of the most famous spy novels and with good reason, a dense confusing read that requires a lot of focus.
To rush this is to do it a dis-service, so take time and enjoy.
Some books require a different approach, shall we say, a new self discipline. There are many people here and who I know on a day to day social basis who read a book from cover to cover but fail to acknowledge the contents. It almost seems that they need to serve a purpose, "I have read this, therefore I am in."
Take this at a slower pace and you will be rewarded.
To rush this is to do it a dis-service, so take time and enjoy.
Some books require a different approach, shall we say, a new self discipline. There are many people here and who I know on a day to day social basis who read a book from cover to cover but fail to acknowledge the contents. It almost seems that they need to serve a purpose, "I have read this, therefore I am in."
Take this at a slower pace and you will be rewarded.
October 7, 2011
I really, really wanted to enjoy this more and maybe the fault was partly my own for thinking it was going to be one of those novels I could read in 20 minute snatches on my daily commute, but despite its relatively short length, I just found it maddeningly difficult to follow. The tone is basically Noir filtered through the spy thriller with a little dash of The Man Who Was Thursday surrealism with the result that it had one of those hyper-dense narratives, full of non sequiturs, one-liners and sudden plot shifts, that means if your mind wanders for a line or two, suddenly you find yourself desperately skipping back pages trying to figure out what is going on. Don't get me wrong: I've read and enjoyed Noir fiction in the past and I understand that sometimes with the genre it's more about soaking up the atmosphere of the text rather than trying to puzzle out every nuance of the plot (that way lies madness), but nevertheless I did feel The Ipcress File ramped up the convoluted narrative to ridiculous levels. I was just thankful that the plot of the rest of the novel was explained in the final chapter (and it still had me flipping back, going: "Who's doing the WHAT now?!?"), otherwise I would have been entirely lost.
Still though I can understand why this is seen as such a canonical work and I will give it the benefit of the doubt because I reckon it is one of those novels that you have to read in as close as one sitting as possible to get the most out of it. I will probably give it another go at some point.
Still though I can understand why this is seen as such a canonical work and I will give it the benefit of the doubt because I reckon it is one of those novels that you have to read in as close as one sitting as possible to get the most out of it. I will probably give it another go at some point.
March 12, 2017
This is Len Deighton debut written in 62
The anonymous narrator describes a certain operation to a gov official and to us readers it looks like a long letter with footnotes and appendices.
The unnamed narrators who in popular culture became Michael Caine and his name was Harry in the movie, but in the novel he was called Harry in one page and that was the only clue that Harry could be his name.
He is the antithesis of James Bond, more down to earth and real... the struggle is real for him.. no flashy cars and rich food and gorgeous femme fatale.. he is a person with a mission to find out what is happening to a bunch of scientist who are defecting to the Eastern Bloc.
The anonymous narrator describes a certain operation to a gov official and to us readers it looks like a long letter with footnotes and appendices.
The unnamed narrators who in popular culture became Michael Caine and his name was Harry in the movie, but in the novel he was called Harry in one page and that was the only clue that Harry could be his name.
He is the antithesis of James Bond, more down to earth and real... the struggle is real for him.. no flashy cars and rich food and gorgeous femme fatale.. he is a person with a mission to find out what is happening to a bunch of scientist who are defecting to the Eastern Bloc.
February 14, 2021
PROGRESS REPORT: Can't say that Deighton didn't warn me, because there's this on page 4:
"That's very confusing," said the Minister, and wrote it down in his book.
"It's a confusing story," I told him. "I'm in a very confusing business."
So I guess it really shouldn't come as any surprise that I am literally halfway through and still have no clear idea what this story is actually about. There's an occasionally recurring theme of scientists disappearing, but it's a pretty thin thread to hang 130 pages on (so far). Anyway, no score yet as I'm still cautiously optimistic. Plus, this "Franklin Mystery" edition is just such a strangely beautiful book that if nothing else it's a genuine joy to hold and read.
UPDATE: And I continued to have no idea what was going on until the very end. So yes, consistently confusing - but no question that it did hold my attention, as I literally had no idea what would happen next. A sudden cutaway from London to Lebanon, then London to some tropical island, then the tropics to Hungary-but-maybe-not-really-Hungary before popping up again in London...it was like listening to Miles Davis, going off on seemingly extemporaneous riffs before bringing you - however fleetingly - back to the original melody and wondering "what the f@!# just happened?" And then just before the whole shebang crashes and burns, Deighton magically pulls out of his nosedive and in the last 20 pages somehow ties the whole thing together, (or at least as together as something this convoluted could be) - so an extra star for that trick alone.
