Mexico Set [Hardcover]

Len Deighton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 1985

This is the second book in the Game-Set-Match trilogy featuring British Intelligence agent Bernard Samson.

The stage is set. Now, on the shadowy East-West battlefield of Mexico City, British intelligence agent Bernard Samson must entice his opposite number, a disaffected KGB major, to take the final, dramatic step--to defect.

But the price of one Russian's freedom must be paid in blood --blood that Samson unexpectedly and incriminatingly finds on his own hands. On every side, he becomes dangerously enmeshed in an intricate web of suspicion and hatred; yet how can he fight when he doesn't know where to find his most determined enemies--or even who they are?

The Game-Set-Match trilogy includes three spectacular thrillers featuring British Intelligence agent Bernard Samson. They are: Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match.

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

Editorial Reviews

Review

Deighton is a marvel...few authors writing in the rigorous and finite genre of spy fiction have mastered the craft as well as Deighton...Mexico Set is a pure tale, told by an author at the height of his power. --Chicago Tribune

Deighton is back in his original milieu, the bleak spy world of betrayers and betrayed. --Observer

Deighton's best...until the next.--Daily Mail

The poet of the spy story.--Sunday Times

A master of fictional espionage.--Daily Mail --. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Now on the shadowy East-West battlefield of Mexico City. British intelligence agent Bernard Samson must entice his opposite number, a disaffected KGB major, to take the final, dramatic step -- and defect.

But the price of one Russian's freedom must be paid in blood -- blood that Samson unexpectedly and incriminatingly finds on his own hands. On every side, he becomes dangerously enmeshed in an intricate web of suspicion and hatred. Yet how can he fight when he doesn't know where to find his most determined enemies -- or even who they are?

Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match:
Three spectacular thrillers featuring agent Bernard Samson. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 373 pages
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf; 1st edition (January 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394535251
• ISBN-13: 978-0394535258
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,494,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Second installment in classic spy trilogy, December 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Mexico Set (Mass Market Paperback)

Still reeling from his wife's defection Bernard Samson is dispatched to Mexico City, accompanied by his boss, the obnoxious Dicky Cruyer. Their mission: To enroll a KGB agent who may, or may not, have knowledge that will help clear up the mysteries surrounding the defection of Bernard's wife.

The book provides an entertaining portrait of Mexico in the early '80s, as well as the incompetence and self-serving attitude of Britain's Foreign Service.

While the book can be enjoyed in its own right, it is part of a series, and as such can be best enjoyed when read as such.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is no 'love' in the tennis match of espionage, March 14, 2004

By 

Larry Scantlebury (Ypsilanti, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mexico Set (Hardcover)

This is the second novel of the Bernard Samson trilogy which begins with Berlin Game and ends with London Match. The story opens with Dicky Cruyer cursing at a pedestrian in a Mexico trafic jam. Interestingly enough, Mr. Deighton shows us the pedestrian 400 pages later to see if we've been paying attention.

Samson, a professional MI-6 field operative, is devastated by the defection of his wife, Fiona, to the other side. Read KGB. Read the evil empire. To all that ask him 'if he still loves her' he denies he does. But Mr. Deighton leaves any number of clues for his readers to make us know that at best, it's just false bravado.

Handicapped somewhat emotionally by the strain of realizing that their whole marriage, the children, the shared experiences was but a stage she played upon, Bernard must also face the onslaught of accusatory hearings from his employers at London Central, the 'deskmen' lacking any field experience where hard men do the hard things that he hates so much.

We see the old characters Frank Harrington, the Iago-like Dicky, the self serving Bret Rensselaer, and his close friend for life Werner Volkmann and Volkmann's straying wife, Zena.

Deighton's humor is subtle and droll. When faced with a dilemma Dicky says "Muy BLOODY complicado," Bernard thinks 'that's only because he doesn't understand.'

Blood is spilt, sometimes innocent blood, sometimes not so innocent. Bernard is loyal, confused, older, tripped up by forces that should be aiding him but who have their own agendas. Erich Stinnes, the KGB officer who interrogated him in East Berlin says to him, "I hate deskmen." Samson replies "Me too. They're bloody dangerous."

Excellent read about the life and death struggles of the alphabet agencies of the 70's and 80's. You don't have to read Berlin Game first but it helps. Things are different now . . but maybe not. Maybe there are just different letters. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tennis anyone? 'Game' to Fiona, 'Set'..., February 19, 2001

By 

"michaeleve" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mexico Set (Mass Market Paperback)

...as yet undecided, in this the second book in the 'Berlin Game', 'Mexico Set' and 'London Match' spy trilogy featuring Bernard Samson. And what a contest this is - Bernard's wife - Fiona stunned most of us in the first book by being exposed as the long serving KGB mole inside MI6. She won that 'game' by defecting East, having done her damage and leaving more behind. Bernard is shattered. He exposed Fiona but is now under suspicion himself (MI6 is wondering - can you be married to a 'mole' for over a decade and not know? or is he one himself?).

Bernard has a chance to redeem himself by bringing in Erich Stinnes, Fiona's KGB assistant who is supposedly defecting. Off he goes to Mexico to debrief Stinnes, but soon questions arise and Bernard is again in a fix. Is Stinnes a Fiona 'plant' designed to further discredit Bernard and convince London that he is KGB? or is he genuine? Poor Bernard. Amidst all this he has to contend with political infighting in MI6, unwanted advances from his sister in law, Tessa and deal with self doubt and guilt over Fiona. He often wonders whether the collapse of their marriage and Fiona's betrayal was all her own doing or did he have something to do with it.

Suffice it to say the plot unfolds suitably and all the above questions are satisfactorily answered.