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adee's review against another edition
3.0
A solid three and a half stars.
The British have their backs to the wall in the deserts of North Africa as Rommel drives relentlessly towards Cairo, the seat of British power on the continent.
Rommel seems to know British plans and a desperate hunt for the mole begins.
Not my favourite Deighton (‘Bomber’, Goodbye Mickey Mouse’ and his soy trilogies top my list), but an enjoyable read all the same.
The British have their backs to the wall in the deserts of North Africa as Rommel drives relentlessly towards Cairo, the seat of British power on the continent.
Rommel seems to know British plans and a desperate hunt for the mole begins.
Not my favourite Deighton (‘Bomber’, Goodbye Mickey Mouse’ and his soy trilogies top my list), but an enjoyable read all the same.
eleigh83's review against another edition
3.0
It started off rather interesting but the ending was just completely random. Like the author decided he needed to end the book and just did.
mburnamfink's review against another edition
3.0
City of Gold is an atmospheric but dissipated espionage novel, following a trio of more-or-less unlikable characters around, but failing to make much of them. Cairo in 1942 is trembling before Rommel's next strike, but a city about to fall is an opportunity to make a big score. The Western Desert is littered with abandoned weapons, Jews and Arabs and buying up guns, and somewhere is Rommel's spy; a man with perfect access to British orders and intelligence. The Nazi general knows what the British are going to do before they know it, and as long as he has his source, he'll take Cairo.
Ross is a murderer and deserter, yet a decent man who is avoiding the firing squad by assuming the identity of a dead officer. Ordered to find Rommel's spy, Ross's needs to fake being a detective and figure out his next move. Ross's story was the one I thought most interesting, but it doesn't really go anywhere.
Peggy West is a British Jew, a nurse, and a longtime resident of Cairo caught up in the treacherous world of espionage, and trying to figure out where her loyalties really lie.
Wallingford is a deserter and black marketeer, creating a fictional commando unit to disguise his actions. Unfortunately, he lacks any sort of dash and charm. He's just an overgrown schoolboy, using his bully habits to get enough money, because getting money is what you do.
Along with some minor characters, they wander around Cairo drinking, lying, and otherwise deceiving themselves and each other. But in the end, all their effort is fruitless (you can google up the historical source of Rommel's information), and they are released to their just ends.
Ross is a murderer and deserter, yet a decent man who is avoiding the firing squad by assuming the identity of a dead officer. Ordered to find Rommel's spy, Ross's needs to fake being a detective and figure out his next move. Ross's story was the one I thought most interesting, but it doesn't really go anywhere.
Peggy West is a British Jew, a nurse, and a longtime resident of Cairo caught up in the treacherous world of espionage, and trying to figure out where her loyalties really lie.
Wallingford is a deserter and black marketeer, creating a fictional commando unit to disguise his actions. Unfortunately, he lacks any sort of dash and charm. He's just an overgrown schoolboy, using his bully habits to get enough money, because getting money is what you do.
Along with some minor characters, they wander around Cairo drinking, lying, and otherwise deceiving themselves and each other. But in the end, all their effort is fruitless (you can google up the historical source of Rommel's information), and they are released to their just ends.
smcleish's review
4.0
Originally published on my blog here in March 2005.
Len Deighton is almost as famous for his meticulously researched World War II stories (and non-fiction) as he is for his Cold War spy thrillers. City of Gold is his farewell to this sub-genre, and I think it is the best of his late novels. Like several others of his Second World War stories, it is inspired by actual events; set in Cairo during the North African campaign, it tells of the hunt for a spy who was revealing all the details of the Allied plans to Rommel, thus enabling him to win victory after victory and make the capture of Cairo seem only a matter of time. The investigation is given a twist because the reader knows that investigator Major Cutler is not really who he appears to be; he suffered a fatal heart attack escorting a prisoner to Cairo, and the prisoner, who was an actor before being conscripted, is now pretending to be the major. So as well as having to make an investigation he is not trained for, he is constantly worried about the possibility of discovery.
This twist adds an extra touch of humanity to the story, which otherwise could easily have been dry for a thriller. As you might expect, Cairo is expertly realised (it is as convincing as the setting in [a:Olivia Manning|11057|Olivia Manning|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1196262407p2/11057.jpg]'s Levant trilogy, set in the same place at the same time and written by one who was there), and the background details show the research to have been thorough. Cairo, the city of gold, is a corrupt place in the period, and now it is a frightened one, and so the novel is filled with examples of the sordid side of human nature; Deighton keeps this entertaining rather than depressing.
City of Gold is the best of Deighton's nineties novels, the only one to really score near his classics of earlier decades. Thirty years on from [b:The Ipcress File|171624|The Ipcress File|Len Deighton|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1295903974s/171624.jpg|2155765], Deighton was probably not really thinking about gaining new fans and there is little that is new here; but it is far more successful than [b:Mamista|1409971|Mamista|Len Deighton|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|3083506], the only one of his late novels which could be described as innovative.
