Horse Under Water Horse Under Water Horse Under Water (1963, , ) is the second of four Len Deighton spy novels featuring an unnamed British agent protagonist (named Harry Palmer in the film adaptions). It was preceded by "The IPCRESS File" and followed by "Funeral in Berlin". The novel is set in 1960, mostly in a small fishing village in Portugal, which was then a dictatorship led by António de Oliveira Salazar. It retains the style of "The IPCRESS File" — multiple plots twists, Gauloises cigarettes, grimy, and soot-stained British winter. In common with several of Deighton's other early novels, the chapter headings
The IPCRESS File his attempt to sell information to the protagonist had been a test of his loyalty, which the protagonist had passed by rejecting it. The novel ends with the protagonist concluding his report to the Minister, revealing that Jay has turned and began working for the British, while Dalby has been executed and his death covered up as a car accident. In 1992 Deighton said that the inspiration to write the novel came from his real-life neighbour Anna Wolkoff, a White Russian émigré who collaborated with a cipher clerk from the American embassy to spy for Germany in World War II.