City of Gold / Mamista [Paperback]

LEN DEIGHTON (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 1998

With 1942 Cairo under siege and at the mercy of General Erwin Rommel, British Captain Albert Cutler enters the city to locate the spy that his government is certain Rommel has placed there. 150,000 first printing. $150,000 ad/promo.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If the author of The Ipcress File is not at the very top of his form here, he nevertheless produces an absorbing and well-crafted WW II thriller. In January 1942, infamous Gen. Erwin Rommel is making a seemingly unstoppable march on Cairo, the "city of gold." Former Glasgow police detective Bert Cutler, now an Army captain, has been charged to uncover the spy who is feeding the Desert Fox information enabling him to thwart all British strategies. En route to his new post, Cutler escorts fellow Scotsman Jimmy Ross, accused of murder, to the military prison in Cairo. When Cutler dies of a heart attack in their private train compartment, Ross assumes his identity. Readers might expect that Ross's efforts to carry off the impersonation and capture Rommel's agent will be the focus of this 24th offering from an acknowledged master of espionage fiction, yet Ross is only one member of an intriguing ensemble cast, which includes a society girl turned undercover agent, a British deserter heading up a band of renegades, an exiled Russian prince and King Farouk himself. Story lines concern not just the war but also black-market activities and the efforts of Jewish operatives to arm themselves for the anticipated battle for a homeland. Directing his varied characters and juggling his many subplots, Deighton demonstrates enviable legerdemain. Literary Guild main selection.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Abandoning present-day intrigues (MAMista, Spy Sinker, etc.), Deighton journeys back to WW II (SS-GB and XPD)--and a terrific return it is: a rich drama of heroes and villains awaiting German General Erwin Rommel's attack on Cairo--the ``city of gold.'' The plots here are many, but central among them is the attempt by Special Investigation Branch Major Bert Cutler to unmask the spy who's been leaking British secrets to Rommel. The kicker is that Cutler isn't Cutler; he's really Jimmy Ross, a British corporal who was on his way to Cairo to be court-martialed for killing an officer when his escort, Cutler, keeled over from a heart attack. Quick-thinking Ross switched IDs with Cutler and now finds himself in Cairo with an office, full staff, and carte blanche to turn the city upside down in pursuit of the spy--that is, if he doesn't betray himself first to any of the marvelously realized characters who crowd the pages here, from his leathery assistant to a manipulative Jewish nationalist, a White Russian prince, two young and beautiful Englishwomen, an upper-class British deserter turned grand thief, a too-caricatured American reporter (all tough pose and cocky action), and King Farouk himself--fat, decadent, imperious. It's the deserter who--by committing a murder that Ross must investigate--turns out to be Ross's main foil; and it's he who pulls the narrative--the first half of which springs forward mostly on perfectly pitched dialogue--into the desert and shattering action as Rommel attacks an armored caravan carrying Ross and several others, precipitating a crisis that movingly strips these men, good and evil, down to their bare selves. At one point, Ross is likened to Bogart--appropriate in a novel so reminiscent in spirit to Casablanca. And if this is the same old story, a song of love and glory, at least it's told here with consummate skill. Play it again, Len. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Random House UK Ltd (A Division of Random House Group) (June 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099279371
• ISBN-13: 978-0099279372
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,731,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Different Len Deighton, June 3, 2000

By 

Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: City of Gold (Hardcover)

CITY OF GOLD is a different kind of Len Deighton book. There is no cold war Berlin here. No Bernard Sampson risking his life to make one more dangerous border crossing. No Fiona, the non-traitor traitor, nor any of the rest of Deighton's usual cast of spies, counter spies, and stay-at-homes. Deighton, to his credit, has tried something different here.

Far from the cold war in both time and place, we find ourselves in 1942 Cairo in the presence of one Bert Cutler who isn't Bert Cutler at all. He is really Jimmy Ross who doesn't want to be Bert Cutler but can't afford to be Jimmy Ross. We first meet Ross on a train on the way to Cairo in the Custody of Cutler. Ross is being taken to Cairo to be tried for murder when Cutler suffers a fatal heart attack. The quick thinking Ross manages to switch identities with the deceased and shortly finds himself in Cairo charged with finding the identity of a spy who is leaking information on British troop movements to Rommel, the Chief of the German Tank Corps. Ross doesn't want to stay Cutler. He doesn't want to hunt for a spy. All he wants to do is to escape before his true identity is discovered. An escape opportunity never presents itself.

This is not a spy story. It is, however, a pretty good adventure set in Cairo and the surrounding desert. As Cutler, Ross's life is further complicated by the murder of a British soldier that he is expected to investigate. In investigating this murder, he runs across a group of "special assignment" British Soldiers who aren't really soldiers at all, but armed marauders who steal British Munitions and sell them to the highest bidder. To further complicate matters, the second in command of this group isn't even British. He's really German, but none of the other members of his "Unit" have been able to figure that out. In the final analysis, this man is the key to solving both mysteries, the intelligence leak and the murder.

Ross, along with some real British Soldiers and the profiteering phonies are all caught in the desert in a major raid by Rommel. All but Ross die, but not before he has solved both questions. In the aftermath, Ross, whose true identity is discovered. is set free and never tried on the murder charge against him, but to get the answer to the key question: who was leaking the strategic information, I'm afraid that you will have to read CITY OF GOLD. That is what this review is about isn't it?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unfulfilled Promise, April 10, 2009

By 

John Scott "johnandrewscott" (USA) - See all my reviews

This book had promise, and for the first third of it, I thought it was going to be a really good read. But it floundered in the middle, and the ending was rushed. It is almost as if Deighton ran out of time.

The setting is early 1942 in Cairo. Rommel is advancing on the city. Egypt is neutral, but the government is a British puppet and the the Army is the law. The plot centers around the search for a spy that is giving Rommel detailed information regarding British positions and movements. Several interesting characters are introduced, and the author does a wonderful job of describing both the setting and the what life was like there for the natives, the Army, British civilians, and other foreign nationals.

The historical background is rich and well presented. The characters are interesting. The plot has some novel twists. It could have been a really good book. But about halfway through, time became compressed, what was a well paced flow became rushed, and it felt like I had somehow skipped a chapter here and there. I was left wanting to have better known the key characters.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not His Best, Far From It, April 11, 2002

By 

John G. Hilliard (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: City of Gold (Audio Cassette)

I wish the book had as much luster as the gold it talks about in the title. Bland, dull and obvious, all that in the first chapter. Based on the outline of the story I thought this would be an interesting book, and I have read some of his World War Two based books before which were ok. Unfortunately, the best writing was on the dust jacket. I got the feeling he just put this together to give him more time to get another of his famous spy novels completed. I would skip this one.