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Len Deighton
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SS-GB Paperback – 28 May 2009

by Len Deighton (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 2,977 ratings

In February 1941 British Command surrendered to the Nazis. Churchill has been executed, the King is in the Tower and the SS are in Whitehall…

For nine months Britain has been occupied - a blitzed, depressed and dingy country. However, it’s ‘business as usual’ at Scotland Yard run by the SS when Detective Inspector Archer is assigned to a routine murder case. Life must go on.

But when SS Standartenfuhrer Huth arrives from Berlin with orders from the great Himmler himself to supervise the investigation, the resourceful Archer finds himself caught up in a high level, all action, espionage battle.

This is a spy story quite different from any other. Only Deighton, with his flair for historical research and his narrative genius, could have written it.

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  1. Print length
    464 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
  4. Publication date
    28 May 2009
  5. Dimensions
    11.43 x 2.54 x 17.78 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0586050027
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0586050026
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Product description

Review

‘A brilliant picture of Britain under German rule’ Sunday Telegraph

‘One of Deighton’s best. Apart from his virtues as a storyteller, his passion for researching his backgrounds gives his work a remarkable factual authority. With Bomber and Fighter he established himself as an expert on a period… the authority of these books seem absolute.’ The Observer

‘Len Deighton is the Flaubert of the contemporary thriller writers… there can be little doubt that this is much the way things would have turned out if the Germans had won the war.’ Michael Howard, Times Literary Supplement

‘Deighton is a tremendous weaver of tales… action is all, and splendidly done.’

‘A master of fictional espionage.’ Daily Mail

‘The poet of the spy story.’ Sunday Times

‘For sheer readability he has no peer’ The Standard

About the Author

Born in London, Len Deighton served in the RAF before graduating from the Royal College of Art (which recently elected him a Senior Fellow). While in New York City working as a magazine illustrator he began writing his first novel, The Ipcress File, which was published in 1962. He is now the author of more than thirty books of fiction and non-fiction. At present living in Europe, he has, over the years, lived with his family in ten different countries from Austria to Portugal.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 28 May 2009
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ New
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0586050027
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0586050026
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 218 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 11.43 x 2.54 x 17.78 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 2,977 ratings

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Len Deighton

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4 out of 5 stars
2,977 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book easy to read without being superficial, with one noting it makes an excellent companion to the TV series. The story receives mixed reactions - while some praise its well-researched thriller elements, others find the convoluted plot unconvincing. Character development is also mixed, with some finding them wholly plausible while others say they're not well developed.

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ReadabilityWriting qualityStory qualityCharacter development
97 customers mention ‘Readability’86 positive11 negative

Customers find the book readable, describing it as a nice galloping and interesting read, with some noting it was better than the TV series.

"...The audio version of SS-GB is excellently done, and if you go for the printed version, get the 2009 edition both for its excellent cover artwork and..." Read more

"...General Kellerman is, on the surface, a genial, bumptious, fatherly figure, easing himself into the role of the English country gentleman anxious..." Read more

"...Operation Sea Lion (the German plan to invade Britain), I rather like this book...." Read more

"...Worth a read." Read more

31 customers mention ‘Writing quality’28 positive3 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, noting it is beautifully described and easy to read without being superficial.

"...go for the printed version, get the 2009 edition both for its excellent cover artwork and for its interesting extra piece about the book by the..." Read more

"This book was a disappointment. It was readable, but unsatisfying...." Read more

"Authentic, interesting and beautifully described... However, it's not quite as good as the author's other work...." Read more

"read this rather than watching the tv series on BBC very well written and it does make you wonder what could of been and how close this..." Read more

98 customers mention ‘Story quality’65 positive33 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the story quality of the book, with some finding it fascinating and well-researched, while others find the plot convoluted and not convincing.

"...2009 edition both for its excellent cover artwork and for its interesting extra piece about the book by the author." Read more

"...Splendidly researched, the story gives a fascinating glimpse of what it might have been like for the British to live under Nazi rule and, when first..." Read more

"...As with Len Deighton, you get an interesting but not fully resolved ending, which is how I like it...." Read more

"...The book is set in an alternative dystopian future where the Nazis won the Battle of Britain, then invaded England and occupied the southern half..." Read more

30 customers mention ‘Character development’18 positive12 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the character development in the book, with some finding it wholly plausible and really believable, while others note that the characters are not well developed.

