The IPCRESS File cover art

The IPCRESS File

Penguin Modern Classics

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The IPCRESS File

By: Len Deighton
Narrated by: James Lailey
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Now a new six-part ITV drama starring Joe Cole, as iconic spy Harry Palmer, Lucy Boynton and Tom Hollander.

A high-ranking scientist has been kidnapped. A secret British intelligence agency must find out why. But as the quarry is pursued from grimy Soho to the other side of the world, what seemed a straightforward mission turns into something far more sinister. With its sardonic, cool, working-class hero, Len Deighton's sensational debut The IPCRESS File rewrote the spy thriller and became the defining novel of 1960s London.

©1962 Len Deighton (P)2021 Penguin Audio Espionage Genre Fiction Military Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense War & Military Fiction Witty

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Critic reviews

"A stone-cold Cold War classic." (Toby Litt, Guardian)

"Changed the shape of the espionage thriller...there is an infectious energy about this book which makes it a joy to read." (Daily Telegraph)
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Great story (of course), well performed, but note that the Movie & recent TV Show vary slightly from the book & thus the audiobook presented here, but interesting none the less...

Classic Modern Spy Story

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Great book after having been written 60 years ago. Great narration by James Lawley.

Still awesome after 60 years. Great narration

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Just magnificent in every way. This has to be an essential read (or listen, if consumed as an audiobook.

Magnificent

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Very, very good and extremely well narrated. different from the story told in the film version and TV version so well worth a read. charecterisation and plot are wonderful and the sense of time and place beautifully created.

Very, very good and extremely well narrated.

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I really enjoyed this having watched the film many years ago and James Lailey does a superb job of the narration.

The story unfolds as a great spy thriller and has you wanting for more but then to me kind of fisseled out at the end with a slightly unbelievable plot.

It's still a good book though and I really enjoyed it so don't regret the credit it cost.

Possibly Deighton's later efforts are more complete.

Good Story from Len Deightons. Great narration.

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I enjoyed this, especially the narration. The usual spy story tricks, where the narrator withholds information to make it all cryptic and clever, is laid on thickly.

Engrossing but...

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I first read this story as a teenager, and enjoyed reading all this series over the years. It's interesting now to realise how different Britain was in 1962 from the one around us today.
Good narration by James Lailey, who isn't quite imitating Michael Caine! Given the character's own reference to going to school in Blackburn, it might have been interesting to hear it narrated with a suitable accent.

Good version of a classic story

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the performance is very good, the storyline is convoluted in the middle and doesn't add anything but that said enjoyed it

very different to the film

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When you have seen the now icon film starring Michael Cane it's hard to believe that an audio book of the same story can be as gripping and as ground breaking as this one is. The pace, style and sheer coolness of this reading is more than equal to its ceiloid counterpart. James Lailey reading is immaculate as is the quality of the recording. This is a hugely entertaining and enjoyable book, I can't wait to hear more from Len Deightonn and James Lailey.

An amazing listen

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First read of this classic and it did not let me down kept me enthralled and smiling throughout

the ipcress file

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