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Len Deighton

SS-GB Kindle Edition

by Len Deighton (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3,028 ratings

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In February 1941 British Command 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 - a blitzed, depressed and dingy country. However, it’s ‘business as usual’ at Scotland Yard run by the SS when Detective Inspector Archer is assigned to a routine murder case. Life must go on.

But when SS Standartenfuhrer Huth arrives from Berlin with orders from the great Himmler himself to supervise the investigation, the resourceful Archer finds himself caught up in a high level, all action, espionage battle.

This is a spy story quite different from any other. Only Deighton, with his flair for historical research and his narrative genius, could have written it.

Print length

356 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

HarperCollins
Publication date

May 28, 2009
File size

1009 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

‘A brilliant picture of Britain under German rule’ Sunday Telegraph

‘One of Deighton’s best. Apart from his virtues as a storyteller, his passion for researching his backgrounds gives his work a remarkable factual authority.’ The Observer

‘Len Deighton is the Flaubert of the contemporary thriller writers… there can be little doubt that this is much the way things would have turned out if the Germans had won the war.’ Michael Howard, Times Literary Supplement

‘We have long admired Len Deighton as one of Britain’s finest thriller writers, so were very excited when asked if we would be interested in adapting SS-GB.’ Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, writers of Skyfall and SPECTRE

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

‘A brilliant picture of Britain under German rule’ Sunday Telegraph

‘One of Deighton’s best. Apart from his virtues as a storyteller, his passion for researching his backgrounds gives his work a remarkable factual authority. With Bomber and Fighter he established himself as an expert on a period… the authority of these books seem absolute.’ The Observer

‘Len Deighton is the Flaubert of the contemporary thriller writers… there can be little doubt that this is much the way things would have turned out if the Germans had won the war.’ Michael Howard, Times Literary Supplement

‘Deighton is a tremendous weaver of tales… action is all, and splendidly done.’

‘A master of fictional espionage.’ Daily Mail

‘The poet of the spy story.’ Sunday Times

‘For sheer readability he has no peer’ The Standard

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

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00362XLDM
Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins; New edition (May 28, 2009)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 28, 2009
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1009 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 356 pages

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

3,028 global ratings

5 star		42%
4 star		37%
3 star		15%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Ella Mc

Another great Len Deighton book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 22, 2023

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The Man in the High Castle was published long before this, but it's a very similar theme, for that matter so is The Plot Against America and who knows how many more, but this is a good place to start after reading Deighton's Samson series and the "Harry Palmer" books. If you're anything like me, you'll want to drink up all the Deighton books, and why not read this one-off that won't pull you into a full series? Though if you've not read the Bernard Samson series, that is the best place to start, and do read them in order. I do it more often than I would like to admit.

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Gillian Green

A strong Deighton thriller

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 22, 2017

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Len Deighton is recognised as a significant contributor to the genre of spy thriller literature; he has been writing in this genre for a long time, and this work does not reduce his reputation. The writing is crisp, clear and descriptive, and I was attracted to read the book because the television series based upon it had just started on New Zealand TV. Though I quite enjoyed the dramatisation, the book is infinitely better. While television plays to a desire to have things come out in a positive way, books are not so restricted. This book, like others that Deighton has written, is not wholly positive; it is gritty and realistic, occasionally bleak, but challenges one to think.

Its basic premise is that WWII ended with Nazi Germany as the victors and Great Britain is now controlled by an invading power. Winston Churchill has been executed, and the king is being held in protective custody in the Tower of London. Scotland Yard remains the police authority and features the central character, Superintendent Archer, who is a talented detective, but it is headed by a German superior. When a homicide in London appears to involve a man with knowledge of nuclear energy, a senior SS officer is sent to work with Archer. An interesting, complex relationship develops between the two men, and they become entwined in the tensions appearing in the power structure between the German army and the SS.

The race to control nuclear energy and the weaponry it could be used for is central to the story, and draws in the American government which thus far has not committed itself to either side. This political situation is an important feature of what happens, but to explain further would give away the plot. There is a sort of love interest but it is largely minor and the main focus is upon the competition between forces who want to be the first to produce a nuclear weapon. The book also examines the way in which political ends can engulf people, rendering them disposable for the greater good, and the way in which events can force people to make a commitment they did not necessarily intend.

This book is not new. It was first published in 1978, and the premise is not original; more than a few reputable authors have used this particular IF of history. Deighton's work is among the best of these and well worth the read.

3 people found this helpful

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Monique D

This is the book I wanted to read!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 14, 2018

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What if the Germans had won WWII? I love the literary idea, and I had once read a disastrous novel about it; the author didn’t know the German character and it spoiled everything. I knew this would not be a problem with Len Deighton, as he is an authority on the subject, and an author I love and respect. My only regret is that I did not know about SS-GB when it was first released.

Britain has surrendered to the Nazis, who have won the war and occupy Britain, led by a puppet government. The King is imprisoned in the Tower of London, Churchill has been executed; the Nazis are everywhere, but the various factions are in a silent war against each other. Detective Superintendant Douglas Archer of Scotland Yard tries to do his job, while it was going rather well with General Kellerman, a newcomer SS-Standartenführer Dr Oskar Huth is making things complicated. Archer is trying to investigate a murder, which turns out to be far more complicated than it first appeared.

