Spy Hook

"Spy Hook" is a 1988 spy novel by Len Deighton.

Plot summary

The novel begins with Bernard Sampson visiting his old friend and ex-SIS colleague in Washington named Jim Prettyman as part of an investigation regarding some missing funds. Soon after, Prettyman is murdered in a mugging.

All his allies start losing interest in the investigation, and after digging deeper Bernard is sent to America once again, where it is revealed that Brett has not indeed passed away (as hinted at the end of the first trilogy, and discussed in this book.) but is in fact in rehabilitation. Bernard returns to Europe, where he confronts a man called "Dodo" and is saved from an untimely death by Prettyman, who it turns out has gone under "Deep-cover".

Bernard then takes his evidence to the Director General, who in a surprise turn of events orders his arrest, which thanks to some quick thinking by Werner Volkmann, Bernard evades for the while.

The novel concludes with Bernard seeking an explanation from Frank Harrington, before disappearing into the night.