SS-GB

by Len Deighton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1979

If anyone can make one of those if-history-had-been-different concoctions really dick, it's Len Deighton--right? Well, almost. The idea is that Germany (SS) invaded and conquered Britain (GB) in 1940, so now it's 1941--ravaged London under Nazi occupation. And Deighton does a masterfully wily job of luring you along with his premise; instead of building the fantasy situation, he just takes it for granted and, dropping a tantalizing pseudo-historical detail here and there, dives right into a police investigation. Suave Supt. Douglas Archer of Scotland Yard (a Scotland Yard now, fascinatingly, under SS command) starts work on a murder case, but he soon finds himself involved with the Free British underground (who hate him for working under the Nazis), with the labyrinthine rivalry between the SS and the German army, and with a super-secret that everyone's scrambling after--the formula for a nuclear bomb, of course. Add to these criss-crossing complications a plot to rescue a shell-shocked George VI from the Tower of London, and there's more than enough action to distract the reader from seeing through the delicate work of constructing a fanciful England-under-occupation. Ironically, however, the conspiracies themselves are less than convincing, more than a bit confusing, unsatisfying at the close--below par for Deighton. But Deighton's feel for atmosphere is unrivaled (as in the panicky chill of pushing a comatose George VI around bombed-out London in a wheelchair), and his flair for character has never been surer; the Germans especially are a varied and perversely sympathetic lot. And whenever the suspense gnarls, there's a Deightonian touch to clear the air--like the cabinet minister who's perfectly aware that his much-needed household servants are Nazi informers: ""I talked it over with my wife, and we decided that it was well worth the inconvenience. . . . Don't know how we'd manage without them now. . . ."" You may not much care--or even understand--what's going on, suspense-wise, in Deighton's make-believe England; but you'll find it a wonderfully creepy place for a visit.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1979

Categories: FICTION