The Ipcress File by Len Deighton is I suppose what could be described as being charmingly dated. It was the first spy novel by the author. I wondered how many readers would be flumoxed by this:

Getting Keightley to tell one the punch line immediately was like trying to get an aspirin without first removing the cotton wool. 

I’m sure you have to be a certain age!

Anyway, I enjoyed this one although as usual with spy novels you’re  (I’m) never quite sure what’s actually going on.

The Cold War is in full swing and the book’s unnamed protagonist has just recently been transferred from a military intelligence unit to one within the British intelligence services, reporting directly to the British Cabinet. Top biochemists are disappearing, it’s presumed they’ve been abducted by the Russians. There have been eight top rank disappearances within six and a half weeks. Who is masterminding it all?

I can’t say too much about the plot, but it features brainwashing, the CIA, a neutron bomb test, kidnap, mental torture and class distinction as the working class protagonist from the north of England is unimpressed by what amounts to the ‘old boy network’. There’s a wee bit of romance thrown into the mix too.

Len Deighton was inspired  to write this first spy novel because as an 11 year old he had had the experience of having as a neighbour a woman (Anna Wolkoff) who had been arrested as a spy. She had been a White Russian emigree but had ended up spying for the Germans during World War 2. Deighton witnessed her arrest by MI5 in 1940.

The Ipcress File was made into a film in 1965 and a TV series was loosely based on the book in 2022.