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    A Most Wanted Man
    A Most Wanted Man
    A Most Wanted Man
    Audiobook11 hours

    A Most Wanted Man

    Written by John le Carré

    Narrated by Roger Rees

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The acclaimed bestselling novel about spies in "The War on Terror"—now a major motion picture starring Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his final roles. The film, coming in summer of 2014, also stars Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, and Robin Wright.

    New spies with new loyalties, old spies with old ones; terror as the new mantra; decent people wanting to do good but caught in the moral maze; all the sound, rational reasons for doing the inhuman thing; the recognition that we cannot safely love or pity and remain good "patriots"--this is the fabric of John le Carré's fiercely compelling and current novel A Most Wanted Man.

    A half-starved young Russian man in a long black overcoat is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse around his neck. He is a devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is Issa.

    Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from deportation. Soon her client's survival becomes more important to her than her own career--or safety. In pursuit of Issa's mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in Hamburg.

    Annabel, Issa and Brue form an unlikely alliance--and a triangle of impossible loves is born. Meanwhile, scenting a sure kill in the "War on Terror," the rival spies of Germany, England and America converge upon the innocents.

    Thrilling, compassionate, peopled with characters the reader never wants to let go, A Most Wanted Man is a work of deep humanity and uncommon relevance to our times.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateOct 7, 2008
    ISBN9780743579261
    Author

    John le Carré

    John le Carré (1931 – 2020), born David John Moore Cornwell, was a British-Irish author. He spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld; at sixteen, he found refuge first at the University of Bern, then Oxford. After graduating with honors, he taught at Eton for two years before he was recruited into British Intelligence. In 1961, while still an MI6 agent, he published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, which introduced the world to George Smiley. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, spent 32 weeks atop the New York Times bestseller list and earned him a reputation as one of the world’s preeminent spy novelists. Though he declined all British-based honors and prizes, he accepted the Premio Malaparte (Italy) in 1988, the title of Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) in 2005, and the Goethe Medal (Germany) in 2011. Over the course of sixty years, he published over two dozen novels that would come to define an age; his final novel, Silverview, was published posthumously in 2021.

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    Reviews for A Most Wanted Man

