London Match

infobox Book |
name = London Match
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of first edition (paperback)
author = Len Deighton
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Espionage novel
publisher = Hutchinson
release_date = 1985 (UK)
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 405 pp
isbn = 9780091618902
preceded_by = "Mexico Set"
followed_by =

"London Match" is a 1985 spy novel by Len Deighton, and the concluding novel in the "Game, Set and Match" trilogy, the first two novels in the sequence being "Berlin Game" and "Mexico Set", all featuring the character Bernard Samson. Two further trilogies, the "Hook, Line and Sinker" series and "Faith, Hope and Charity" continue the story. Deighton's novel "Winter" (1987) is a prequel to the series, covering the years 1900-1945 and providing the backstory to some of the characters.

Plot summary

"London Match" concludes the story that began with "Berlin Game", where Bernard Samson's wife Fiona was unmasked as a KGB double agent and was forced into defecting, and that was continued in "Mexico Set", where Bernard Samson assisted the defection of Erich Stinnes, his KGB opposite number.

Samson suspects that there is a traitor within his department of MI6, due to the appearance of a memorandum which was leaked to the KGB. It transpires that it is part of a plot conducted by his wife - now working for East German intelligence - to frame his superior, Bret Rensselaer, as a KGB agent. When Samson's old friend Werner Volkmann is arrested by the East German police Samson organizes an unauthorised exchange of defector Erich Stinnes for him, but the operation ends in a shootout on the Berlin S-Bahn.

Adaptations

Bernard Samson was played by Ian Holm and Fiona Samson by Mel Martin in a 1988 Granada Television adaptation of the first trilogy, entitled "Game, Set and Match", transmitted as twelve 60 minute episodes. [cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = "Game, Set, and Match" (1988) | work = | publisher = Internet Movie Database | date = | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092360/| format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-06-19] Filmed on location in Berlin and Mexico, the project included a large international cast with 3,000 extras and a budget of $8 million. It is considered the most ambitious espionage miniseries ever filmed. While critically acclaimed, the ratings for the series were a disaster.cite book | last = Britton | first = Wesley | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Beyond Bond: Spies in Fiction and Film | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group | date = 2005 | location = | pages = p. 134 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0275985563] It was adapted by John Howlett and directed by Ken Grieve and Patrick Lau. It is not easy to find: Netflix doesn't have it, nor do most libraries.

Notes