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The IPCRESS File
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
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Check link for latest rating. ( 17,720 ratings, 526 reviews)
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The IPCRESS File
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
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Description
Len Deighton's best-selling first spy novel, which revolutionised the genre, is now published in Penguin Classics for the first time.
A high-ranking scientist has been kidnapped. A secret British intelligence agency must find out why. But as the quarry is pursued from grimy Soho to the other side of the world, what seemed a straightforward mission turns into something far more sinister.
With its sardonic, cool, working-class hero, Len Deighton's sensational debut, The IPCRESS File, rewrote the spy thriller and became the defining novel of 1960's London.
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
The IPCRESS File is celebrated for redefining the espionage thriller with its engaging prose and enduring appeal. Critics praise Len Deighton for his acerbic narrative, energetic style, and the novel's ability to evoke the era it portrays. The book's wit, charm, and clever dialogue distinguish it as a stone-cold Cold War classic, with reviewers noting its timeless appeal and its impact on the genre.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780241505427
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 29 April 2021
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 14.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 194g
Pages: 256
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Spy & Espionage Thriller
About the Author
Len Deighton was born in 1929 in London. He did his national service in the RAF, went to the Royal College of Art and designed many book jackets, including the original UK edition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. The enormous success of his first spy novel, The IPCRESS File (1962), was repeated in a remarkable sequence of books over the following decades. These varied from historical fiction (Bomber, perhaps his greatest novel) to dystopian alternative fiction (SS-GB) and a number of brilliant non-fiction books on the Second World War (Fighter, Blitzkrieg and Blood, Tears and Folly). His spy novels chart the twists and turns of Britain and the Cold War in ways which now give them a unique flavour. They preserve a world in which Europe contains many dictatorships, in which the personal can be ruined by the ideological and where the horrors of the Second World War are buried under only a very thin layer of soil. Deighton's fascination with technology, his sense of humour and his brilliant evocation of time and place make him one of the key British espionage writers, alongside John Buchan, Eric Ambler, Ian Fleming and John Le Carre.
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