Otherwise, some snappy dialogue and clever spy tradecraft, (I particularly liked our narrator's several forms of "spy insurance"), along with some good digs at both the British and American military, intelligence and overall class systems. And finally, this particular edition contains a nice little after-the-credits scene, in the form of an unironically snooty production note that states:
This Franklin Library edition of The Ipcress File is set in Electra, a distinctly American typeface designed in 1935 by W. A. Dwiggins, the eminent American typographer. The display face, Beton Bold, has been the most popular of all geometric square serif typefaces since Heinrich Jost created it in the 1930s. The front panel art by Terry Widener, specially commissioned for this edition, depicts the narrator's enmeshment in a world of political and psychological intrigue.
Not at all sure why, but considering the overall loosey-goosey tone of the preceding story, I just found this last statement really funny - although that might just be me.
FINAL NOTE: Absolutely no idea why, because I've never even seen the movie, but in amongst an extremely limited number of soundtrack albums that survived a half century of storage in my parents' house, was this gem:
Now I guess I'll have to go out and find a record player somewhere so that I can actually listen to it and see if it's as jazzy as the book itself...
(POSTSCRIPT: Yup, it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qfVm...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3n0W...)
"That's very confusing," said the Minister, and wrote it down in his book.
"It's a confusing story," I told him. "I'm in a very confusing business."
So I guess it really shouldn't come as any surprise that I am literally halfway through and still have no clear idea what this story is actually about. There's an occasionally recurring theme of scientists disappearing, but it's a pretty thin thread to hang 130 pages on (so far). Anyway, no score yet as I'm still cautiously optimistic. Plus, this "Franklin Mystery" edition is just such a strangely beautiful book that if nothing else it's a genuine joy to hold and read.
UPDATE: And I continued to have no idea what was going on until the very end. So yes, consistently confusing - but no question that it did hold my attention, as I literally had no idea what would happen next. A sudden cutaway from London to Lebanon, then London to some tropical island, then the tropics to Hungary-but-maybe-not-really-Hungary before popping up again in London...it was like listening to Miles Davis, going off on seemingly extemporaneous riffs before bringing you - however fleetingly - back to the original melody and wondering "what the f@!# just happened?" And then just before the whole shebang crashes and burns, Deighton magically pulls out of his nosedive and in the last 20 pages somehow ties the whole thing together, (or at least as together as something this convoluted could be) - so an extra star for that trick alone.
Otherwise, some snappy dialogue and clever spy tradecraft, (I particularly liked our narrator's several forms of "spy insurance"), along with some good digs at both the British and American military, intelligence and overall class systems. And finally, this particular edition contains a nice little after-the-credits scene, in the form of an unironically snooty production note that states:
This Franklin Library edition of The Ipcress File is set in Electra, a distinctly American typeface designed in 1935 by W. A. Dwiggins, the eminent American typographer. The display face, Beton Bold, has been the most popular of all geometric square serif typefaces since Heinrich Jost created it in the 1930s. The front panel art by Terry Widener, specially commissioned for this edition, depicts the narrator's enmeshment in a world of political and psychological intrigue.
Not at all sure why, but considering the overall loosey-goosey tone of the preceding story, I just found this last statement really funny - although that might just be me.
FINAL NOTE: Absolutely no idea why, because I've never even seen the movie, but in amongst an extremely limited number of soundtrack albums that survived a half century of storage in my parents' house, was this gem:
Now I guess I'll have to go out and find a record player somewhere so that I can actually listen to it and see if it's as jazzy as the book itself...
(POSTSCRIPT: Yup, it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qfVm...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3n0W...)
June 4, 2022
Βαθμολογία: 9/10
Οι εκδόσεις Κλειδάριθμος έκαναν μια από τις πιο ευχάριστες εκπλήξεις της φετινής χρονιάς, φέρνοντας στην Ελλάδα το κλασικό αυτό κατασκοπευτικό μυθιστόρημα, που αποτελεί και τη βάση για την ομότιτλη ταινία του 1965 με πρωταγωνιστή τον Μάικλ Κέιν (η ταινία, ευτυχώς, ανήκει στη συλλογή μου). Αυτό είναι το πρώτο μυθιστόρημα που έγραψε ο Λεν Ντέιτον, είναι με διαφορά το πιο γνωστό του, ενώ είναι και το τέταρτο δικό του που διαβάζω. Λοιπόν, το βιβλίο μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ. Λατρεύω τις κλασικές κατασκοπευτικές ιστορίες και η συγκεκριμένη είναι από τις πολύ καλές που έχω διαβάσει. Ο συγγραφέας κατάφερε να με κρατήσει καθηλωμένο από την πρώτη μέχρι την τελευταία σελίδα χάρη στα σκηνικά και τις διάφορες χαρακτηριστικές σκηνές δράσης, κατάφερε να με μπερδέψει, να με αγχώσει, να με κάνει να αναρωτιέμαι για τα κίνητρα του ενός και του άλλου χαρακτήρα (ακόμα και του αφηγητή), σίγουρα ένιωσα ότι διάβασα μια δυνατή κατασκοπευτική ιστορία γεμάτη κυνισμό και προδοσίες, και όχι ένα παραμύθι για μικρά παιδιά. Και η ιστορία μπορεί μεν να είναι πάρα πολύ καλή, ίσως όμως όχι και η κορυφαία του είδους (αλίμονο!), πάντως η γραφή είναι σίγουρα εξαιρετική, οξυδερκής, σκληρή και κυνική, με ωραία αίσθηση του χιούμορ, ρεαλιστικές περιγραφές και ζωντανούς διαλόγους. Τέλος, οι χαρακτήρες είναι αρχετυπικοί για το είδος και καλά σκιαγραφημένοι, ενώ η ατμόσφαιρα είναι εξαίσια, ακριβώς όπως πρέπει να είναι σε μια κατασκοπευτική περιπέτεια της προκοπής. Ναι, ίσως το βιβλίο να μην είναι για όλα τα γούστα (τόσο λόγω του είδους, όσο και επειδή έχει τις ιδιαιτερότητές του), όμως προσωπικά το βρήκα ακριβώς του γούστου μου και το απόλαυσα από την αρχή μέχρι το τέλος.
