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  • SS-GB

  • Penguin Modern Classics
  • By: Len Deighton
  • Narrated by: James Lailey
  • Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (109 ratings)
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SS-GB cover art

SS-GB

By: Len Deighton
Narrated by: James Lailey
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

It is 1941, and Germany has won the war. Britain is occupied, Churchill executed and the king imprisoned in the Tower of London. At Scotland Yard, Detective Inspector Archer tries to do his job and keep his head down. But when a body is found in a Mayfair flat, what at first appears to be a routine murder investigation sends him into a world of espionage, deceit and betrayal.

©1978 Len Deighton (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Deighton's best book...an absorbingly exciting spy story that is also a fascinating exercise in might-have-been speculation." (The New York Times Book Review)

"Len Deighton is the Flaubert of contemporary thriller writers...this is much the way things would have turned out if the Germans had won." (The Times Literary Supplement)

What listeners say about SS-GB

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very clever plotting

Narrator James Lailey excellent as usual.
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wow just imagine

Enjoyed the whole listen, quite chilling in parts to imagine the unimaginable.
Hooked from start to finish, well written as always and congratulations to the narrator.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping intrigue as to what could have been

As with real life it has wheels within wheels, political intrigue, political ambitions and political conniving. And mixed up with it all are the pawns of everyday life, ordinary people. A great listen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Still a great book

30 years later i wasn't sure how it would date but it was still fresh, even in this cynical age. Great narration as well.

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

So so tale

Started off well then kind of lost its way part way through. Felt the story could have been tighter. Was very much looking forward to it. A bit disappointed.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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very enjoyable

i whizzed through this in a few days and would certainly recommend . I'm surprised this hasn't been made into a TV series in the netfix era

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Timeless

A really excellent novel and an excellent adaptation expertly read. An alternate world book stemming from the loss of the Battle of Britain. This feels ahead of it’s time and is well well worth a listen.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

"No secret is safe with anyone "

Way back in the twentieth century, Deighton's ingress File was a big favourite for me, a scary spy thriller with it's undertones of terror. And Bomber, such a brilliant t account of a pilot at war. But it is perhaps closing on half a century since I read one of his books.
SS - GB is telling a 'what if' story of a Britain in the 1940s following defeat by Germany in.WWII, seen through the eyes of policeman Douglas Archer, a Detective Superintendent attached to London's Scotland Yard. As he pursues a murderer with his sergeant and friend, Harry Woods, he uncovers political intrigues, corruption and the determination of the Brits to fight back against the background of suppression, violence, cramped damp accommodation , rationing and foul weather.
The novel is interesting, obviously well researched and often very atmospheric, the cold, rain and fog encompassing London mirroring the emotional bleakness of the occupied people still determined not to be cowed, combined with a good detective story with various twists - but not always easy to follow.

Well.worth reading, and nicely narrated by James Lailey whose performance enhances enjoyment of the story. Just to mention, however, that rationing post war in England wasn't something invented for this story: it existed despite Germany's defeat, causing hardship for all except the affluent and well connected for several years and into the 1950s.

Recommended.

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5 people found this helpful