I can heartily recommend City of Gold to anyone who enjoys war stories; it also makes it clear that Alan Furst has turned out to be Deighton's natural successor in this field.
Len Deighton is almost as famous for his meticulously researched World War II stories (and non-fiction) as he is for his Cold War spy thrillers. City of Gold is his farewell to this sub-genre, and I think it is the best of his late novels. Like several others of his Second World War stories, it is inspired by actual events; set in Cairo during the North African campaign, it tells of the hunt for a spy who was revealing all the details of the Allied plans to Rommel, thus enabling him to win victory after victory and make the capture of Cairo seem only a matter of time. The investigation is given a twist because the reader knows that investigator Major Cutler is not really who he appears to be; he suffered a fatal heart attack escorting a prisoner to Cairo, and the prisoner, who was an actor before being conscripted, is now pretending to be the major. So as well as having to make an investigation he is not trained for, he is constantly worried about the possibility of discovery.
This twist adds an extra touch of humanity to the story, which otherwise could easily have been dry for a thriller. As you might expect, Cairo is expertly realised (it is as convincing as the setting in [a:Olivia Manning|11057|Olivia Manning|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1196262407p2/11057.jpg]'s Levant trilogy, set in the same place at the same time and written by one who was there), and the background details show the research to have been thorough. Cairo, the city of gold, is a corrupt place in the period, and now it is a frightened one, and so the novel is filled with examples of the sordid side of human nature; Deighton keeps this entertaining rather than depressing.
City of Gold is the best of Deighton's nineties novels, the only one to really score near his classics of earlier decades. Thirty years on from [b:The Ipcress File|171624|The Ipcress File|Len Deighton|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1295903974s/171624.jpg|2155765], Deighton was probably not really thinking about gaining new fans and there is little that is new here; but it is far more successful than [b:Mamista|1409971|Mamista|Len Deighton|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|3083506], the only one of his late novels which could be described as innovative.
I can heartily recommend City of Gold to anyone who enjoys war stories; it also makes it clear that Alan Furst has turned out to be Deighton's natural successor in this field.
brettt's review
3.0
Len Deighton has had two major arenas for his fiction work -- the deep dark recesses of intelligence work in Cold War Europe and the battles of World War II. His 1993 novel City of Gold, set in a Cairo dreading the arrival of the brilliant German general Erwin Rommel, mixes the spy game of the former with an important but sometimes overlooked WWII theater.
Major Bernie Cutler has the task of ferreting out a spy who's been feeding Rommel detailed information about Allied troop movements and plans. Giving that kind of information to the Desert Fox is more or less handing him the keys to Cairo and to England's possessions in India, and Cutler's superiors are feeling the pressure to produce the agent or at least stop the leaks. So, therefore, is Cutler. But he has an additional source of stress: He's not actually Bernie Cutler, but a prisoner Cutler was transporting when he had a fatal heart attack, who has adopted Cutler's identity as a way of escape.
Other clandestine agents swirl in the mix of 1942 Cairo, from Zionists looking to establish a foothold in the former-and-future Israel to black marketeers whose only allegiance is to profit. Deighton has his usual deft hand at sketching out interesting characters with only a few bold strokes before sending them off into the narrative and his usual way with wry and world-weary dialogue. But City of Gold seems to have just a few of the pieces of a much more extensive work and a largely offscreen resolution that can make a reader check page numbers to see if something's been left out.
Obviously Deighton felt that enough of the story of City of Gold had been told that he could type "The End," but he needed to do more to show his readers why he thought so.
Original available here.
Major Bernie Cutler has the task of ferreting out a spy who's been feeding Rommel detailed information about Allied troop movements and plans. Giving that kind of information to the Desert Fox is more or less handing him the keys to Cairo and to England's possessions in India, and Cutler's superiors are feeling the pressure to produce the agent or at least stop the leaks. So, therefore, is Cutler. But he has an additional source of stress: He's not actually Bernie Cutler, but a prisoner Cutler was transporting when he had a fatal heart attack, who has adopted Cutler's identity as a way of escape.
Other clandestine agents swirl in the mix of 1942 Cairo, from Zionists looking to establish a foothold in the former-and-future Israel to black marketeers whose only allegiance is to profit. Deighton has his usual deft hand at sketching out interesting characters with only a few bold strokes before sending them off into the narrative and his usual way with wry and world-weary dialogue. But City of Gold seems to have just a few of the pieces of a much more extensive work and a largely offscreen resolution that can make a reader check page numbers to see if something's been left out.
Obviously Deighton felt that enough of the story of City of Gold had been told that he could type "The End," but he needed to do more to show his readers why he thought so.
Original available here.
raehink's review
2.0
A rather disappointing espionage tale set in 1942 Egypt. It begins wonderfully and through the entire book, I anticipated a climax with the name of the spy revealed...but...Deighton disappoints, making the spy an unknown character in the American embassy. Unless I missed the whole point...
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