Hope

A continuation of the fascinating spy trilogies Deighton published in the 80's. The book sucks you in and at its leisurely pace surprises you with twists and turns.

Bernard is off to Poland in this latest 8 0f 9 in the series, a must read

The Cold War espionage genre may seem a little dated. There are other concerns and fears on many of 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. _Hope_ was actually written after the fall of the Berlin Wall, but the plot takes place a few years before it. In this book Bernard Samson takes an assignment to communist Poland seeking his missing brother-in-law, who may be digging up secrets neither side wants revealed. The book plot is interesting enough, but also there are several series-length plot lines that continued to engross me: can Bernard and his wife Fiona rebuild their marriage and their family? What really happened to Bernard's father? Was Bernard's sister-in-law really killed by the side of that East Berlin highway? I just recently re-read the entire Bernard Samson series (of which this is the eighth 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 I agree with other reviewers here: 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_).

The Samson series may not be for everybody. It lacks the larger than life setting of a James Bond whopper and it doesn't have all the background of LeCarre's Smiley tales. But these are good, realistic reads. Hope is no different and one of the best in the Samson series in my opinion. Deighton deals with some interesting, complex problems that were facing the spy services at the time and still are. Such as what's the truth, what will happen in this changing world and how far is too far to go in situations. What I think he does very well is describing Bernard Samson's fear. Several passages in the book show what fear does to a man in extreme situations. You can almost feel Samson's frayed nerves. He's human and with all the drawbacks that brings a man. To some, humanity foilables may not be interesting fodder for novels. If you want to know the super agent is always going to bed the girl and blow up the volcano HQ then maybe Samson and other books like it isn't your bag ... baby. If you want a little touch of realism with your tea then grab all the Samson books plus Deighton's novel Winter, which is a prequel. I agree with others who said these things should be read in order (Winter, Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match, Spy Hook, Spy Line, Spy Sinker, Faith, Hope and lastly Charity), but if you were to grab Hope out of sequence it wouldn't be that big a deal. Deighton gives the right level of background. This is a good book. Pick it up.