Spy Sinker (1990)

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

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I was blown away by this conclusion to the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy. After five books inside the head of Bernard Samson, we finally take a step back and see the whole operation from other perspectives, most notably that of his wife, Fiona. The amount of planning and detail that went into Operation Sinker, as it's known, is mind-blowing, and actually kind of chilling when you see what lengths the Service will go to to bring things to a successful conclusion: keeping Bernard in the dark so that his devastation at Fiona's "defection" is real, for example, or sacrificing Fiona's sister Tessa when it comes time to get Fiona out of the East. It's simply masterful how Deighton drops all the remaining pieces of the puzzle into place. I spent a lot of the book going "Aha!" as certain bits of information came to light. And of course the writing style is up to Deighton's usual standards, with lovely dry-witted narration and description.

In a brief note at the beginning of the book, Deighton explains the chronology of Game, Set, Match, Winter, Hook, Line and Sinker, and claims they can be read in any order. But I think for maximum impact, read them in order of publication. Spy Sinker works so well because of the new perspective on events you're already familiar with, and the revelations that pop up. A very satisfying conclusion and a must-read for fans of Deighton. ( )

As the third in a trilogy I expected this novel to follow conventions and wrap things up for us with some explanation thrown in. Convention wasn't something Deighton was interested in apparently and as a result I'm not quite satisfied with the conclusion. Particularly I wanted the payoff; the vital information Fiona was supposed to give at her debriefing, I mean she ruined her life and her family's lives for this mission, I really wanted to know what was worth all that. I think in some ways this was the most interesting of the three novels because so much of what we were in the dark about was brought to light, but it also dragged a lot with vignettes into Fiona's personal life and emotional state throughout her mission. For me, this didn't add much to the picture because it was repetitive; she's conflicted, she thinks she's a bad mother, she's patriotic, she's stressed; yup, got it. In a way I'd like to go back and re-visit the first two books with the knowledge that I have now (especially the whole Harry Kennedy aspect) and maybe I will one day. The absolute cold, calculated way the DG and his minions (Rensselaer in particular ) manipulate and control people for even the slightest advantage was pretty shocking. Ruthless is not a strong enough word. ( )