Spy Hook is a 1988 spy novel by Len Deighton

Len Deighton

Leonard Cyril Deighton is a British military historian, cookery writer, and novelist. He is perhaps most famous for his spy novel The IPCRESS File, which was made into a film starring Michael Caine....

. It is the first novel in the second of three trilogies about Bernard Samson

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 – usually referred to as "the Department" in the novels. He is a central character in three trilogies written by Deighton,...

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

Secret Intelligence Service

The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...

 (MI6). Spy Hook is part of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy, being succeeded by Spy Line

Spy Line

Spy Line is a 1989 spy novel by Len Deighton. It is the second novel in the second of three trilogies about Bernard Samson, a middle-aged and somewhat jaded intelligence officer working for the British Secret Intelligence Service . Spy Line is part of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy, being...

and Spy Sinker

Spy Sinker

Spy Sinker is a 1990 spy novel by Len Deighton. It is the final novel in the second of three trilogies about Bernard Samson, a middle-aged and somewhat jaded intelligence officer working for the British Secret Intelligence Service . Spy Sinker is part of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy, being...

. This trilogy is preceded by the Game, Set and Match trilogy and followed by 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.

Plot summary

The novel begins with Bernard Sampson visiting his old friend and ex-SIS colleague in Washington named Jim Prettyman as part of an investigation regarding some missing funds. Soon after, Prettyman is murdered in a mugging.

All his allies start losing interest in the investigation, and after digging deeper Bernard is sent to America once again, where it is revealed that Brett has not indeed died (as hinted at the end of the first trilogy, and discussed in this book.) but is in fact in rehabilitation. Bernard returns to Europe, where he confronts a man called "Dodo" and is saved from an untimely death by Prettyman, who it turns out has gone under "deep-cover".

Bernard then takes his evidence to the Director General, who in a surprise turn of events orders his arrest, which thanks to some quick thinking by Werner Volkmann, Bernard evades for the while.

The novel concludes with Bernard seeking an explanation from Frank Harrington, before disappearing into the night.