Οι εκδόσεις Κλειδάριθμος έκαναν μια από τις πιο ευχάριστες εκπλήξεις της φετινής χρονιάς, φέρνοντας στην Ελλάδα το κλασικό αυτό κατασκοπευτικό μυθιστόρημα, που αποτελεί και τη βάση για την ομότιτλη ταινία του 1965 με πρωταγωνιστή τον Μάικλ Κέιν (η ταινία, ευτυχώς, ανήκει στη συλλογή μου). Αυτό είναι το πρώτο μυθιστόρημα που έγραψε ο Λεν Ντέιτον, είναι με διαφορά το πιο γνωστό του, ενώ είναι και το τέταρτο δικό του που διαβάζω. Λοιπόν, το βιβλίο μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ. Λατρεύω τις κλασικές κατασκοπευτικές ιστορίες και η συγκεκριμένη είναι από τις πολύ καλές που έχω διαβάσει. Ο συγγραφέας κατάφερε να με κρατήσει καθηλωμένο από την πρώτη μέχρι την τελευταία σελίδα χάρη στα σκηνικά και τις διάφορες χαρακτηριστικές σκηνές δράσης, κατάφερε να με μπερδέψει, να με αγχώσει, να με κάνει να αναρωτιέμαι για τα κίνητρα του ενός και του άλλου χαρακτήρα (ακόμα και του αφηγητή), σίγουρα ένιωσα ότι διάβασα μια δυνατή κατασκοπευτική ιστορία γεμάτη κυνισμό και προδοσίες, και όχι ένα παραμύθι για μικρά παιδιά. Και η ιστορία μπορεί μεν να είναι πάρα πολύ καλή, ίσως όμως όχι και η κορυφαία του είδους (αλίμονο!), πάντως η γραφή είναι σίγουρα εξαιρετική, οξυδερκής, σκληρή και κυνική, με ωραία αίσθηση του χιούμορ, ρεαλιστικές περιγραφές και ζωντανούς διαλόγους. Τέλος, οι χαρακτήρες είναι αρχετυπικοί για το είδος και καλά σκιαγραφημένοι, ενώ η ατμόσφαιρα είναι εξαίσια, ακριβώς όπως πρέπει να είναι σε μια κατασκοπευτική περιπέτεια της προκοπής. Ναι, ίσως το βιβλίο να μην είναι για όλα τα γούστα (τόσο λόγω του είδους, όσο και επειδή έχει τις ιδιαιτερότητές του), όμως προσωπικά το βρήκα ακριβώς του γούστου μου και το απόλαυσα από την αρχή μέχρι το τέλος.
July 23, 2022
I decided to re-read 'The IPCRESS File' because it's sixty years old this year. It's been forty-seven years since I last read and enjoyed this book. At the time, my eighteen-year-old self was struck by how sordid and grubby Deighton's world of espionage was but I took the rest of the Cold War context - the nuclear arms race, the permanence of the Iron Curtain, the inevitability of the British upper-class running everything and making a mess of it - for granted. I'd grown up in the Cold War and, in 1975, there were no signs that it would end anytime soon. More than a decade after 'The IPCRESS File', in my first year at university, I would still occasionally be asked by mostly well-meaning tutors who were trying to slot me into the right context 'What does your father do?' (what my mother did never evoked the same level of curiosity) and I knew that the answer would give them a moment's pause as they processed that, despite the impression talking to me had made, I was a working-class lad from the North of England.
Re-reading the book in 2022, I wasn't surprised that I'd missed the taken-for-granted, casual but all-pervasive sexism the first time around. It was a blindness common at the time. I was surprised that the first thing that caught my attention wasn't the content of the book but the way in which it was written.
