At a little less than 400 pages, this is not a terribly long book but it is a dense book packed with characters representing different countries that are all trying to get their hands on the “Hitler Papers,” describing Winston Churchill’s negotiations to surrender to Hitler. It was a slow read trying to keep a grip on the intertwining nature of spies undermining spies to be the first to the prize, much less keeping track of the “bad” guys. A good but taxing read. ( )

I would imagine, if you are like me of a certain age, and you have done a Michael Caine impression, you have probably done him as either his character from Zulu, or one of his early spy films. And they, The Ipcress File, Funeral In Berlin, etc, were written by one of the masters of the genre, Len Deighton.

Deighton along with le Carré, defined the later Cold War, spy-era, nipping back and forth over/under the Berlin Wall, novel. Deighton, for me, always felt a little more working class in his focus, and really, all the more realistic for that.

I had the feeling I'd read most of Len Deighton's outstanding work (apart from the cookery books!). But, it seems, not this one. No reason other than never got round to it I guess. I read a lot of Len Deighton in my youth. I remember spending the whole of one Sunday in the '80's reading 'Winter' from start to finish. Couldn't put it down, fascinating. This one I got this from the collection of a friend of my family here in Denmark, who passed away last year.

Rather disappointingly then I find it's not one of Deighton's best. Beginning in 1979, all the elements are there - the premis that Churchill met with Hitler just after the outbreak of WWII, where Churchill, in order to placate Hitler and 'save' Great Britain, agreed to a long list of outrageous demands largely amounting to saving our own skin and selling our allies past, present and future, down the river. Then there's a film being made, based on uncovered evidence of American GIs stealing Nazi (already stolen) art, gold and artifacts, including quite probably, the evidence of the above meeting. The British Secret Service and the CIA are, of course, interested. The British for obvious reasons, the CIA because of the possibility the Russians are involved somewhere or other down the line (we're still in the Cold War period here, don't forget). But everything feels like it's relegated to a sideshow amongst many other sideshows. Nothing stands up and grabs you. Seems like there's plenty going on, but it's not of much consequence, not of enough interest and just not strong enough, I'm afraid. I really didn't find myself caring an awful lot about any of the characters or predicaments.

I actually kept thinking how much better this story would have been, handled by one of the modern spy writers I'm currently enjoying reading. Jon Stock, for instance. And in Deighton's characters 'Boyd Stuart' (the British spy) and his MI6 chief 'Sir Sydney Ryden', dare I say I saw a distant pre-echo (if such a thing is possible) of Jon Stock's 'Daniel Marchant' and 'Marcus Fielding'? I'd take that as flattery, were I Jon Stock.

Unfortunately, XPD just doesn't all come together like a classic Deighton should. There are still moments of the classic Deighton style. His way of revealing a surprise, almost in passing, then, a few paragraphs later, making reference in some way to the development, from a slightly different angle as it were, blowing the whole thing up in your face again, is wonderful. Pure Deighton, pure genius. It's just that here such moments are few and far between and not enough to pull this up and away from being a run of the mill Deighton. Sorry about that. ( )

June 11, 1940...It seems that day is missing in the records of the British Government regarding the actions of Winston Churchill. Mr. Deighton has an explanation, one that would seriously alter the history of Britain.
It would also destroy the career of an historian named George Lukacs, if it were true. But LD makes a very interesting thriller out of it. I wouldn't do a spoiler here ( )

A story where nothing major happens for most of the plot. This could have been better if given the plot, Deighton could have made it more intense.

Anyways, I read this quite a while ago and the only thing I remember about it is that I was bored most of the time while reading it. But as it was written by Len Deighton, I persisted. I wouldn't say I was happy with the book in the end, but it was not that bad either.

But read this only if you have more time on your hands. ( )

"XPD": n., also v., stands for "Expedient Demise". Happens to those who find out information that the intelligence community does not want them to know.

In this Len Deighton novel, the information that causes XPD orders to be issued is the existence of the so-called "Hitler Minutes" -- reports of a meeting between Churchill and Hitler in 1940 that involved peace negotiations of a nature that would be abhorrent to the Allies. The story follows MI6 agent Boyd Stuart as he works to prevent the documents from being published, and the efforts of the people who have the documents to publish them.

The story was all right but this is definitely not one of my favourite Deightons. It takes a while for the Hitler Minutes to even show up, so I was at a bit of a loss at first as to why I should care about the people being discussed, although I did find Sir Sydney Ryden, Boyd's father-in-law and also the Director-General, an amusing character. And the XPDs themselves, when they appear, are sudden and shocking, so full points for the emotional impact. Also full points for plausibility; I was 99% sure that these Hitler Minutes were fictional, but Deighton has a way of making that 1% uncertainty much more persuasive. A very convincing writer indeed.

I can already tell this is one I'm going to have to reread, so three stars for now. ( )