Len Deighton SS-GB

 Len Deighton SS-GB (5. printing 1979) with 344 pages in a mint condition.

"1941, and England invaded – and defeated – by the Germans...

The King is a hostage in the tower, the Queen and Princesses have fled to Australia, Churchill has been executed by a firing squad,, Englishmen are being deported to work in German factories and the dreaded SS is in charge of Scotland Yard. London is in shock. The very look of daily life is a walking nightmare of German uniforms, artifacts, regulations. There are collaborators. There are profiteers. But there are others working in hope, in secret, and desperate danger, against the invader. And still others are living strangely ambiguous lives – none more so than Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer ("Archer of the yard" as the press like to call him), trying to maintain a peculiarly, almost sacredly, British institution under a Nazi chief. Archer has started work on what seems, at first, a routine murder case. But suddenly an SS Standartenführer from Himmler's personal staff flies in from Berlin to supervise the investigation, and Archer is plunged deep into an espionage battle for which he is completely unprepared, and where the stakes are incredibly high. "We’re dealing with something that could prove so deadly that not even the Black Death would compare with the consequences", the SS man tells him.Setting forth on a tight rope trail of violence, betrayal and danger, Archer moves into worlds within worlds of intrigue. The British resistance, wealthy collaborators, high-level scientists, German army and SS factions and vicious rivalry, a beautiful American reporter on assignment for the still-neutral papers back home – these are the players that Deighton's treacherously shifting drama, as it races toward its chattering climax that involves the fate of the King, and of England itself.

SS–GB is fascinating in its premise, utterly authentic and convincing in its detail. It is the most gripping novel we have had from the author of The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, and Bomber. Already, in England, it has become Len Deighton's greatest best seller."

Englanninkielinen Len Deighton -dekkari.

Vastaava suomenkielinen 1. painos WSOY v. 1979 nimellä SS Lontoo, josta kirjan kansipapereissa kirjoitettiin aikoinaan näin:

"Hakaristilippu parlamenttitalon katolla.
Kuningas vangittuna Towerissa. Kuningatar ja prinsessat ovat maanpaossa Australiassa.
Churchill teloitettu Berliinissä.

Kevät 1941. Saksalaiset ovat miehittäneet Englannin yhdeksän kuukautta sitten. Natsismin painajainen on laskeutunut ikään kuin huomaamatta Leicester Squaren ja Hyde parkin ylle. Lontoon pubeissa viettävät iltaa SS-asetakkiin pukeutuneet miehet. Öisestä kaupungista katoaa kansalainen toisensa jälkeen. Scotland Yardin poliisipäällikkö Douglas Archer on oppinut ottamaan paikkansa miehittäjän ja omiensa välissä. Mutta sitten hän saa selvittääkseen murhan, jonka loputtomat säikeet johtavat räjähdysalttiille alueelle. Murhaan näyttävät sotkeutuneen niin SS ja Wehrmacht kuin vastarintamiehet ja amerikkalaiset. Pystyykö Archer luovimaan valtaklikkien lomitse? Ja jos pystyy, mikä hinta hänen on maksettava?"

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