The narrative style was distinctive but hard for me to label. It was a kind of impersonal first-person. account. This narrative style isn't just about carrying the plot forward, it's a way of building the character of our nameless narrator as an emotionally distant, insightful but unempathetic, socially dislocated, secretive, untrusting, loner. The narrative also tells the story in an oddly abbreviated way, leaving things out or passing over them or not explaining them, making the narrative more of a gestalt built by the reader's expectations rather than something assembled brick by brick by the writer. This narrator is not so much unreliable as mischievously unhelpful as he challenges the reader to piece the plot together from what seems like a series of cryptic crossword puzzle clues.
Even now, this narrative style feels modern to the point of being experimental. Back in 1962, it must have had all that 'The Shock Of The New' energy of Modern Art.
Yet the narrative seems conventional compared to dialogue. There is one wonderfully chaotic scene where our spy is talking to someone on the phone while surrounded by multiple and overlapping sets of people talking to each other and him. It wasn't easy to read but it lit up my imagination. It's the dialogue equivalent of Warhol's split screen in 'Chelsea Girls'
I realised on this re-read, that the sordid grubbiness that shocked me on my first read was just the surface representation of the seediness at the heart of the plot. I thought the plot was one of the main strengths of the novel. It tells a story of betrayal, blurred lines of loyalty and ruthless selfishness against a backdrop of the threat of global nuclear war, mostly carried out by men who still carry the scars of the last World War. I enjoyed the up close and personal way the reveals were done, especially the exposure of what the IPCRESS file referred to and who was behind it.
I also enjoyed the way Deighton juxtaposed the excessive extravagance of the American Nuclear Test Site with the unthinkably large scale of destruction they were all focused on achieving. It felt like an indictment and a warning, even though there was no overt criticism.
The IPCRESS concept itself has aged about as badly as a comment made by one of the bad guys as he explains the Realpolitiks of the Cold War and says something like. 'Do you expect communism simply to implode one day while capitalism continues on in its evil ways?'
This time around, I was much more aware of how clearly our nameless spy could see all the small ways that he didn't fit in with the Establishment types who ran the Service. He knew he could never be one of them. He also knew that he had no desire to be a working-class warrior. He was just going to win with the cards he was dealt, even though he and everyone else was cheating.
The Nameless-Spy-Explains-It-All ending felt a little weak to me. The last few chapters felt like the CliffsNotes summary of the plot for any reader who either hadn't been paying attention or was too dumb to keep up. I wondered whether Deighton added these chapters at the behest of an editor who felt a need to tidy everything up.
Re-reading the book in 2022, I wasn't surprised that I'd missed the taken-for-granted, casual but all-pervasive sexism the first time around. It was a blindness common at the time. I was surprised that the first thing that caught my attention wasn't the content of the book but the way in which it was written.
The narrative style was distinctive but hard for me to label. It was a kind of impersonal first-person. account. This narrative style isn't just about carrying the plot forward, it's a way of building the character of our nameless narrator as an emotionally distant, insightful but unempathetic, socially dislocated, secretive, untrusting, loner. The narrative also tells the story in an oddly abbreviated way, leaving things out or passing over them or not explaining them, making the narrative more of a gestalt built by the reader's expectations rather than something assembled brick by brick by the writer. This narrator is not so much unreliable as mischievously unhelpful as he challenges the reader to piece the plot together from what seems like a series of cryptic crossword puzzle clues.
Even now, this narrative style feels modern to the point of being experimental. Back in 1962, it must have had all that 'The Shock Of The New' energy of Modern Art.
Yet the narrative seems conventional compared to dialogue. There is one wonderfully chaotic scene where our spy is talking to someone on the phone while surrounded by multiple and overlapping sets of people talking to each other and him. It wasn't easy to read but it lit up my imagination. It's the dialogue equivalent of Warhol's split screen in 'Chelsea Girls'
I realised on this re-read, that the sordid grubbiness that shocked me on my first read was just the surface representation of the seediness at the heart of the plot. I thought the plot was one of the main strengths of the novel. It tells a story of betrayal, blurred lines of loyalty and ruthless selfishness against a backdrop of the threat of global nuclear war, mostly carried out by men who still carry the scars of the last World War. I enjoyed the up close and personal way the reveals were done, especially the exposure of what the IPCRESS file referred to and who was behind it.
I also enjoyed the way Deighton juxtaposed the excessive extravagance of the American Nuclear Test Site with the unthinkably large scale of destruction they were all focused on achieving. It felt like an indictment and a warning, even though there was no overt criticism.
The IPCRESS concept itself has aged about as badly as a comment made by one of the bad guys as he explains the Realpolitiks of the Cold War and says something like. 'Do you expect communism simply to implode one day while capitalism continues on in its evil ways?'
This time around, I was much more aware of how clearly our nameless spy could see all the small ways that he didn't fit in with the Establishment types who ran the Service. He knew he could never be one of them. He also knew that he had no desire to be a working-class warrior. He was just going to win with the cards he was dealt, even though he and everyone else was cheating.