    3.5/5

    67 ratings47 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a mix of opinions. Some readers find it absolutely terrible, comparing it to a poorly cut jigsaw puzzle. However, others consider it to be one of the best novels by the author, with current conflicts between law enforcement agencies. There are also some readers who find it a bit hard to follow. Overall, the book receives mixed reviews.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      This book is absolutely terrible. It reminds me of someone who wrote an outline, and it all made sense, and then executed on the actual writing and none of it came together, like a poorly cut jigsaw puzzle. Romances, spy plots, etc, no matter how many times the characters say what is happening is sensible and rational, none of it is, and it’s absolutely not worth your time. Love earlier le Carre but hoooly god is this bad.
    • 1/5
      Over elaborate , and who cares? 3 lines of story centred on a refugee, presumed Chechen: the lad himself, a Scottish banker resident in Hamburg who finds himself the fellow's sponsor, and the German police. The lad has had a complicated journey through various countries and their prisons, he's pretty inarticulate and a mystery - so far so intriguing. His host, a Muslim boxer settled in Hamburg, at first wants nothing to do with him, but then, somewhat randomly comes to consider him a brother. The banker is drawn in by some tie in his own past, also kept mysterious, and from being the cool- headed financier, switches to funding the lad, also pretty randomly. The police as so often in le Carr?, and perhaps in life, are embroiled in interdepartmental strife and u fathomable relationships, sexual and other. As reader/ listener I just couldn't get involved. Apart from the banker, the characters are ciphers, and even the banker's reactions are presented rather mechanistically. I used to enjoy le Carr?'s cold pessimism, especially Spy who came in, but this is overcomplex, lifeless stuff. I gave up.The reading by Michael jayston didn't help: characters poorly differentiated and almost every foreign word mispronounced.
    • 4/5
      A Most Wanted Man by John le Carre; (4*)A top notch thrilling story from a spy-master. Intricate plot, fascinating characters, all the twists and turns to keep you guessing and then hoping until the end. I loved it!
    • 4/5
      Very good overall but mixed feelings about this book.Obviously, this is probably the best le Carr? since The constant gardener. It is even getting close to the depth of his older works sometimes - but this comparison with the masterpieces of le Carr? is a bit tedious, isn't it?Whats is interesting and disappointing at the same time here is the cynism of the author and the lack of events in the novel.Where one would expect some thrilling and somewhat unbilievable spy story, it is a more realistic account of possible truth - hence being a bit more dull. Maybe something lacking in the emotinal picture of some of the characters, to be more compelling.
    • 3/5
      A Most Wanted Man is a present-day spy thriller set in Hamburg, Germany. The titular man is a Chechen, possibly a terrorist, certainly once a tortured prisoner, who has entered Germany illegally, revealed himself as the heir of a large amount of dirty money, and is thus wanted by the intelligence agents of three countries: Germany, Britain and the U.S.This was my first le Carre, an author who I am certainly familiar with, and I don't think this was the best one to start out with, to be honest. Le Carre's writing is clear, precise, and very readable, but this story was lacking in excitement and genuine characters. The only character who I could truly empathize with was the banker, who was having some sort of midlife crisis and seemed to only muddle through the intrigue he found himself caught up in. I couldn't understand the fascination that Issa, the wanted man, held for all the people he met, and the female lawyer who inexplicably falls in love with him seems two-dimensional in her flatness. Most frustrating of all, the main character, the disillusioned German spy, was a cipher to me, and I felt like understanding him was the key to understanding the book. On top of that frustration, I thought that the overall tone of the book was anti-American and way too black-and-white. I would have appreciated more nuance when dealing with the modern-day war on terror.I'm not sure if I'll try another of le Carre's books. This one seemed so promising, but ultimately disappoints. I will probably see the movie adaptation, anyway, since it is Philip Seymour Hoffman's last film.Book club pick (2014).
    • 4/5
      I've always been interested in why Le Carre is so popular. That's not to denigrate his writing, but rather to suggest that his books seem too slow, too serious, too English to consistently feature in best-seller lists. I'm also interested in what seems to be his shift to the left in recent novels. Here he offers a critique of the current 'war on terror', showing how the innocent are victimised, how the vaguely threatening are turned into global pariahs and the ethical are marginalised. I'm not sure he's offering a genuinely leftist critique of current US-British policy so much as a lament for the passing of old-style liberal espionage, but its good to see such a popular author challenging what's going on.As for the slowness I mentioned, there really isn't much that happens in this novel. It's satisfying nonetheless, heavily character based and moving towards a rather inevitable but still satisfying conclusion.
    • 4/5
      John le Carre bases A Most Wanted Man on a most unlikely premise. To depict the extent of Western xenophobia and scapegoating spawned by 9/11, he chooses to set this spy novel not in the country that was struck by the terrorists, or in the nations targeted by the ensuing War on Terror, but in the country that served as a way station for several key 9/11 terrorists. Hamburg, Germany, a city known for its openness to foreigners, is infiltrated by a fractured young man from Chechnya who may (or may not) pose the next grave threat to Western civilization. Young Issa's improbable entry into Germany, tenuous connection to Islamic radicals, and inherited right to a large secret bank account held by British-owned Brue Freres, place him in the crosshairs of German, British and United States intelligence agencies, each with its own mysterious agenda. When young civil rights attorney Annabel petitions bank owner Tommy Brue to release the secret funds and help protect Issa from deportation, Annabel and Tommy find themselves caught up in a multi-layered plot that tests their willingness to sacrifice their reputations and livelihoods for the benefit of this enigmatic young man. A Most Wanted Man succeeds not only as a sophisticated spy thriller, but also as a nuanced character study, provocative political commentary, and thoughtful examination of what it really means to be a moral human being. The writing is fluid throughout, and the well-constructed plot builds suspense even in the absence of violent action. The ending, though, left me with the impression that le Carre wound this tale so tightly that it jammed up at the climax and could not release properly. When this gets made into a movie, as seems to be the case with most of le Carre's books, the screen writer's challenge will be to devise a more fitting resolution to this fantastic build-up.
