Len Deighton brought his secret agent Bernard Samson back into action. This happened in 1994, although the plot of his new trilogy (Faith, Hope, Charity) takes place before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Deighton retains his ironic tone and, as always, his ability to craft dialogues where high-level operations are intertwined with personal issues. In this case, East Germany is the most persistent of the pro-Soviet republics. Thus, Samson embarks on a new mission, always with his constant suspicion of not being well regarded by his superiors. However, the mission fails: the target he was supposed to extract from the red zone ends up dead, and he accidentally kills a supposed pursuer. But this is just the beginning.
On a personal level, Samson is torn between two women. Fiona, his wife, to whom he feels he “should kneel.” Fiona is visibly affected, as they say, by the selfless mission she undertook in the previous installments, which culminated in the death of her sister. On the other hand, Gloria Kent, who has no intention of stepping aside, and Bernard, who also seems unwilling to let her go...