As Mr Deighton mentions, the idea of a murder investigation is the ideal premise for this type of story. Watching the various characters deal with the situation was captivating: some Englishmen are trying to navigate the hated new system peacefully, others have a hard time keeping it together; who is in the resistance? All Germans appear to follow the rules, but do they really? Some Germans who are as strict as expected, but is there another purpose to their madness? Is anyone to be trusted?

Notwithstanding Mr Deighton’s considerable knowledge, one must not forget that he is a consummate writer; his prose conveys efficiently and elegantly every nuance, every doubt, every physical detail with such clarity, it barely feels like fiction, and it is truly frightening. The story flows effortlessly, while the feeling that something momentous and possibly ominous is about to happen. The Jewish question was barely mentioned, and I would wish for the author – or any author approved by Mr Deighton – to write that book.

I knew SS-GB would be interesting, but it is utterly riveting, and so much better than I hoped. The characters are extraordinary, the story is exceedingly complex, and twists and turns abound; I don’t think I have ever been so stunned by so many turns of events in any book, ever. If you think for one moment you know what to expect with SS-GB, think again. Len Deighton wrote the book I wanted to read with his customary flair, and I am thrilled with the results!

21 people found this helpful

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Emil 22

A bit too bland and, even, lacking in honesty

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 21, 2018

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A characteristic of every Deighton novel I’ve read so far is that he avoids presenting characters who are “bad” and tries to have us engage with and have an understanding of even those who oppose the main protagonist dramatically. That approach works extremely well in his espionage novels because the whole point of them is that we’re never sure who we can really trust.
But here, in a novel imagining an alternative version of history in which Nazi Germany rules a defeated Britain, Deighton’s apparent refusal to reflect the fact that many Nazis, particularly those in positions of power, really were profoundly and irredeemably evil means that the whole narrative seems a little superficial and even trite. Everyone is much too pleasant and decent, old soldiers from both sides chat convivially and even references to what we understand to be the holocaust are presented as a sort of unpleasantness.
Another issue is that Deighton doesn’t really seem to have worked out how he wants his central character to feel about working for an occupying force; the idea that it should take the events of the book to lead him to question his loyalties is ludicrous because, not least because he’s a highly educated man, that’s a process that he would have gone through a long time before and, most probably, his reason for - essentially - collaborating would have either been through shared ideology or pure self-interest, or both.
So, really, the problem I think is a lack of realism and a lack of the sort of grit and substance that that realism would have brought but also, and I think that this is probably the thing that sinks the book, it seems like a lack of honesty and integrity too.

6 people found this helpful

John

Espionage Thriller set in Alt-History world

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 13, 2022

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Set in the early 1940s after Britain is defeated by Germany in WW2, we are introduced to Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer, aka Archer of the Yard, a semi-famous murder investigator and his trusty partner, Harry. Archer is working for the German occupation forces, and their head of police in Britain, Fritz Kellerman.
The novel centres on the murder of a man, and Archer's investigation into the death, and takes us on a tour of German-occupied London, and into German efforts to develop and atomic bomb. The nature of the case brings Oskar Huth, a senior SS man to London from Berlin to supervise, and Archer is caught in the middle of a multi-way German power struggle. The still fighting resistance are anxious to rescue the king, whilst the various German factions appear to believe having won the war, the most important thing is to win the internal peace.
Despite the implausibility of a successful Operation Sea Lion (the German plan to invade Britain), I rather like this book. Archer is conflicted to be working with the Germans, but pragmatism wins out - if not him, someone else will - and it allows him to support his son and landlady. And he loves the job. The Germans are not caricatures, and the story moves along at a reasonable pace to the somewhat unexpected denouement. Overall, very good, and worth a look.

Daisy

Not sure

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 17, 2018

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Heard a lot about this book. Think it was on TV? This book strikes me as probably very realistic as to how it might have been if the outcome of WW2 was different. In other words a sort of grey world in which a certain amount of compliance and cynicism would be required to survive. The characters reacted in different ways, as people do. But somehow the realism didn't make a particularly good read. I've read a few of Len Deighton's books and enjoyed them well enough. His characters do not come alive very well though.

One person found this helpful

Pete in Cros

I Re-read this after having watched the TV version on ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 9, 2017

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I Re-read this after having watched the TV version on BBC1. The two versions coincide quite well except at the end. It is a chilling alternative history of what might have been if the Germans had succeeded in invading Britain in the second world war. The behaviour of the occupation forces draws much from the realities of the German occupations of other European countries during the war.
A large part of the story hinges on the rivalries that existed between the SS and the German Army. Against this is set the dilemma faced by British civil servants and in particular, the police. How far should collaboration go? I am a fan of Len Deighton who seems to have a fascination with Germany and its Nazi past. There are themes here that can also be found in his Hook Line and Sinker series and its prequel, Winter.
Worth a read.

6 people found this helpful

Oliver Clixby

Gripping, moving, and scarily real...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 6, 2020

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Based on the real Nazi invasion plans for mainland Britain, this brilliant thriller explores what life in a Nazi-occupied Britain in 1941 would have looked like. In the middle of this turbulent world, a Scotland Yard detective who just wants to carry on catching murderers and raise his son in peace. How will he survive as he finds himself caught between his new German masters, and a fanatical cell of die-hard Englishman?

Filled with agonisingly poignant moments, as a British person this book really made me realise just what the people of Germany and occupied Europe went through, and the awful choices that were behind the words "collaborator" and "resistance".

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SS-GB Kindle Edition

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