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Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy

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( 1,090 ratings, 57 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy by Len Deighton is a captivating espionage thriller set during the Cold War era. It follows a British intelligence officer who teams up with a tough Russian agent. Together, they embark on a high-stakes mission involving a young prodigy and a mind-bending scientific secret, navigating a treacherous world of deceit and alliances.
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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?

You might enjoy this book if you love intricate Cold War espionage tales with a touch of humour and complex character dynamics. Known for its suspenseful twists and clever narrative, it's perfect for readers who savour a smart and sophisticated crime thriller with an engaging plot.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

An action-packed Cold War thriller set in the deserts of North Africa.

A Soviet space scientist defects to win academic freedom, but western intelligence has other plans for him and sends an unnamed spy—perhaps the same reluctant hero of The IPCRESS File—to look after him. But what follows is a blood-streaked trail across three continents...

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy reveals a more mature Deighton exploring relationships between couples—professional rivals and private allies, spy and counter-spy, master and slave. Some are drawn together for mutual comfort, others for exploitation. With an uncanny feeling for landscape, he begins his story in the awesome emptiness and remorseless heat of the Sahara desert. From there, a trail of blood leads to Manhattan, Paris, Dublin, and halfway back across Africa.

In a narrative as compelling as it is tantalising, Deighton surpasses all his previous triumphs and holds the reader spellbound to the very last page.

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

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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?

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy by Len Deighton is highly praised. Reviewers commend it as showcasing the author at his best, combining a global perspective with exceptional depth of knowledge. The book stands out for its superb readability, with many considering Deighton unmatched in this regard.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241505533

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 30 September 2021

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 14.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 179g

Pages: 240

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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