"...the Battle of Britain and been invaded, it seemed to me a wholly plausible portrayal of what an occupied London (mainly) would have been like...." Read more

"...It doesn't help that the characters are very two-dimensional and inconsistent (unlike those in the TV version) and the writing very 'he did that,..." Read more

"...This is an excellent alternate history - really believable but best of all sticks with the story rather than getting lost in the alternate timeline..." Read more

"...Think it was on TV? This book strikes me as probably very realistic as to how it might have been if the outcome of WW2 was different...." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Mark Pack
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great thriller with a compelling historical backdrop
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 July 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Long before Robert Harris's Fatherland and CJ Sansom's Dominion, there was Len Deighton's alternative history based on the Nazis winning, SS-GB. Churchill is dead, the King is in the Tower of London, the Germans have taken over the UK's nuclear bomb research programme and a Scotland Yard detective is summoned to an apparently straightforward murder. As in Sansom's later book, London's fog also features heavily as characters try to slip away from the Germans.

    What makes Deighton's book particularly good is its grounding in the huge internal differences between the German Army and the SS - not only does the book paint an accurate picture of their rivalries and plotting, it also puts their differences to good use to help fuel a plausible sequence of twists and turns.

    The book's brilliance means it is somewhat surprising that it hasn't made it into TV or movie form yet, even though many other Deighton books have. That is about to change as the BBC started production on a mini-series in 2015.

    The audio version of SS-GB is excellently done, and if you go for the printed version, get the 2009 edition both for its excellent cover artwork and for its interesting extra piece about the book by the author.
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  • R. Taylor
    4.0 out of 5 stars Action-packed and novel approach to the police procedural
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 January 2016
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    Len Deighton, SS-GB

    If you are into fast-paced action adventure, political suspense, detective fiction or anything to do with the Second World War and Naziabilia, then this is for you.

    Deighton’s, SS-GB is the original and best of the ‘what-if we lost’ genre of World War II adventures. It tells the story of a Britain reeling after a 1941 capitulation to the Nazis. King George VI is in the Tower of London and Churchill has been shot by firing squad. God save the King.

    Enter Douglas Archer, Superintendent at Scotland Yard, known as ‘Archer of the Yard’ for the brilliant way he solves high profile murders. A police detective of the old school, he enjoys a privileged position under his Nazi paymasters, carrying on with the day-to-day work of criminal investigations, regardless. What does he care, as long as they let him get on with the job of catching crooks? Is he a collaborator or just a pragmatic policeman doing his duty in troubled times? A question often voiced by his side-kick and political conscience, Detective Sergeant Harry Woods.

    Woods is a copper of the even older school, with his network of snouts and grasses, and friendly barmen who will offer the latest tips on local crooks as well as the odd free drink. Not to be sniffed at in these times of severe rationing and low pay for anyone other than privileged German occupiers. Woods, much older than Archer, befriended his superior when the younger man was no more than a boy, ambitions for a career in the police. The childless DS still plays the father figure to his boss, showing due deference and paternal care in equal measure, constantly warning Archer about the dangers faced by their scheming superiors, although frequently, himself, indiscrete and feeling free to lampoon and criticise the occupying ‘Herberts’.

    It soon becomes apparent that Woods has connections in the fledgling resistance and, more than once, Archer has to come to his sargeant’s rescue. For Archer has friends in high places, not least his double dealing Commissioner, SS Gruppenführer (General) Fritz Kellerman. General Kellerman is, on the surface, a genial, bumptious, fatherly figure, easing himself into the role of the English country gentleman anxious to assimilate with his new environment. But the jovial exterior hides a man who understand the complexities of political life within the Nazi regime and how to play off one faction against the other.

