''London Match'' is a 1985 spy novel by Len Deighton, concluding the first of three trilogies about

Bernard Samson Bernard Samson is a fictional character created by Len Deighton. Samson is a middle-aged and somewhat jaded intelligence officer working for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) – usually referred to as "the Department" in the novels. He is ...

, a middle-aged and somewhat jaded intelligence officer working for the British

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

(MI6). ''London Match'' is part of the ''Game, Set and Match'' trilogy, being preceded by '' Berlin Game'' and ''

Mexico Set Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

''. This trilogy is followed by the ''Hook, Line and Sinker'' trilogy and the final ''Faith, Hope and Charity'' trilogy. Deighton's novel '' Winter'' (1987) is a prequel to the nine novels, covering the years 1900-1945 and providing the backstory to some of the characters. ''London Match'' concludes the story that began with ''Berlin Game'', where Bernard Samson's wife Fiona was unmasked as a KGB double agent and was forced into defecting, and that was continued in ''Mexico Set'', where Bernard Samson assisted the defection of Erich Stinnes, his KGB opposite number.

Plot summary

Samson suspects that there is a traitor within his department of MI6, due to the appearance of a memorandum which was leaked to the KGB. It transpires that it is part of a plot conducted by his wife—now working for East German intelligence—to frame his superior, Bret Rensselaer, as a KGB agent. When Samson's old friend Werner Volkmann is arrested by the East German police Samson organizes an unauthorised exchange of defector Erich Stinnes for him, but the operation ends in a shoot-out on the Berlin S-Bahn.

Adaptations

Bernard Samson was played by Ian Holm and Fiona Samson by Mel Martin in a 1988

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

adaptation of the first trilogy, entitled '' Game, Set and Match'', transmitted as twelve 60 minute episodes. Filmed on location in Berlin and Mexico, the project included a large international cast with 3,000 extras and a budget of $8 million. While critically acclaimed, the ratings for the series were a disaster. It was adapted by John Howlett and directed by Ken Grieve and Patrick Lau.

Notes

1985 British novels Bernard Samson novels Hutchinson (publisher) books {{1980s-spy-novel-stub