Spy Story

Spy Story
Len Deighton

Computer games run in a classified war studies centre in London. Nuclear submarines prowl beneath Arctic ice. And war games go into real time. Patrick Armstrong - possibly the same reluctant hero of The Ipcress File - is sent to investigate.Patrick Armstrong is a tough, dedicated agent and war-games player. But in Armstrong’s violent, complex world, war-games are all too often played for real. Soon the chase (or is it escape?) is on.From the secretive computerized college of war studies in London via a bleak, sinister Scottish redoubt to the Arctic ice cap where nuclear submarines prowl ominously beneath frozen wastes, a lethal web of violence and double-cross is woven. And Europe’s whole future hangs by a deadly thread…Spy Story is the most authentic and brilliant novel of espionage yet from the world’s greatest writer of spy thrillers.This new reissue includes a foreword from the cover designer, Oscar-winning filmmaker Arnold Schwartzman, and a brand new introduction by Len Deighton, which offers a fascinating insight into the writing of the story.

LEN DEIGHTON

Spy Story

Copyright

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape Ltd in 1974

Copyright © Len Deighton 1974

Introduction copyright © Pluriform Publishing Company BV 2012

Cover designer’s note © Arnold Schwartzman 2012

Len Deighton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Ebook Edition © June 2012 ISBN: 9780007458400

Version: 2017-05-23

‘But war’s a game, which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at.’

William Cowper, 1731–1800

Table of Contents

Cover (#uc2297b2b-cd4c-52c8-a56a-0ce67987f493)

Title Page (#uc57742f4-274d-5b0b-be2c-4429aa3b6eac)

Copyright (#ubece754d-8d7d-5a77-9c1c-f2882ee0598c)

Epigraph (#u9af5bb6c-0c3c-5cbe-8c18-c4b7ca0427cd)

Introduction (#u1c6bff6b-e35e-502e-a3ee-25bccb83f36f)

Chapter 1 (#u33bf94f9-31d8-5945-b086-1a0b15515834)

Chapter 2 (#u29b44d96-7631-5883-9da7-e4194acd6556)

Chapter 3 (#u905145e5-876e-5e17-8825-d20d43ddac04)

Chapter 4 (#u66849a69-560e-50e7-bf70-d8d3c521fc4d)

Chapter 5 (#u791fcaa2-f2ae-5061-8ce5-98d3a386ba00)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Cover designer’s note (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)