An Expensive Place to Die

Originally published on my blog here in January 2004. The fifth Len Deighton novel narrated by Harry Palmer is in some ways more like The Ipcress File than Billion Dollar Brain (its predecessor) is. The cynical dark humour returns, and this gives the novel a similar atmosphere. It is, though, a more......more

The expensive place is Paris, France, where this intriguing spy novel by Len Deighton is set. This is the fifth of the so-called "Harry Palmer" novels, in which the hero/narrator is actually unnamed. (It was only when they turned several of them into movies that they discovered they couldn't have an......more

Sucked. Had a few surprises that were too far and few between. Dumb characters and felt like a chore to read at moments but wanted to say I still finished it. I can say reading is more fun when you actually like what you’re reading. Funny how that works!......more

First published in 1967, but only slightly dated now, the atmospheric descriptions of Paris provide a really well-written back drop to this spy thriller. A complex plot that twists and turns many times meant that it was impossible to second-guess what was coming, and I just had to follow the flow. P......more

Another mysterious, unnamed spy is let loose upon the world, this time posing as a travel agent in Paris during the Sixties. He comes across a French blackmailer who's operations could be far more sinister, and he seeks to unravel the plot while cautious around those in power who could squash him li......more