I Read Books: The IPCRESS File

The IPCRESS File

Having seen the TV adaption I decided to go back and read the book. Our unnamed protagonist moves from military intelligence to WOOC(P), another British intelligence operation, one that has embraced the twentieth century. Dalby, the head, uses surveillance film* and an IBM card sorting machine in his work and this use of information technology makes him very efficient and powerful.

The plot is complicated, involving the brainwashing and selling of scientists and agents by “Jay” (people being watched are given bird codenames), plans for a neutron bomb and lots of people working at cross-purposes to try and figure it all out. Perhaps more interesting is the detail. There’s some name dropping of food and newspapers, as well as places. Several larger-than-life characters enter the story and leave again, sometimes fatally. Meanwhile there’s quite a bit of statistical analysis, people trying to get their expenses and backpay paid, and informal networking.

A paranoid and opaque thriller, concealing our narrator’s understanding from us, and perhaps even himself. And with the exotic settings, violence, and twisty turns to satisfy.

Read This: A cool, atmospheric 60s spy thriller
Don’t Read This: It would be nice if someone explained something at some point

* WOOC(P)’s offices are a block across Oxford Street from Soho, with several front businesses, one of which is a film cutting outfit.