Faith [Hardcover]

Len Deighton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1995

In 1987, as the Cold War reaches a climax, British agent Bernard Samson confronts difficulties at home and on the job as he copes with an affair with a coworker, his wife, ethical conflict, and high-level government scandal. 125,000 first printing. $150,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Deighton's beleaguered British spy, Bernard Samson, returns to kick off the third trilogy in the outstanding series that has run from 1984's Berlin Game through 1990's Spy Sinker. Taking up where Sinker left off, in the fall of 1987 (thus making Deighton perhaps the only major thriller author who's still writing about the Cold War), this rich entry finds Samson leaving California to pick up VERDI, code name for a high-ranking East German Stasi officer who may be defecting to Britain's SIS. The operation goes disastrously wrong during a shoot-out in East Germany, but Samson manages to get back to London, where he encounters real danger and fighting: the take-no-prisoners politicking within the SIS, involving Samson, his duplicitous wife and a slew of internal enemies and possible friends. Deighton's penchant for explosive violence, telling detail and throwaway humor (too much coffee, Samson comments to his boss, "'makes some people very tense.' 'Not me,' said Dicky, biting into a fingernail. 'I'm used to it'") are much in evidence here, and readers will enjoy some of the finest intramural politicking since C.P. Snow. What's more problematic is whether they'll relish a tale set in the Cold War and thus lacking the unpredictability of stories set in the post-Soviet world or the nostalgia of those evoking less recent wars, like Deighton's own SS-GB. Given the author's mastery of the genre, though, the odds are that they will, strongly. 125,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Remember Bernard Samson from Deighton's "Hook, Line, and Sinker" series? He's back again, ready to do battle with the bad guys in a 125,000-copy first printing.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st U.S ed edition (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060176229
• ISBN-13: 978-0060176228
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Samson Returns..., April 15, 2005

By 

David C. Hoffner (Hebron, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Faith (Paperback)

In the post-communist world, the Cold War espionage genre may seem a little dated. We have other concerns and fears on our minds now. But for reasons I'll get to below, this novel series is a stand-out from that era, and still well worth reading.

This book was actually written after the fall of communism, but the plot takes place a few years before it. In this book Samson returns to work for London Central and deals with a disastrous assignment in East Germany; an internal struggle to keep positions in a down-sizing agency; etc.

The book plot is interesting enough, but running alongside it are several series-length plots that continue to engross the reader: can Bernard and his wife Fiona rebuild their marriage after her apparent defection and return? In fact, can Fiona even recover from her ordeal? What about Gloria?

I just recently re-read the entire Bernard Samson series (of which this is the seventh out of nine novels). It is one of the best novel series I have ever read, and certainly one of the best espionage genre series ever. There are so many things to like about this series - the in-depth characterizations; the pithy observational asides about people and cultures; the references to multiple languages and their subtleties; the gritty European settings; the hidden plot developments and character motivations that the narrator either can't or won't see; etc.

The author claims that each of these books can be read on their own, and perhaps they could be. But you can get a lot more enjoyment out of it if you start at the beginning with _Berlin Game_ (or even better yet - start with the WWII prequel: _Winter_).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unbeleivably good, August 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Faith (Hardcover)

The three trilogies written by len deighton about Bernard Samson are second to none. They are gripping, from start to end.

Although nowhere near as good as the first 2 trilogies, faith hope and charity is still a fantastic set of books, and deserves nothing less than 5stars.

I only started reading spy game last week, and already I have finished all 9 books ... and will probably re-read them all again sometime soon.

They really are fantastic! no matter what type of book you are interested in (I prefer lawyer and detective stories) you will just love all 9 of these books!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the 10, December 15, 2004

By 

M. Westfall "prodigal reader" (Louisville, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Faith (Paperback)

My favorite in the entire series! Faith lacks the action/suspense of earlier works but attains near-perfect distillation of Samson's dry humor and solitary perspective. I laughed out loud repeatedly. I suspect the humor is all the more enjoyable having waded through pages and pages of the earlier books to wring out mere droplets of Samson's bitingly funny sarcasm. The journey here makes it all the better. Of course, I am biased; Deighton can do no wrong in my eyes.