The Nameless-Spy-Explains-It-All ending felt a little weak to me. The last few chapters felt like the CliffsNotes summary of the plot for any reader who either hadn't been paying attention or was too dumb to keep up. I wondered whether Deighton added these chapters at the behest of an editor who felt a need to tidy everything up.
November 3, 2022
Riletto in italiano continua a non funzionare.
Non comprendo la continuità, se ne esiste una; personaggi, vabbe' che si tratta di spionaggio anni sessanta, a dir poco ambigui; soluzioni risibili, le poche volte che sono comprensibili.
Però due stelle proprio no, non ci riesco a scendere sotto le tre stelle: è Ipcress caspita! La memoria dei film con MIchael Caine mi impedisce un voto pessimo, anche se, in effetti, hanno poco o nulla in comune con questo romanzo e, soprattutto, questo protagonista.
Non comprendo la continuità, se ne esiste una; personaggi, vabbe' che si tratta di spionaggio anni sessanta, a dir poco ambigui; soluzioni risibili, le poche volte che sono comprensibili.
Però due stelle proprio no, non ci riesco a scendere sotto le tre stelle: è Ipcress caspita! La memoria dei film con MIchael Caine mi impedisce un voto pessimo, anche se, in effetti, hanno poco o nulla in comune con questo romanzo e, soprattutto, questo protagonista.
May 14, 2019
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.
May 14, 2019
The Ipcress File by Len Deighton. I'm going to kinda/sorta review this book and at the same time give in to a little rant. 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 60,000 words. And I ask myself, 'How do you write 60,000 words?' Now granted, anyone can string together 60 to 100,000 words--in a Kingly fashion--but are they meaningful words or are they simply filler?
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 60,000 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 30,000 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. Now again, anybody who's seen Hope/Crosby's Road to Morocco knows what the streets looks like--the urchins, the peddlers, the camels, the fruit carts--so our imaginations can easily fill in the details without the author doing so. 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 60,000 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 20. 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.
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 60,000 words. And I ask myself, 'How do you write 60,000 words?' Now granted, anyone can string together 60 to 100,000 words--in a Kingly fashion--but are they meaningful words or are they simply filler?
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 60,000 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 30,000 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. Now again, anybody who's seen Hope/Crosby's Road to Morocco knows what the streets looks like--the urchins, the peddlers, the camels, the fruit carts--so our imaginations can easily fill in the details without the author doing so. 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 60,000 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 20. 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.
May 15, 2019
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 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.
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.
March 12, 2024
O "Φάκελος Ίπκρες" είναι το πρώτο βιβλίο του Ντέιτον, ιδιαίτερα γνωστό κυρίως λόγω της θρυλικής ταινίας με τον Μαικλ Κεήν (έγιναν και άλλα δύο βιβλία της σειράς ταινίες πάλι με τον Μαικλ Κεην). Η ταινία πλασαρίστηκε σαν το αντίπαλο δέος στον "Τζέημς Μπόντ": Πράγματι ο ήρωας της σειράς, ελάχιστα θυμίζει τον γνωστό πράκτορα, αφού περισσότερες ομοιότητες έχει με ένα τελειωμένο δημόσιο υπάλληλο (στα βιβλία του Φλέμινγκ υπάρχουν επίσης επικά σκηνικά με Μπόντ σε δουλειά γραφείου) παρά με κοσμοπολίτη εκτελεστή. Όμως ο "Φάκελος Ίπκρες" διαφέρει και από τα βιβλία του Τζών Λε Καρέ και του Γκράχαμ Γκρήν, δύο ακόμα μεγαθηρίων του ιδιώματος: είναι πιο αποστασιοποιημένο συναισθηματικά βιβλίο, σχεδόν στείρο από συναίσθημα με εξαίρεση το σαρκασμό, ιδιαίτερα τεχνικό με έμφαση στη λεπτομέρεια και στις κατασκοπικές μεθόδους. Υπάρχει μια αίσθηση λογοτεχνικής υπερβολής, πχ ο ήρωας είναι τελείως αναίσθητος, αναρρώνει σχεδόν αμέσως κ.α. αλλά αυτό δεν είναι απαραίτητα κακό καθώς η έμφαση δίνεται στη πολυπλοκότητα (μέχρι αηδίας) της πλοκής και στην ανάλυση των μεθόδων της δουλειάς. Αρκετά ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο, διαβάζεται σαν συμπλήρωμα με τα αντίστοιχα του Λε Καρέ, του Γκρήν και του Φλέμινγκ.
Υ.Γ. Μπορεί κάποιος να βάλει καινούρια εικόνα εξωφύλλου, αυτή με αγχώνει.
Υ.Γ. Μπορεί κάποιος να βάλει καινούρια εικόνα εξωφύλλου, αυτή με αγχώνει.
March 19, 2022
March 19, 2022 Update I have just learned that this book is the basis for a new 6-part TV mini-series with actor Joe Cole in the Harry Palmer role, previously made famous by Michael Caine. This will surely be on Britbox here in Canada eventually, but until then, we do have the trailer.
