Len Deighton is without doubt the master of the spy story, but coupled with his encyclopedic knowledge of the 2nd world war and how the workings of both the Nazi and Allied governments intercated is incredible. The picture he paints of Britain under occupation by the Nazis is truly terrifying, not because he has made it so, it's because it would really have been like that. The characters are brilliantly intertwined and right up until the very last pages, unexepected twists and turns appear by the carty load. If anyone can guess the ending before they read it, then I take my hat off to you as I never saw it coming. It is without doubt a masterpiece and I loved every second of it even though it also left me so thankful that it never came to pass.

A very interesting take on what Britain would be like under German rule in the Second World War. If you are into adventure, political suspense, detective fiction &/or anything to do with the Second World War, then this is for you. What starts out as a not so interesting murder investigation, turns into something quite extraordinary. All the way through the book, i was thinking about what might happen next and I have to admit I was a little surprised and taken aback in places. You can certainly tell that the author took his time in his research, especially when it came to London - all the back street's and the inner workings of Scotland Yard. Thoroughly enjoyable and certainly makes you wonder; "what if?"

I wrote this earlier in the year but just noticed it wasn’t posted. Am trying again! I'm a big fan of alternate history especially ones where the Nazis win the WW2 - but somehow SS-GB managed to slip beneath my radar till someone bought it for me for Christmas. I have to say I was disappointed. Maybe it was because I was hoping it to be like 'Fatherland' too much but my expectations were dashed. It begins well but lost me about half-way through for several reasons. The characters aren't strong enough (Douglas just isn't sufficiently engaging to carry the book; I didn't care about him), the plot is overly complicated with too many strands (is it about the Bomb or rescuing the King?), the tone... well, all a bit depressing. The love story also failed to convince and seemed to fizzle out in the last quarter. I was expecting some kind of twist with Barbara. I won't give away what happens but it's certainly anti-climatic. Maybe it's the girlie-romantic in me, but if you're going to put a love strand in it should go somewhere (compare March and Charlie in 'Fatherland'). On the plus side I liked Len Deighton's version of Nazi-occupied Britain and it certainly seems well researched and authentic. It's quite well written and the prose is engaging enough. There are some good jokes too amongst all the doom and gloom. Perhaps it just got me on a bad day. Or maybe 'Fatherland' has raised the bar too high on these kinds of book. SS-GB is good but not great.

I wasn't at all impressed. The story was gloomy and totally lacked credibility.

I was looking forward to reading this book, but was let down by the way it is written. The fact it was originally written in 1978 really shows in my opinion. I think it has been re-branded to coincide with the TV adaptation (which on the basis of the poor book I didn't bother with)