Customer Reviews

City of Gold / Mamista

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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?

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.

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.

I found this to be a slow moving story that had a good premise with a weak outcome. A corporal being escorted to Cairo to be tried for the murder of his commanding officer changes place with the military policeman guarding him when the latter dies of a heart attack. Upon arrival, the policeman was to have led a search for a spy in Egypt supplying Rommel with military secrets. Great premise, but the book was uninteresting and contrived from that point on. I finished it, but wouldn't have minded if I hadn't. I see it's out of print and relatively unobtainable (I got mine on a bargain book table) which is where it belongs.

Good book and excellent service by the seller. Book was in top condition and arrived promptly. Would buy from this seller again.

It is a real disappointment as a mystery novel: problem is solved not due to skills/talent/hard work of its hero, but rather by a strike of luck. At the same time it is not so bad read as a non-mystery novel.

The book describes WW2 Cairo and the typical characters there with the War in the desert in the background. I have been to Cairo so I enjoyed the book and my Father was there in WW2. I am a "Bernard Samson" Fan.(Berlin Game etc...)

... It is clear that he reigns supreme of the war spy thrillers. I must admit that this topic does not particularly interest me, however, I wanted to see if this "king" of war spy thriller could reach the disenchanted. Well, he was not so gifted. I really could not get with this book. I tried as I wanted to expand my subject interest.

After reading the first 20 pages, the author still had not reached any interest in me, therefore, I had to put the book down, never to pick it up again. I am willing to admit that I contributed the largest part to my disinterest, but, the author has to accept some of the blame also. I hope that sometime in the near future (next 5 years) I will be able to pick this book up again and read it in its entirity as I would have grown some. ...