    Everyone loves widower Archer. Woods, Archer’s secretary and estranged mistress, his doting son, and in addition to being admired by his boss (at least on the surface), Archer soon become an invaluable part of the investigations conducted by SS bigwig, Standartenführer Dr Huth, who is rival to Kellerman and bent on proving the General’s corruption. In this, Archer finds himself playing a dangerous game as he walks a tightrope between his warring Nazi superiors. Archer is even commended to SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, who makes a cameo appearance in conference with Huth.

    Most of all, Archer is loved by the Glamorous American journalist he meets in the course of his investigations into the murder of a scientist who turns out to be involved in the atomic research crucial to Nazi attempts to dominate the world beyond Europe. Barbara Barga has connections of her own. To the US Embassy in London, within the regime and, it transpires, with senior members of the resistance, known to the German occupiers as terrorists. But how far can she, and her high-placed friends, be trusted, and what do they know about the murder and the two brothers involved?

    Archer navigates a deadly route through politics, the machinations of the Nazi regime the puppet government in London, and the unpredictable and largely disorganised antics of resistance operatives, which include the brutal torture and murder of a promising young constable, sent on an errand by Archer, and the bombing of an event to disinter the remains of Karl Marx from Highgate Cemetery for repatriation in Moscow, as a demonstration of Nazi-Soviet friendship. Archer is himself almost killed by a lone resistance assassin.

    As martial law is declared in the wake of the Highgate attack, Woods is arrested and Archer learns of an audacious plan to free the King led by a upper-crust English Colonel Mayhew, with the help of the German army, keen to undermine the authority of the SS. Naturally, Archer finds himself in the midst of a tense political battle between Wehrmacht, Huth, Kellerman, the Gestapo and Mayhew, whom he suspects of being a double agent. On top of that, the plan to free the King needs the support of the American politicians, as ever reluctant to step into war-like Europe for a second time.

    SS-GB is gripping in its action, although sometimes naive in its dramatic development, particularly when it comes to the development of the love-interest. Splendidly researched, the story gives a fascinating glimpse of what it might have been like for the British to live under Nazi rule and, when first published, brought a new and fresh variation on the police procedural, with the novel background of British Police working under SS overlordship. This unlikely scenario also brings with it nicely defined moral dilemma for the principal actors.

    Will they free the King, will the Resistance prevail, can the Americans be convinced to help, and will Archer and, more especially Woods, survive the Nazi onslaught? These questions keep the reader turning pages from start to finish. Fine action adventure for those interested in a novel approach to the who-dunnit and a wonderful romp through the what-if.

    Ray Taylor
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  • Chris Wood
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not that good.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 March 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I saw that the BBC were about to serialize this book which I had read many years ago and wanted to reread it before watching it. I had fond memories of every Len Deighton book I'd ever read. However we do move on I was so disappointed this time around it wasn't a patch on my rosy memories of it.
    The book is set in an alternative dystopian future where the Nazis won the Battle of Britain, then invaded England and occupied the southern half including London. Fighting continues in the North where a resistance movement has come into being. The armed forces have surrendered to Germany. The main character is a Detective Superintendent who continues his duties at Scotland Yard under the control of the SS but does not get involved in the political and other totally reprehensible things for which the SS is infamous. He investigates a murder which it is obvious from the start will lead to other secrets that could be very dangerous to all concerned. The murder victim display strange wounds which, it transpires, are radiation burns. This is set in 1941 when hardly anyone knew anything about any practical application of atomic physics, but the implication to a (back in the day) 20st century audience is that a nuclear bomb has been or is close to being developed. To go further would be to spoil the plot for new readers.
    The book, as I say, was a disappointment to me, by my current standards. It was weakly plotted and contained more than it's fair share of devices whereby revelations not consistent to the story lead the plot forward to conclusions it would be hard if not impossible for the reader to reach.
    It's not a bad book but not a great one and is of it's time (1978). The Germans & SS are less obnoxious than we all imagine they would have been and the English much more accepting of the status quo than we would have hoped.
    Incidentally I watched the first BBC episode, the DS is played by someone whose voice is so harsh and whispery that I found it impossible to understand I word in five. This may be due to the fact that he chain smokes throughout the program.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Geoff Barby
    5.0 out of 5 stars what might have been
    Reviewed in Australia on 23 March 2020
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    A chilling view of life under a Nazi regime, totally controlled and substantially rebellious, every facet of our lives would be touched had WW2 gone a different path, and maybe an insight into whats happening in other places right now.
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  • Felix Jourdan
    5.0 out of 5 stars A classic, great 'what-if' novel
    Reviewed in France on 29 July 2012
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    So, the Battle of England has been lost, and like their german counterparts, Scotland Yard's investigators are know part of the SS. The plot is somewhat uneven, but a good read nonetheless. Robert Harris's 'Fatherland' is certainly a bit undebted to Deighton's novel.
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  • Monique D
    5.0 out of 5 stars This is the book I wanted to read!
    Reviewed in the United States on 14 January 2018
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    What if the Germans had won WWII? I love the literary idea, and I had once read a disastrous novel about it; the author didn’t know the German character and it spoiled everything. I knew this would not be a problem with Len Deighton, as he is an authority on the subject, and an author I love and respect. My only regret is that I did not know about SS-GB when it was first released.

