From Publishers Weekly
Initiating a second trilogy, Deighton mesmerizes the reader with the ongoing trials of Bernard Sansom, British intelligence agent who survived perils in Berlin Game , Mexico Set and London Match. Sansom's story begins with a fruitless meeting in Washington with former colleague Jim Prettyman, who denies any knowledge of the slush fund Sansom has been ordered to trace. Over half a million pounds is missing from money allocated to Bret Rensselear of the German desk by London Central before he was shot in Berlin. Later, in London, Sansom learns at a briefing that Prettyman has been killed, another "incident" pressuring Sansom's superiors to widen his investigation in East and West Berlin and eventually in France. All the people he questionseven trusted friendsdeepen Sansom's fears that Central is using him to bait their own hook. Persistent rumors about his wife Fiona, long since a defector to the Soviets, magnify his suspicions, particularly in view of Fiona's links to Rensselear and the vanished fortune. The suspense is inexorable, ensuring readers' anticipation of projected sequels, Line and Sinker. 90,000 first printing; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This is the first installment in a new espionage series, "Hook, Line, and Sinker," a sequel to Deighton's masterful "Game, Set, Match" trilogy. Bernard Samson, still trying to straighten out his life after his wife's defection to the KGB, finds top level Secret Service complicity in the disappearance of a half million dollars in departmental funds. Is this a simple case of embezzlement or of mismanagement, or is it the work of a KGB mole? Has Samson stumbled upon a top-secret operation, one in which his wife is a double agent? At novel's end Samson is on the run in Berlin, and the reader is eager for the next book. Deighton is the only worthy rival to John LeCarre. BOMC alternate.Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.