Continuing BBB&B’s all-spy month, we take a lookie-loo this week at British secret agents. My fascination for the British spy genre goes back to an old TV show called THE SANDBAGGERS, which is probably the closest depiction to what real spies have to do. Then, years later, a comic book by the name of QUEEN & COUNTRY came along – a total rip-off of SANDBAGGERS and a great one at that. Hell, creator Greg Rucka even copped to it in the first issue.

THE BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN by Len Deighton – What British spy column could not include some Deighton? From 1966, THE BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN is his fourth and last of the nameless spy series. This time out, our spy is sent off to convince one of their agents to fly right or else. But when he turns up, the man is already dead. Our spy is then given a chance by a young lady to join her organization, not realizing she already is dealing with a well-trained spy – that is, until a man by the name of Harvey Newbegin sets her straight. It seems Harvey works for a Gen. Midwinter, leads a private army called Facts for Freedom, a total anti-Communist group that believes 90 percent of the population is a Commie.

Midwinter’s operation – based in San Antonio, Texas – trains men to such an extreme that they become schizophrenic. The brain of the title is a giant super-computer who is responsible for the scrambling. Midwinter’s plot involves the smuggling of viruses in eggs to free the people of Latvia, but the problem is Harvey has his own ideas and is not playing with a full deck.

Deighton has some fun with this book, taking slight little jabs at the whole spy genre that by then was in full swing. You have a bad guy who is Bond-like, another spy who thinks a wig and glasses can pass himself off, and then there is the return of some characters from his other book, FUNERAL IN BERLIN. If you have only seen the Michael Caine film, read the book; it’s vastly superior and the plot is different.

JOHNNY GOES WEST by Desmond Cory – On the set of JEOPARDY!:

“I’ll take ‘Spy Series’ for 200, Alex.”
“This series wants to be Ian Fleming, but feels more like a bad Terence Hill/Bud Spencer film.”
DING!
“What is the Johnny Fedora series?”
“Correct! Pick a category…”

I can safely cross off all future volumes of this series from my to-read list. When I go on used-book-buying sprees, I keep a little list of authors I want to read. Since this series has been advertised so much in other paperbacks, I had written it down. My mistake! This is one of the lamer spy series out there.

Nothing happens. There was more action in WAITING FOR GODOT. Alright, that might be stretching it, but it does not “out-Bond Bond.” From 1968, it more sits in the same setting for about 70 percent of the story – that being some sort of house in Venezuela – as the team of Hill and Spencer Fedora and Trout go to the country to find out about a dead man called Robert West.

An engineer/miner, West stumbled across something so dangerous, people believe he got killed for it. The town is scared of Fedora and Trout – apparently, they live in a fantasy world where all bad guys wear black. There were numerous times in the book I wanted to give up, but it being slightly better then some real dreck, I carried on. It’s not a total stinker, but it’s nothing I’ll be pursuing further.

THE MAN WHO SOLD DEATH by James Munro – This 1965 title is the first of four books featuring a reluctant spy by the name of John Craig. Any book that opens with the explosion of a car upon ignition, causing a glass shard to impale a woman, gets me hooked. John Craig is a man on the run from some former business associates who want him dead.

A former gunrunner for some nefarious splinter group with French ties, Craig goes on the lam by practicing karate and training with his gun. All the while, a super-secret British spy group from MI-6 called Section K is on the hunt for him. This book is really all about the approach of a man into the world of espionage, with the Brits getting a man who is better-trained than some of their own. His mission is to kill the men who are trying to kill him.

I had no idea what to expect from DEATH and was pleasantly surprised. It felt like a Bond novel without the travelogue passages or detailed descriptions of what was for dinner. Craig is cold-blooded when push comes to shove. The story flies by at a clip and never bogs down like some other spies I’ve covered – namely, the review before this one. This is one of the few books I’ve seen in pretty much every used bookstore I go to, so I’m guessing it’s really easy to find. Now if only the other three were just as plentiful.

Next time, this column will be mmm-mmm good! –Bruce Grossman

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MISS EARLIER INSTALLMENTS OF ‘BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS’? REGASM THESE:
• #21: Red Spies at Night
• #20: September Is for Spies
• #19: I Hate Illinois Nazis
• #18: Watching the Detectives
• #17: Lights! Camera! Action!

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• AN EXPENSIVE PLACE TO DIE by Len Deighton
• FUNERAL IN BERLIN by Len Deighton
• HORSE UNDER WATER by Len Deighton