    Britain has surrendered to the Nazis, who have won the war and occupy Britain, led by a puppet government. The King is imprisoned in the Tower of London, Churchill has been executed; the Nazis are everywhere, but the various factions are in a silent war against each other. Detective Superintendant Douglas Archer of Scotland Yard tries to do his job, while it was going rather well with General Kellerman, a newcomer SS-Standartenführer Dr Oskar Huth is making things complicated. Archer is trying to investigate a murder, which turns out to be far more complicated than it first appeared.

    As Mr Deighton mentions, the idea of a murder investigation is the ideal premise for this type of story. Watching the various characters deal with the situation was captivating: some Englishmen are trying to navigate the hated new system peacefully, others have a hard time keeping it together; who is in the resistance? All Germans appear to follow the rules, but do they really? Some Germans who are as strict as expected, but is there another purpose to their madness? Is anyone to be trusted?

    Notwithstanding Mr Deighton’s considerable knowledge, one must not forget that he is a consummate writer; his prose conveys efficiently and elegantly every nuance, every doubt, every physical detail with such clarity, it barely feels like fiction, and it is truly frightening. The story flows effortlessly, while the feeling that something momentous and possibly ominous is about to happen. The Jewish question was barely mentioned, and I would wish for the author – or any author approved by Mr Deighton – to write that book.

    I knew SS-GB would be interesting, but it is utterly riveting, and so much better than I hoped. The characters are extraordinary, the story is exceedingly complex, and twists and turns abound; I don’t think I have ever been so stunned by so many turns of events in any book, ever. If you think for one moment you know what to expect with SS-GB, think again. Len Deighton wrote the book I wanted to read with his customary flair, and I am thrilled with the results!
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  • Dr. DNA
    5.0 out of 5 stars SS-GB or The Riddle of Brindle Sands
    Reviewed in Canada on 26 April 2017
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    When dozens are killed and injured after a huge bomb explodes during a repatriation ceremony for Karl Marx in Highgate Cemetery attended by Goebbels, von Ribbentrop, Molotov and the SS is pleased because this is a Wehrmacht security failure, then you get a fair idea of the black humour than drives this excellent dystopian novel. Imagine this: by February 19, 1941, Britain has fallen, Churchill removed to Berlin and shot, and King George confined to the Tower of London under SS guard. London is a blitzed-out hellhole, the local resistance active, and Scotland Yard's CID unit under SS management. And the murder of an antiques dealer who isn't really an antiques dealer at all leads Detective Superintendent Archer into a Machiavellian underworld where he's being played as a patsy by all sides because personal interest supplants national interest.

    Great characterization and plot, very credible all the way to the end. If you liked Hans Helmut Kirst's The Night of Generals or anything from the German invasion tradition (like The Riddle of the Sands) or even Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels, you'll like SS-GB. Radio Brazil
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  • P. W.
    2.0 out of 5 stars Passable story
    Reviewed in Germany on 8 November 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Passable story with an obvious plot written in an easy style. Not worth reading twice though. Kindle is a benefit as no need to dispose of the book
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