Spy Line Summary
Len Deighton

Spy Line Summary

Although an English citizen, Samson grew up in Berlin. Since his wife's defection, he has been suspected of treason and a warrant has been issued for his arrest. Hence he is hiding in Berlin in a "pad" located against the Berlin Wall in the sleazy part of the Kreuzberg district, where the counterculture flourishes and young Turk immigrants may molest a loner. In fact, some such hoodlums do molest Samson and he pulls a gun on them.

Perhaps the most important theme in Spy Line is that a secret service agent can become involved in an operation that the agency may pragmatically decide depends on his death or imprisonment. In Samson's case the Department's open doubting of his integrity and loyalty is not merely a gross assumption based on the stupid notion of guilt by association, but the Department knows all the time that there is no reason...

(read more from the Short Guide)