Rating: 
Summary: Goodbye, Bernard. A little too "Mickey Mouse" though...
Review: I eagerly awaited the conclusion of Deighton's 10 book Sampson saga. While it is understandable that the titles of the last two books should have been predictable as soon as "Faith" was published, it is perhaps unfortunate that the rest of the story should have dragged out to such a foreseeable conclusion. I hate to nitpick, but there are a number of details about this book that bother me: Rudi Kleindorf's completely unexplained return from the grave being foremost in my mind. Why was he "killed" earlier, only to reappear in this novel? Gloria's relationship with Brett Rensellaer serves only to give Bernard some reassurance that he didn't completely screw up her life. Lastly, the image of the DG, hiding in a back corridor of Frank's house, secretly listening in to Brett's meeting seems ridiculous. I'm glad Deighton wrote "Charity", but perhaps his story has gone as far as it could be taken. I don't much relish Bernard dodging through the streets of Baghdad or shooting it out with the Cali Cartel, so maybe it is time (as another reviewer has suggested) to explore some of the exploits of Samson Senior.
Rating: 
Summary: I hate to see the end of the Samson series
Review: I have loved the Bernard Samson character, from the start. Although reading them somewhat out of order caused me mental trauma. I began with Faith, picked up at a bookstore, worked backwards buying whatever books I found, then working forwards with Hope and Charity. The insite into office politics and the realities of middle age "success" is something to behold. (Len Deighton has as much insight as Scott Adams into the "office".) I was disappointed with this ending, and hope that Mr. Deighton will somehow revive the series. I still rated it as a 5 star because the series is the most enjoyable set of books I have ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: The Wall has not fallen yet
Review: Len Deighton's Spy series feels a little like watching Episode 1 of Star Wars - absolutely compelling but not finished. In fact as Lucas has shown, you can pick up a story 4/9ths of the way through, film part 5 and 6, wait 15 years and then film part 1. All Deighton fans know that Bernard has not fulfilled his role in spy literature because the communist evil empire still exists. I hope Mr. Deighton is still fit and well because the resolution in this book is not going to satisfy the millions who have galloped through the other 9 (including Winter). I loved this book, and I can't wait for more. If Dicky Cruyer doesn't cop another beating and Bernard doesn't get to play dad again in the fourth trilogy, I guess I'll be hanging out for the fifth.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Start With This One
Review: Let me start by saying that this whole series is best suited to be read in order. I picked one up here and there and in doing so mixed the order up. What that meant is that I had to do a little extra thinking at times and on some books the light bulbs went off for some of my earlier questions. I also think these books are best suited to someone that is looking for a real characters driven spy story and not a action packed James Bond shoot em up. Deighton is a writer, therefore he spends time getting to know the characters, their personalities - what they are thinking, not just when they are reloading their gun. This being said I did think this end of the line book could have used a bit more action to punch it up, get the pace up a notch or two. Overall it is a good, solid book that gives a satisfying ending to the series.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Start With This One
Review: Let me start by saying that this whole series is best suited to be read in order. I picked one up here and there and in doing so mixed the order up. What that meant is that I had to do a little extra thinking at times and on some books the light bulbs went off for some of my earlier questions. I also think these books are best suited to someone that is looking for a real characters driven spy story and not a action packed James Bond shoot em up. Deighton is a writer, therefore he spends time getting to know the characters, their personalities - what they are thinking, not just when they are reloading their gun. This being said I did think this end of the line book could have used a bit more action to punch it up, get the pace up a notch or two. Overall it is a good, solid book that gives a satisfying ending to the series.
Rating:
Summary: A deflating conclusion
Review: Mr Deighton is one of my favourite writers, and I have all hisproduction on my shelves. Sense of the plot and of humour, the rightdose of skepticism in human nature, tongue-in-cheek, mastery of the language, eclecticism can all be found in his books. He is capable of different styles of writing: the one in the initial "Harry Palmer" series is different from the ones found in the Bernard Samson trilogies and in the other books. That trek of a group of South American rebels through the jungle in "MAM-ista" has an epic value. The only difficulties for the reader lie in a somewhat cryptic writing, where several in-between passages are left to his powers of interpretation and recollection, and ability to decode; and the tendency to jump in time - real time warps, back- and forwards, which may leave the reader disoriented and trying to remember where he's already met this or that character, seen (from another angle) this or that situation, in a succession of deja vu's. This is especially evident in the 3 Bernard Samson trilogies, which this book concludes: it took me several weeks of re-reading the whole saga, and many sheets of yellow foolscap paper, to establish their chronology. The autor himself found it necessary to wrap up the Berlin background of the first trilogy in "Winter"; and it cannot be casual that another writer, Edward Milward-Oliver, felt the need to publish 2 books (The Len Deighton Companion, and - - - Annotated Bibliography, 1954-1985) to sort out for the perplexed average reader who's who in L.D.'s books. One of the best traits of the writer is that he can hint at existing erotic/sexual situations without dwelling on them for pages. The non-fictional books on WW2 are also masterpieces. Mr Deighton, with John LeCarré, is one of the best espionage writers of this century and he deserves a mention in the history of English literature of this period. He is of my same age and, I presume, personality ("crafty, nasty,suspicious and irritable", from Horse under Water) and he also is a draftsman! I always look for new production of his whenever I enter a bookstore. I hope to find more of it well into the next century. He is one of the most entertaining writers I ever found.
Rating:
Summary: Goodbye, Bernard and Fiona
Review: Never before have I encountered a trilogy of trilogies (plus one more about the Winters) and I've loved Bernard Samson from the start. Still, it's a relief to have it over. The plot has grown increasingly bizarre from one book to the next. Mr. Deighton could not seriously believe that any woman, however ambitious and well-placed, would actually become a double double agent, going to the East Germany and abandoning her hapless spy-spouse and their much loved offspring. And then she returns! But wait, her sister has been murdered. But by whom? Shall we guess? Several times? It's also interesting, frequently amusing, but not up to Game, Set,or Match or Mr. Deighton's much earlier fiction, such as Funeral in Berlin.
Rating:
Summary: Goodbye, Bernard and Fiona
Review: Never before have I encountered a trilogy of trilogies (plus one more about the Winters) and I've loved Bernard Samson from the start. Still, it's a relief to have it over. The plot has grown increasingly bizarre from one book to the next. Mr. Deighton
could not seriously believe that any woman, however ambitious
and well-placed, would actually become a double double agent,
going to the East Germany and abandoning her hapless spy-spouse
and their much loved offspring. And then she returns! But
wait, her sister has been murdered. But by whom? Shall we guess? Several times? It's also
interesting, frequently amusing, but not up to Game, Set,or Match
or Mr. Deighton's much earlier fiction, such as Funeral in Berlin.
Rating: 
Summary: Weak End To A Wonderful Series: A Wimper, Not A Bang
Review: The last dance for Bernard, Fiona, Gloria et al, and a slow dance it is. The resolution to this 10 book series is not of the same caliber, pace, or quality as the preceeding ones.
Still, Deighten at his worst is better than many lesser writers at their peak; it's probably worth reading this just to find out how it all turns out.
Rating:
Summary: Charity
Review: This book leaves too much in the air. There needs to be a clear ending to the love triangle and Fiona doesn't deserve the possibility of a happy ending.
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