The WOOC(P) Files #1
Review of the Penguin Modern Classics paperback edition (April, 2021) of the original Hodder & Stoughton hardcover (1962)
Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, image sourced from https://www.fanpop.com/clubs/michael-...
I read pretty much all of Deighton's spy fiction in the 1970s to 1990s shortly after most of it was published. Deighton's nameless secret agent (aka Harry Palmer in the film series with Michael Caine) in the Secret Files, his Bernard Samson in the Samson triple trilogy, Adam's Hall's Quiller and John le Carré's George Smiley were my go-to espionage thrillers, after the obligatory James Bonds of Ian Fleming & the several continuation writers of course.
The fall of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and Deighton's retirement from writing novels after the conclusion of the Faith, Hope & Charity trilogy with Charity (1996) put all that out of mind for a few decades as new reading interests took over. I recently learned of the Penguin Modern Classics republication of all of Deighton's works being planned over the course of 2021 in an online article Why Len Deighton's Spy Stories are set to Thrill a New Generation (Guardian/Observer May 2, 2021). I couldn't resist a few re-reads to see how the books stood the test of time.
Deighton's nameless protagonist works for a similarly unnamed British secret intelligence service known only by its never explained initials WOOC(P). I found that I also couldn't resist inventing a source for that and thought of it as War Office Operations Centre (Provisional). Unlike the true life spy backgrounds of some of his fellow espionage writers (e.g. Fleming & Carré), Deighton's career had previously been in art and design. He tends to go in for over-complexity in bureaucracy and acronym bafflegab to compensate. 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.
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:
Trivia and Links
The IPCRESS File was famously filmed as one of actor Michael Caine's first major onscreen roles in The Ipcress File (1965) directed by Sidney J. Furie.
The quality of the film clips in this DVD movie review are much better than those in the dated trailer above.
The WOOC(P) Files #1
Review of the Penguin Modern Classics paperback edition (April, 2021) of the original Hodder & Stoughton hardcover (1962)
'Now my name isn't Harry, but in this business it's hard to remember whether it ever had been.' - the nameless protagonist in The IPCRESS File
Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, image sourced from https://www.fanpop.com/clubs/michael-...
I read pretty much all of Deighton's spy fiction in the 1970s to 1990s shortly after most of it was published. Deighton's nameless secret agent (aka Harry Palmer in the film series with Michael Caine) in the Secret Files, his Bernard Samson in the Samson triple trilogy, Adam's Hall's Quiller and John le Carré's George Smiley were my go-to espionage thrillers, after the obligatory James Bonds of Ian Fleming & the several continuation writers of course.
The fall of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and Deighton's retirement from writing novels after the conclusion of the Faith, Hope & Charity trilogy with Charity (1996) put all that out of mind for a few decades as new reading interests took over. I recently learned of the Penguin Modern Classics republication of all of Deighton's works being planned over the course of 2021 in an online article Why Len Deighton's Spy Stories are set to Thrill a New Generation (Guardian/Observer May 2, 2021). I couldn't resist a few re-reads to see how the books stood the test of time.
Deighton's nameless protagonist works for a similarly unnamed British secret intelligence service known only by its never explained initials WOOC(P). I found that I also couldn't resist inventing a source for that and thought of it as War Office Operations Centre (Provisional). Unlike the true life spy backgrounds of some of his fellow espionage writers (e.g. Fleming & Carré), Deighton's career had previously been in art and design. He tends to go in for over-complexity in bureaucracy and acronym bafflegab to compensate. 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. ... DITHYRAMBE had been quite wrong. 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?'This is followed up later with:
'If it doesn't demand a classical education. I might be able to grope around it.'
Dalby said, 'Surprise me, do it without complaint or sarcasm.'
'It wouldn't be the same,' I said.
'You are a bit stupid, and you haven't had the advantage of a classical education.'So overall I did enjoy the re-read, but I do wonder how long it will be before annotated editions will be required to explain long expired businesses such as IBM and BOAC and/or other late 50s/early 60s pop culture references such as Steve Reeves and Danny Kaye.
Dalby was having a little genteel fun with me. 'But I am sure you will be able to overcome your disadvantages.'
'Why think so? You never overcame your advantages.'
Trivia and Links
The IPCRESS File was famously filmed as one of actor Michael Caine's first major onscreen roles in The Ipcress File (1965) directed by Sidney J. Furie.
The quality of the film clips in this DVD movie review are much better than those in the dated trailer above.
July 26, 2015
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 literature is more likely to be concerned with war or thrillers. In the past this would have been the Second World War, followed later by Cold War espionage. 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.
Len Deighton’s novels fall into the category of Cold War thrillers. The Ipcress File is his most famous work, its reputation upheld by the iconic British movie that helped to cement Michael Caine’s cool 1960s image.
