Horse Under Water cover art

Horse Under Water

Penguin Modern Classics

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Horse Under Water

By: Len Deighton
Narrated by: James Lailey
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

A sunken U-boat has lain undisturbed on the Atlantic ocean floor since the Second World War - until now. Inside its rusting hull, among the corpses of top-rank Nazis, lie secrets people will kill to obtain.

The sequel to Len Deighton's game-changing debut The IPCRESS File, Horse Under Water sees its nameless, laconic narrator sent from fogbound London to the Algarve, where he must dive through layers of deceit in a place rotten with betrayals.

©1962 Len Deighton (P)2021 Penguin Audio Espionage Spies & Politics Suspense Thriller & Suspense U-Boat Submarine

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Under Suspicion cover art
The Insider cover art
My Name Is Nobody cover art
Agent in Berlin cover art
Chasing the Wind cover art
Prince of Spies cover art
The Brief cover art
Hellyer's Trip cover art
Harry Lampeter and the War with Scotland cover art
The Assistant cover art
Moskva cover art
A Dying Breed cover art
Night Soldiers cover art
To Cut a Short Story Short, Vol. II cover art
No Ordinary Killing cover art
Running Blind cover art

Critic reviews

"The poet of the spy story." (Sunday Times)
All stars
Most relevant  
Fascinating stuff. With lots of twists and turns. Great characters good middling and bad. Always enjoy LD.

Dive deep!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Classic spy fiction, brilliantly plotted, and superbly narrated with modulation and cadence reminiscent of Michael Caine’s performance in the Ipcress file.

Beautifully written and read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Len Deighton I have always found a struggle to get through when it comes to his books, but the audible version of his books are simply fascinating and James Lailey simply keeps you hooked for the whole time.

Having watched the three Michael Caine movies of the "unnamed British agent" (affectionately known as Harry Palmer) I started to make my way through the books, and after listening to Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain, I turned my attention to Horse Under Water.

This one I was going totally blind into, so had no idea about the plot in any way.

The story starts off very strong, with our hero in Morocco setting up a deal that could see a government coup happening in Portugal, with him going back to London saying that financing will be required.

The UK Government can not be seen to directly finance a counter government group, so a plan is made to salvage money that is thought to be inside a sunken German U-Boat off the Portugal coast.

After a few weeks of training to dive our hero goes to Portugal, and after weeks of searching nothing has been found, but a entry in the ships log written in ball point pen makes our hero suspicious that all is not what it appears.

After this the plot shifts from a spy-thriller to more of a murder mystery story as a murder takes place during one dive and our hero is almost blown up when he gets into his car.

All in all a good story, but just not as gripping as Funeral in Berlin and very lacking compared to Billion Dollar Brain.

Good story, but very lacking

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wonderful narration, slightly confusing plot though, but still enjoyable. Would read another just for the humour, great descriptions and narration

Enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A well narrated post war story line of international undercover intrigue in the recovery of ..?

Intriguing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
gripping, top quality fiction. as for the narration, i could listen to this guy read the telephone directory and enjoy it.

excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
At fast the narrators attempt to replicate the voice of Micheal Caine was annoying but if you slow it down just a touch then it works to bring the book alive
Ultimately I loved it
On to the next one

Harry palmer book 2

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is so well written with descriptive phrases that stick in the memory for life.

Rivering

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If all you know about Harry Palmer is Michael Caine’s portrayal then think again. Len Deighton’s answer to James Bond is the perfect blend of cynic and idealist in a crumbling post-war Europe that’s still feeling the pain of all out war and still has dictators ruling the Iberian peninsular. James Lailey’s reading borrows from Caine’s vocal patterns but his range captures all characters and he makes them come alive. Horse Under Water was never made into a movie, its plot, locations and subject matter would have made it problematic in many ways but in many ways it resonates as strongly today an when Deighton submitted the manuscript for publication. Very highly recommended.

Classic Deighton - superb period character and flawless plotlines

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A story of twists and turns well written with humour and wonderful descriptions The narrator was outstanding, probably the best I have heard on audible. His ability with accents was so good. An absorbing listen for a long Journey UK to Spain. Highly recommended.

Great Story brilliant narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews