Berlin Game by Len Deighton
Agent Bernard Samson, who is currently facing criticism, is accustomed to being passed over for promotions as his younger, more ambitious MI6 coworkers, including his wife Fiona, advance in the organization. Samson must return to the field and the city he loves in order to find out who the traitor is when an important agent in East Berlin alerts the British of a mole at the core of the Service. The critically regarded Game, Set, and Match trilogy by Len Deighton begin with this book.
Berlin Game by Len Deighton
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The workplace serves as the extended metaphor for all spy fiction. The middle-ranking intelligence executive Bernard Samson, who is unable to trust anyone, best personifies this. He is supposed to be outsmarting the KGB, but in reality, he could be any middle-aged man who is deceived by both his wife and his employers and is battling to survive in a large corporation. The first (and greatest) book of the Game, Set, and Match trilogy, which represents Deighton’s pinnacle of success, is Berlin Game.
Samson commutes to work every day via train, keeps an eye on his back at the office, and his marriage is disintegrating. In terms of women and marriage, Deighton is excellent.
The extended metaphor for all espionage fiction is the workplace. The clearest example of this is middle-level intelligence executive Bernard Samson, who is reluctant to trust anyone. He’s supposed to be outwitting the KGB, but in reality he could be any middle-aged man trying to make it in a big company while being lied to by both his wife and his employers. Berlin Game is the first (and best) novel in the Game, Set, and Match trilogy, which is considered Deighton’s crowning achievement.
Samson takes the train to work every day, watches his back at work, and his marriage is falling apart. Deighton is a top-notch author when it comes to women and marriage. Berlin served as the focal point of the East-West conflict from the final days of World War II to the fall of the Berlin Wall forty years later. The German capital was the scene of constant intrigue involving the secret services of all four powers after a deal was made in London in 1944 dividing the country into four zones. The conflict between the British MI6 and the Soviet KGB was particularly heated. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that the city became a favourite backdrop for spy authors, especially English ones, such as John le Carré, Joseph Kanon, Philip Kerr, Volker Kutscher, and many more. Len Deighton is one of the most well-known writers to examine Cold War espionage, and much of his renown stems from his book Berlin Game.
MI6 officer Bernard Samson is introduced in Berlin Game, the first of eleven volumes (three trilogies and a prologue). Samson is already a seasoned field officer when the book begins. He has encountered enough betrayal on both sides of the struggle to now perceive the game as morally dubious, much like George Smiley from John le Carré. He had grown up in Berlin, where his father had served as the commander of the Berlin Field Unit and had maintained contact with several classmates.
The majority of them are currently being used as resources in his intellectual activity. They are a part of the Brahms network, which was set up by the East German government official Brahms Four to transmit top-secret information.
A morally conflicted perspective on Cold War spy
Unfortunately, Brahms Four wants to smuggle itself into the West because it feels threatened. However, Samson’s superiors want him to go back to Berlin and convince the Brahms Four to put up a fight for a few more years. The British Government greatly values the agent’s reports. Samson is also believed to be the only serving officer who directly knows Brahms Four and who can keep the information coming to London…
