Charity
Author: Len Deighton
Release: January 1, 1996
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Spy Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Espionage
ISBN-10: 006018728X
ISBN-13: 978-0060187286
Main Character(s): Bernard Samson, Fiona Samson, Dicky Cruyer, Jay Prettyman, Werner Volkman, Frank Harrington, Brett Rensselaer
Synopsis: In the conclusion of the trilogy that began with Faith, Bernard Samson investigates the murder of his sister-in-law, Tessa Kosinzki, only to discover that the execution order came from someone in The Department and that dark secrets are undermining the core of the British Secret Service.
Declassified by Agent Palmer: Charity is a Fitting End or Even a Beginning to Deighton’s Samson Series
Quotes and Lines
‘You think your government is now strenuously applying for your release through diplomatic channels, do you not?’
I looked at him and smiled. He didn’t know much about my government, or its diplomatic service, or he would have known that having them do anything strenuously was far beyond reasonable expectations.
For people who think of themselves all the time, paranoia is simply a way of confirming how important they are.
It was no good denying that I needed her. I needed her now, when the news had brought me low, and I badly needed to hear her say she loved me. I wanted to hear her say that she would gladly exchange her life in England for some lack-luster penny-pinching life with me. A life in some distant foreign land without an extradition treaty.
I often over-reacted. It was why I had stayed alive so long.
The desk people seldom came into contact with the blood and snot of the Department. Any sudden reminder that they weren’t working in Treasury or Agriculture came as a nasty shock.
Bret was an autocratic do-gooder; a liberal tyrant; a crusading drop-out. The combination of opposing characteristics is what made him so American, and so difficult to understand at times.
“…She must be the only little girl in the world who hasn’t discovered that you fell in love with yourself a long time ago, and will never be unfaithful.”
It’s only our very closest friends who are so immediately vulnerable to our teasing.
“Yes, I’m not a Catholic. I was brought up a Presbyterian. What are you?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “It depends on what sort of trouble I’m in.”
“Any objections?” I said.
“No, I suppose not. But love is like the measles; the later in life it afflicts you, the more severe the consequences.”
“Is there anything you can take for it?”
“Only wedding vows.”
“You don’t have to be a bad-tempered pig all the time, Bernard,” said Werner stiffly. “You can take an evening off, and try being human.”
“I tried it once; I didn’t like it.”
It’s always bad luck to be good at something you don’t want to do – or something dangerous.