Spy Story (novel)

Infobox Book |
name = Spy Story
title_orig =
translator =


author = Len Deighton
cover_artist =
country = UK
language = English
series =
genre = Spy novel
publisher = Jonathan Cape
release_date = 1974
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 2 vol.
isbn = 0224009710
preceded_by = Close-Up (1972)
followed_by = Yesterday's Spy (1975)

Spy Story is a 1974 spy novel by Len Deighton, which features minor characters from his earlier novels "The IPCRESS File", "Funeral in Berlin", "Horse Under Water", and "Billion Dollar Brain".

In common with several of his other early novels, the chapter headings have a "feature". In "Spy Story" these take the form of excerpts from the fictional Studies Centre's rules.

Protagonist

As in the earlier "Unnamed hero" novels, we never learn the protagonist's real name, only that he is living under the name Pat Armstrong. Armstrong works for the Studies Center in London, where various tactical wargame scenarios are played out with computer assistance, using the latest intelligence data on Soviet electronic warfare capabilities.

We also learn in passing that Armstrong is in his late 30s [cite book | last = Deighton | first = Len | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Spy Story | publisher = Harcourt Brace Jovanovich | date = 1974 | location = | pages = p. 127 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0151848386"he turned for a better view of me,"... late thirties, spectacles, clean shaven, dark hair, about six foot ..."] (thus suggesting he is not the same protagonist that appears in "The IPCRESS File" and its sequels), and that he formerly worked for an unnamed intelligence organization which may well be the WOOC(P) of the earlier books - Dawlish, the head of WOOC(P) in the earlier novels, appears as a character, where it is revealed that he was Armstrong's superior. An additional character from earlier novels is Soviet KGB Colonel Oleg Stok.

Plot

The story opens with Armstrong and his colleague Ferdy Foxwell returning from a six-week mission aboard a nuclear submarine during which they gathered data on Soviet communications and electronic warfare techniques in the Arctic Ocean. Upon returning to London, Armstrong's car breaks down on his way home and he decides to use the phone in his old flat, for which he still has the key. He is surprised and disturbed to discover that the flat has been refurnished including photographs which he owns - but with an unknown individual replacing him in the images - and clothes identical to his own. He also discovers a door hidden in the back of the wardrobe leading into the adjoining flat, which has been fitted out as some kind of medical facility. Upon leaving the flat he is confronted by Special Branch officers who have a former member of the Studies Center verify who he is before releasing him.

While they have been away on their six-week mission, the Studies Center has acquired a new boss, the abrasive American Charles Shlegel, a former Marine Corps Colonel. Foxwell and he do not get on at all well, and less so when he makes Armstrong his Personal Assistant.

Shortly after his return, Armstrong is about to leave his flat when it is ransacked by KGB Colonel Oleg Stok and two assistants, who even blow open a safe left by the previous occupant. They offer no explanation for this, leaving Armstrong yet more puzzled.

At a party at Ferdy Foxwell's palatial London house, Armstrong learns that Foxwell is close to MP Ben Tolliver, and has even been passing him classified information. Foxwell shows him a photo of Rear-Admiral Remoziva of the Soviet Northern Fleet, who Armstrong immediately recognises as the person who had been inserted into the photographs at his old flat. Also at the party is Dawlish, the head of the intelligence organisation WOOC(P) of earlier books. We learn that Armstrong worked for Dawlish before deciding to quit intelligence work altogether. Dawlish tries to recruit him, but Armstrong turns him down.

Tolliver has a suspicious car accident returning home from Foxwell's party. Armstrong traces the woman who was reported to be with him to a small French restaurant, where he discovers photos of Remoziva and a Soviet Admiral's uniform being made. He returns to the restaurant later to discover it deserted. Breaking in, he discovers all traces of what he had earlier seen have been removed along with all paperwork.

Leaving the restaurant, he is met by a high-ranking police officer who escorts him to Battersea, from where a helicopter takes him to Heathrow Airport, from where in turn he is flown north in a small single-engine aircraft. It takes him to a remote location in the West of Scotland, where he finds Toliver and his co-conspirators. It appears that they have been running their own unauthorised intelligence operation to arrange the defection of Admiral Remoziva, who will die within a year if he does not receive treatment for his kidney condition. The plan is to meet the Admiral on the Arctic ice, and leave a corpse in his place. They had planned to keep him at Armstrong's former flat, and use the adjoining medical facility to treat his condition. Armstrong receives a message from an unidentified member of the clique advising him to leave, which he does. After a nightmare journey through a snow storm, he reaches a road, where he finds Dawlish and Schlegel waiting. They tell him that the defection is still to go ahead, though using a USN submarine instead of a British one.

Out on the Arctic ice, they make the arranged rendezvous with Remoziva's helicopter, but it turns out to contain Colonel Stok. After a brief struggle the helicopter takes off with one of Stok's men holding on to Foxwell. Armstrong grabs Foxwell's legs and is also hauled aloft. He fires at the man holding Foxwell and they both fall to the ice. He manages to lift Foxwell and staggers off to where their submarine has surfaced, but by the time he reaches it Foxwell has died.

At the end of the book it is revealed that the scheme's real intent was to discredit Remoziva and, by association, his siblings; his sister was playing a crucial part in talks to unify Germany and is forced to step down, causing the talks to collapse.

Film

A film adaptation starring Michael Petrovitch as Pat Armstrong was released in 1976, directed by Lindsay Shonteff.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075259/combined IMDB page for "Spy Story"]