Funeral in Berlin Summary
Len Deighton

Funeral in Berlin Summary

A principal theme in Funeral in Berlin stems from the very practice of intelligence work — namely, the question: "Whom can you trust?" This theme was introduced by Deighton in The Ipcress File, and he supported it in his Appendix to that novel by quoting some lines from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In this drama, Artemidorus reads aloud a note he wrote to Caesar warning him to beware of his colleagues: "Caesar, beware of Brutus; take heed of Cassius, come not near Casca; have an eye to Cinna; trust not Trehonlus . . ." In Funeral in Berlin the Russian Colonel Stok informs the German agent Johnnie Vulkan: "I make my plans upon the basis of everyone being untrustworthy." The British no-name-agent tells Vulkan: "The moment you think that you know who your friends are is the moment to get another job." In the nightmare world of espionage such paranoia is routine...

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