Bomber #1587

 

“Bomber” by Len Deighton, a British writer, was published in 1970, but was apparently reissued recently with a forward by Malcolm Gladwell who wrote, ‘Bomber’ is one of the greatest British antiwar novels ever written’. That was enough to get me to read the book. Although it’s a novel, it is written in the style of a documentary about a 24-hour period during WWII. There is no glory in this book, just facts of who lived, who was wounded, and who died. The author introduces us to both British and German forces, both civilian and military, both on the ground and in the air. The research that Deighton completed for this novel was remarkable. He’s probably better known for his spy novels, but this novel was gripping about what was a brutal time in the history of humanity. If you’re a fan of WWII novels, this one is a must.

Funeral in Berlin

Len Deighton is one of the greatest cold war spy novelists of this era, and Funeral in Berlin, was his third novel, written in 1964 about a story that occurred a year earlier. This is a classic espionage novel about an unnamed British agent. The stories involves a complex interaction of double and triple agents. Anticipating a trip to Germany in the near future, I came to this book as the result of an attempt to find mysteries that used Berlin as a venue. I got to the 22% of the story and did not finish the book since I found it dated and trite, but it must have been a major hit in its time.