The coolness lies in the downbeat nature of its hero and the story. In contrast to the glamour of James Bond, Deighton’s hero (Harry Palmer in the films, but in the novels he remains nameless) is a much more mundane figure. Curiously in the book he comes from Burnley, not too far from where I live, meaning that he presumably has a Lancashire accent rather than Michael Caine’s familiar Cockney tones.
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. Most chapters include a newspaper-style horoscope (presumably our hero’s) that vaguely relates to the events in the chapter, a mildly comic touch.
Perhaps there are other readers who are more experienced in spy thrillers and might be more engaged by Deighton’s style than I was. For myself, I thought the book was readable enough, but found it hard to get too caught up in the story.
The popular works of female literature tend to be historical, romantic, family sagas etc. Male literature is more likely to be concerned with war or thrillers. In the past this would have been the Second World War, followed later by Cold War espionage. 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.
Len Deighton’s novels fall into the category of Cold War thrillers. The Ipcress File is his most famous work, its reputation upheld by the iconic British movie that helped to cement Michael Caine’s cool 1960s image.
The coolness lies in the downbeat nature of its hero and the story. In contrast to the glamour of James Bond, Deighton’s hero (Harry Palmer in the films, but in the novels he remains nameless) is a much more mundane figure. Curiously in the book he comes from Burnley, not too far from where I live, meaning that he presumably has a Lancashire accent rather than Michael Caine’s familiar Cockney tones.
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. Most chapters include a newspaper-style horoscope (presumably our hero’s) that vaguely relates to the events in the chapter, a mildly comic touch.
Perhaps there are other readers who are more experienced in spy thrillers and might be more engaged by Deighton’s style than I was. For myself, I thought the book was readable enough, but found it hard to get too caught up in the story.
March 20, 2013
As Deighton admits in the preface to the Silver jubilee Edition that I read, ‘Like many inexperienced writers I expected far too much from my readers.’ And it’s this assumption that that the reader will ‘be aware of every tiny detail and allusion’ that makes this book, at least initially, a less than easy read. Of course, the film and the reputation of the book gives the reader motivation to stick with it. Without that motivation I can’t be absolutely sure I’d have got past the first few chapters. However, I’m glad I did.
This 1960s 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. But it’s a thriller with heart and emotion. 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.
I’m unsure how I missed this in my earlier days of reading. Certainly, I read most of the Bond novels through my teens and early twenties. I did, of course, catch the film. But I’d forgotten that until I began reading. I must try to see it again. For the book, I can say that I enjoyed it as a thriller with real character. I shall probably now read more of the author’s work as and when I come across it. If you haven’t read this one and you enjoy action combined with wit and emotionally complete characters in your fiction, then I recommend this book to you.
This 1960s 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. But it’s a thriller with heart and emotion. 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.
I’m unsure how I missed this in my earlier days of reading. Certainly, I read most of the Bond novels through my teens and early twenties. I did, of course, catch the film. But I’d forgotten that until I began reading. I must try to see it again. For the book, I can say that I enjoyed it as a thriller with real character. I shall probably now read more of the author’s work as and when I come across it. If you haven’t read this one and you enjoy action combined with wit and emotionally complete characters in your fiction, then I recommend this book to you.
December 12, 2016
Originally published on my blog here in December 2003.
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 behind. followed in his turn by John le Carré.
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.e. a gentleman]; that is to say he didn't ... hit ladies without first removing his hat." The whole of the novel - and its sequels - makes the narrator's constant sneering at the upper classes a major feature, something which must have seemed quite revolutionary in the Britain of 1962. (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?")
The plot seems at the start to be standard sixties spy thriller fare, as Palmer starts investigating some mysterious defections and strange behaviour among senior British scientists. 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. The Ipcress File is one of the earlier spy novels with a betrayal scheme, even if it is an extremely familiar plot to readers of Deighton and Le Carré's later novels.
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.
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 behind. followed in his turn by John le Carré.
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.e. a gentleman]; that is to say he didn't ... hit ladies without first removing his hat." The whole of the novel - and its sequels - makes the narrator's constant sneering at the upper classes a major feature, something which must have seemed quite revolutionary in the Britain of 1962. (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?")
The plot seems at the start to be standard sixties spy thriller fare, as Palmer starts investigating some mysterious defections and strange behaviour among senior British scientists. 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. The Ipcress File is one of the earlier spy novels with a betrayal scheme, even if it is an extremely familiar plot to readers of Deighton and Le Carré's later novels.
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.
November 1, 2018
I see some reviews claim that The IPCRESS File is a "classic" of its genre, the spy thriller. 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. And it's a masterpiece of its form, with a subversive comic rhythm and challenge to authority hitherto unimaginable in polite establishment precincts of power. At least this is all true from the Americanization part of the equation adopted by Deighton, the jazz themes, the detached and humorous and sudden shifting of the narrative, and the "beat" of the wordplay. Oh, and, yes, the continual allusions to popular culture of the time (try asking a millennial about Steve Reeves). The fact is, it's so very easy to imagine someone in a coffee shop, wearing sandals and a turtleneck, along with a goatee, and a set of bongo drums in their lap, reading along about British spies on a South Pacific atoll watching for the test of an American neutron bomb.
