Len Deighton’s Berlin Game is the first novel in his acclaimed "Game, Set, and Match" trilogy, introducing readers to Bernard Samson, a seasoned but somewhat jaded British intelligence officer. The story is set during the height of the Cold War and centers around East–West espionage, double agents, and the fraught world of Berlin’s divided city.

Samson is drawn back into the field when his department learns of a high-level KGB mole in the British intelligence service—someone close to the top. He is tasked with persuading a valuable long-term British agent in East Germany, code-named “Brahms Four,” to remain loyal. Yet, suspicions rise around Samson himself, and he must navigate treachery, betrayal, and his own complex personal life—including doubts about his wife’s fidelity and loyalty.

Deighton, known for his meticulous detail and dry wit, crafts a novel rich in authentic tradecraft and psychological tension. Berlin Game not only explores the shadowy world of spies but also delves into human vulnerabilities, professional rivalries, and the blurred lines between trust and deception.

This novel set the stage for its sequels, Mexico Set (1984) and London Match (1985), cementing Deighton’s reputation as one of the masters of Cold War spy fiction, alongside John le Carré.

Berlin Game | Len Deighton

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Title: Berlin Game

Author: Len Deighton

Edition: First Edition

Publication Date: 1983

Publisher: Hutchinson & Co Publishers, London

Binding: Hardcover

Pages: 304 pages

Dust Cover: Photographic dustjacket. Minor creasing to upper edges of dustjacket.

Condition: Black cloth boards with title and author written in silver to spine. No rips, no marks, no inscriptions. Tight binding. Clean pages. Very good condition

ISBN: 0091541905
Leonard Cyril Deighton (b: 18 February 1929) is a British author, best known for his spy novels.

His first novel was “The Ipcress File”, published in 1962. The book was a best-seller in the UK, France and the US; the novel sold more than 2.5 million copies in three years.

A subsequent screenplay for a film called “The Ipcress File” was developed in 1965, starring British actor, Michael Caine as the central character, ‘Harry Palmer’.

A TV series was also adapted from the book in 2022.

Deighton wrote a number of other fiction and non-fiction books.

He published two fictional novels retaining the character, ‘Harry Palmer’, namely: “Horse Under Water” (1963) and “Funeral in Berlin” (1964).

Deighton also published the following fictional books:

“Billion-Dollar Brain” (1966);

“An Expensive Place to Die” (1967);

“Only When I Laugh” (1967)

“Bomber” (1971)

“Close-Up” (1972)

“Spy Story” (1974)

“Yesterday’s Spy” (1975)

“Twinkle, Twinkle Little Spy / Catch a Falling Spy” (1976)

“SS-GB” (1978)

“XPD” (1981)

“Goodbye, Mickey Mouse” (1982)

“MAMista” (1991)

“City of Gold” (1992)

“Violent Ward” (1993)

Deighton wrote three connected trilogies:

Berlin Game (1983), Mexico Set (1984) and London Match (1985);

Spy Hook (1988), Spy Line (1989) and Spy Sinker (1990); and

Faith (1994), Hope (1995) and Charity (1996); and

Winter (a Berlin Family), a companion novel (written in 1987).

The trilogies are centred on the character “Bernard Samson”, an MI6 intelligence officer.
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Berlin Game | Len Deighton

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