SS-GB [Mass Market Paperback]

Len Deighton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 1984

It is 1941. British Command has surrendered to the Nazis. Churchill has been executed, the King is in the Tower and the SS are in Whitehall. For nine months Britain has been occupied and it's now a blitzed, depressed and dingy country. But in Hitler's Britain, although detection is a little different, murder is still murder.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 375 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (April 12, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345318099
• ISBN-13: 978-0345318091
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,678,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Churchill dead, the King in Prison and Germans in London, February 7, 2001

By 

"michaeleve" - See all my reviews

This review is from: SS-GB (Mass Market Paperback)

That's the setting for this novel. It's 1941 and Germany is victorious, at least in Western Europe. The US and Germany are not at War. Deighton mentions one of the characters in the book, Barbara Barga, a US journalist (and later the love interest of the main character) having come over to the UK on the inaugural London to New York Lufthansa flight. A flight he slyly mentions Himmler and Goring were on. What business these German power brokers had in the States and who they were meeting the author does not say, nor is it in the least bit important to the story's plot. It's just a neat way of providing information in passing, and to me, shows how attentive to detail and how much fun Deighton has with this 'alternative history' or 'What if' novel.

The story centers on Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer of Scotland Yard and his Sargeant, the elderly Harry Woods who make up the 'Yards murder team, and who are called in by their German superiors to investigate what looks like a simple murder case involving a blackmarketeer. The case quickly develops into something with a wider scope. The SS in Berlin shows interest and sends a senior officer, Standartenfuhrer Huth to supervise Archer. The underground movement, politicians, the German police, the SS, a small resort town in southern England, the King and finally US Marines all have a role to play in the unravelling of the plot.

Ambition, greed, love, jealousy, and political plotting are all motives that drive the characters along. The characters are not stereotypical. Huth, far from being evil SS is one of the more principled, sympathetic and even likable characters in the book.

The only complaint I have is the rather rapid tying up of loose ends in the last few pages, it feels forced. Also, Archer having proven how smart a detective he was throughout the book, suddenly seems rather naive and daft even, as Huth has to explain all the political machinations and subtleties of the plot to him.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Len Deighton's Masterpiece of 'What If', January 9, 2000

By 

Cody Carlson (Salt Lake City, UT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SS-GB (Mass Market Paperback)

SS-GB is undoubtedly Deighton's best work of fiction. The basic premise presupposes a Nazi victory over Great Britain sometime in early 1941, (Presumably after a failed evacuation from Dunkirk and a disasterous Battle of Britain.) The story itself takes place later that year and earily accounts a Nazi occupation of England. While the protagonist falls a little too often into the 'cop on the edge' cliche, the fast paced plot, centering around the rivaly between the S.S. and Wehrmacht, will keep the reader riveted. Must reading for all fans of 'What If' history and more than enough tension for readers of international suspence.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars God Save the King!, March 13, 2003

By 

Anthony N. Emmel (Overton, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SS-GB (Mass Market Paperback)

I have enjoyed, as far back as I can remember, fiction dealing with a victorious Germany in WW2. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I read Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" when I was 8. SS-GB is one of the classics in this sub-genre of speculative fiction.

Britain invaded and under the heel of the Nazi jackboot...what does a career detective do? If he resigns, who will look out for the rights of the people and track down those who are truly guilty? There is still real crime in a conquered country, after all. Is there a time to sacrifice the duty of a policeman for the greater good of the country as a whole?

That's a good part of the appeal of the novel; that is, how does a man of virtue and honor deal with this situation? Especially when one is trying to get the King out of the clutches of the Jerries and on to the USA to give the British Empire a figurehead to rally round. Can it be done? Buy this novel and find out....