Comedy on one end, then. But then there is the flip side to the cultural imprint, the far more thoroughly British one. A great deal of the humor and sadness of the novel goes hand in hand with exposing the inefficient, often doltish ways of the British elite, and the suspicion naturally directed towards someone of The IPCRESS Files' unnamed protagonist's background, from the ranks who came from a market town in Lancashire. There is more than an echo of the Angry Young Man in this novel. In fact, it sometimes seems as if Alan Sillitoe's Arthur Seaton had somehow graduated from the bicycle factory to Military Intelligence, bringing his mocking, individualistic attitude with him, always avowing, "Don't let the bastards grind you down."
So I guess that these two sides, the two cultural contexts, give the novel its final form, a work of tragicomedy. And there is nothing more difficult to pull off than tragicomedy. Deighton does it. The sort of funky anti-establishment humor of the American beat generation, especially with the word choices and the (almost) elliptical storytelling. And the drab sadness of some hidebound British traditions, which are their own worst enemy. The IPCRESS File is a snapshot of a brief moment in history, Bikini Atoll, Steve Reeves--Herculeeze, Burgess and Maclean, the Rosenbergs, and right when we were all about to be brainwashed.
Comedy on one end, then. But then there is the flip side to the cultural imprint, the far more thoroughly British one. A great deal of the humor and sadness of the novel goes hand in hand with exposing the inefficient, often doltish ways of the British elite, and the suspicion naturally directed towards someone of The IPCRESS Files' unnamed protagonist's background, from the ranks who came from a market town in Lancashire. There is more than an echo of the Angry Young Man in this novel. In fact, it sometimes seems as if Alan Sillitoe's Arthur Seaton had somehow graduated from the bicycle factory to Military Intelligence, bringing his mocking, individualistic attitude with him, always avowing, "Don't let the bastards grind you down."
So I guess that these two sides, the two cultural contexts, give the novel its final form, a work of tragicomedy. And there is nothing more difficult to pull off than tragicomedy. Deighton does it. The sort of funky anti-establishment humor of the American beat generation, especially with the word choices and the (almost) elliptical storytelling. And the drab sadness of some hidebound British traditions, which are their own worst enemy. The IPCRESS File is a snapshot of a brief moment in history, Bikini Atoll, Steve Reeves--Herculeeze, Burgess and Maclean, the Rosenbergs, and right when we were all about to be brainwashed.
February 24, 2016
Ipcress is not a name or a place: It is an abbreviation for “Induction of Psycho-neuroses by Conditioned Reflex under Stress” -- or, in other words, brainwashing. I remember seeing the film of the book when it came out in 1965 and believed I had also read the book. Instead of a re-read, this turned out to be a first-timer.
On one hand, I liked The Ipcress File; on the other, I found it curiously remote. The protagonist is never named (though for the movie, Michael Caine himself invented the name Harry Palmer for him). He works for a mysterious agency called WOOC-P, about which little or nothing is explained. The protagonist is a fairly anonymous individual, and we are never really privy to his thought processes, the way, say, we are with James Bond or the characters of John Le Carré. 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.
On one hand, I liked The Ipcress File; on the other, I found it curiously remote. The protagonist is never named (though for the movie, Michael Caine himself invented the name Harry Palmer for him). He works for a mysterious agency called WOOC-P, about which little or nothing is explained. The protagonist is a fairly anonymous individual, and we are never really privy to his thought processes, the way, say, we are with James Bond or the characters of John Le Carré. 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.
May 19, 2016
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. Deighton? Pfft..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. Tedious. However fails to write a plot.
P 184 is hilarious - "For 200 feet I rocketed into the air, the circle of fencing falling around my feet like a spent hula hoop" What? Pardon? Where did that come from? No mention of an explosion or him being injured. Just walks away and meets some guy. "Suddenly the motor cut out and there I hung bouncing in space like a budgerigar in a sprung cage." Pardon? He's now an astronaut? Gibberish Deighton, absolute garbage. I ended the book there, at p200. 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.
Some sentences make no sense. Deighton is a dull writer who annoyingly describes every character's looks in inane detail. Tedious. However fails to write a plot.
P 184 is hilarious - "For 200 feet I rocketed into the air, the circle of fencing falling around my feet like a spent hula hoop" What? Pardon? Where did that come from? No mention of an explosion or him being injured. Just walks away and meets some guy. "Suddenly the motor cut out and there I hung bouncing in space like a budgerigar in a sprung cage." Pardon? He's now an astronaut? Gibberish Deighton, absolute garbage. I ended the book there, at p200. 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.
August 16, 2020
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 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.
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.
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