Читать книгу Spy Hook - Len Deighton - Страница 2

When considering how I might illustrate the cover of the first part of this second trilogy of spy novels, where the KGB loom large, I thought that the sickle part of the Communist symbol (representing unity of peasants and workers) would make the perfect visual analogy for a hook. In use since 1917/18, the Hammer and Sickle became the official symbol of the Communist party in 1922.

Some years ago, I photographed a graffiti image of the emblem on a wall in Italy. As the surface seemed to lack the rough texture that I was after, my wife – who can work wonders on the computer – superimposed the communist motif over one of my photographs that I had taken of the Berlin Wall from the eastern side at the time of its downfall. (I also took the opportunity to join the jubilant crowd in standing atop the wall.)

By impaling the photo of Bernard Samson on the point of the sickle I could suggest how the KGB were getting their hooks into poor Bernard as he tries to navigate the maze of deception and betrayal in this wonderful story.

The vignette on the back cover features two postcards of Berlin from the Cold War era, plus a metal souvenir of the Brandenburg Gate, potent symbols of a city so familiar to Bernard, and which may prove his saviour or his downfall.

At the heart of every one of the nine books in this triple trilogy is Bernard Samson, so I wanted to come up with a neat way of visually linking them all. When the reader has collected all nine books and displays them together in sequential order, the books’ spines will spell out Samson’s name in the form of a blackmail note made up of airline baggage tags. The tags were drawn from my personal collection, and are colourful testimony to thousands of air miles spent travelling the world.

Arnold Schwartzman OBE RDI