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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The spy with no name is back ...,
By
This review is from: Horse Under Water (Paperback)
... and this time heads for deep waters. This was written around the same time as "The Ipcress File". It is well written with enough twists and turns to keep you reading to the end. Sometimes it flounders about but nonetheless keeps its head abover water. "The Ipcress File" and "Funeral in Berlin" have more more depth and character development but "Horse Under Water" holds its own.
The spy with no name became "Harry Palmer" in the films which starred Michael Caine. This novel was next in line to be filmed but apparently the dissappointing box office of Ken Russell's "The Billion Dollar Brain" -- an eccentric but entertaining version of the book -- led to the demise of the film series. To bad. "Horse Under Water" has the makings of a fine drama.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Showdown in Albufeira, Portugal in the early 1960s,
This review is from: Horse Under Water (Paperback)
John Le Carré (JLC)'s and Len Deighton (LD)'s early 1960's spy novels have not aged much in human terms. They deal with (counter-) espionage against the backdrop of the Cold War. The heroes and opponents of both authors sometimes go back to WW II. Re the British-Soviet victory over Hitler Germany, there is even some lingering mutual respect, more so in LD's books than in JLC's. But much has changed since as regards technology.
The most charming evidence of the possible aging of 1960s and -70s spy novels are the cars. In "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", JLC's hero Jim Prideaux drives an 'Alvin'("Best Car England ever Made"), in "Horse under Water", the nameless hero shakes off a tailing 'Ford Anglia', then finds another tail, a 'Bristol 407' firmly parked opposite his flat. The hero's boss drives a 'Riley', described by LD as "Britain's answer to US space exploration". Thanks to Google these monuments to 1960s British engineering can be admired instantly. Without doubt hundreds are today kept roadworthy by clubs of aficionados. The nameless hero of this novel smokes Gauloise cigarettes and is serious about good coffee. He spent part of WW II in Portugal. He and his boss Dawlish work in a secret branch of the War Office called W.O.O.C (P), located in a shabby building in Charlotte Street in London. They will reappear in later books. In this novel, the hero is sent on a diving course in preparation for a venture that might yield a lot of counterfeit money from a sunken German WW II submarine, which could be re-invested, budget-neutral, in a group intent on overthrowing the then-ruling Salazar dictatorship in Portugal. Its principal locations are London and Albufeira in Portugal's Algarve. Apart from diving 40 meters deep, the anonymous hero is constantly trying to find out what is really at stake. And why it is him to find out? Claustrophobic readers should skip the probes into the dark interior of the massive Nazi U-Boot. Before and during the dives the nameless hero is tailed, his messages are intercepted, and some of the associates forced on him, die. His mission objectives are vague and remain so. What is going on? Who is behind it all? No one seems to be who he claims to be. And some local connections go back to WW II, even to the Spanish civil war. Even the horse under water is not a horse... Many questions are raised and most of the answers are given in 58 brief chapters and six Appendixes. Compulsive reading, lots of history and WW II anecdote with some flippancy about UK's higher circles. Nice read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Aquarius" Returns,
By EddieLove "EddieLove" (NYC, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Horse Under Water (Paperback)
This follow-up is more conventional than IPCRESS File, a lot less stylish, but still well-written and involving. Here the agent later dubbed "Harry Palmer" gets mixed up with drugs, counterfeiting and some left-over Nazis. The first half has the feel of an Alistair McLean novel, as he leads a group on a salvage operation at sea. Later things get more convoluted as we get to the finale.
The best part of the book comes as the hero bolts the scene of an ambush where a colleague is killed. He then gives a bold testimonial of how for him it's never personal. It's a cynical variation on the Hawksian notion for an espionage novel, and reflecting thinking that in today's books and films is entirely gone.
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