    • 3/5
      A quick read. Not much happens in this book -- probably intended to be more of a character development piece. I've read a couple le Carre books and now that I think about it most of them are character driven -- but this one particularly so. He was pretty heavy handed with his political commentary in 'Absolute Friends' which I found distracting since it appeared throughout the book; here it is a bit more constrained. I'm between 2 and 3 stars, but giving le Carre the benefit of the doubt.
    • 5/5
      Le Carre is masterful in his use of English; he almost seems to be using an evolved form of the language with the rest of us languishing behind. He sprinkles the work with phrases that could only be his--such as, "Life is a botch," rather than the more vulgar usage that everyone else makes do with. The author's complex plotting is legendary, and one does not find out who the baddies are until the last few pages. There are gradations of evil as well, the worst being what Le Carre, in another work, termed the "espinonacracy"; the administrative chiefs who fight for turf and budget and never have to experience, as the author puts it, "warm blood." Victims too endure different levels of suffering, from a person who has virtually lived in the torture-filled Guantanamos of the world to the street spies who are merely seeking to do their jobs (rather than their supervisors who don't care about right and wrong or promises made as long as they augment their power). Everyone is controlled by factors out of their control, and seeks to muddle through without losing too much self-respect. Some people, in fact, take advantage of a crisis to achieve a new perspective on life; others are painfully scarred by events and will never be the same. My one quibble is that Le Carre's oeuvre is so intellectualized, such a brilliant game of chess, that readers find it difficult to establish emotional bonds with characters--as some characters wonder around entire works trapped in an emotional void that is impossible to escape. The characters and the resolution of their crises are unforgettable, but rather than provoking an emotional response, the reader is left numb. Can people really be this horrible? That may be the way of the world, but it's certainly not escapist literature.
    • 5/5
      John Le Carre turns his still considerable literary and story-telling talents to the `war on terror' in his latest work. Set in Germany, a middle-aged ex-pat English private banker and a young idealistic left-wing lawyer form an unlikely alliance to help a somewhat mysterious illegal Chechen Muslim refugee when he turns up in ill-fated Hamburg. The Chechen has come to claim `black' bank account from the British banker with the aid of the lawyer. Their efforts quickly come under the eye of various counter-intelligence agencies: German, British, and US. Each agency has its own agenda in dealing with the trio. Le Carre does a nice job describing the nuances of the agencies' various modes, motivations, and interactions. One group of German agents, the good cops, wants to use the banker, the lawyer, and the Chechen (and the Chechen's money) to compromise and turn a prominent Muslim doctor with suspicious ties. The others, especially the Americans, have other ideas. Le Carre also creates an intriguing ambiguity as to who or what the Chechen really is. Is he a terrorist? A hapless victim? Likewise, with regard to Dr. Abdullah - is he a legitimate conduit for channeling money to leading Muslim charities or is he knowingly directing part of the funds to nefarious ends? I found the story less than compelling at times - in a word, put-down-able (if that is a word). The motivations of the banker and to a lesser extent, the lawyer to take huge risks are not entirely convincing. But then LeCarre has never really produced page-turners. The interplay of the anti-terror cops with one another and their victims (no other word for it, really) leading to the sudden and the powerfully disturbing denouement - a sickening kick to the stomach made all the more distressing by its realism - compensate for any shortcomings. Not on a level with Smiley's People, but much better than many of his post-Cold War offerings. Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.
    • 5/5
      The only thing that stops people from realizing that le Carre is in the same breath as any other great writer alive today is that he writes in a 'genre'... He writes so well, constructs sentences so perfectly, that it makes my head hurt sometimes. The guy just hasn't lost a step.I'm giving this five stars despite the over the top cartoony kind of anti-American ending he slapped on kinda out of nowhere. The rest of the book is that good. Really hope he's got a few more of these left up his sleeve.
    • 4/5
      Tightly written novel that slowly weaves illegal immigration, private banking, the legal system, and terrorism together. Reminded me a bit of Lorraine Adams' Harbor, as it shows how a character's circumstances can be entirely misunderstood, or purposely seen as hostile, because of our "war on terror" policies in Western nations. I still prefer the Le Carre's Smiley novels but this is definitely worth a read.
    • 4/5
      Not one of Le Carre's best. It's a simplified reworking of several themes that he's covered before. Unfortunately they don't benefit from the simplified treatment. We have the usual innocent (ish) runaway, pursued by the world's security forces; the naive bystanders eager to help the poor waif; and the corrupted agents trying to do the best they can in the world - holding off the combined forces of evil represented by their competing Agencies and the bad terrorists. There's a pretty girl and an attracted man, and a small town in Germany. (well OK it's set in Hamburg, but it is such a generic Hamburg that it could be anywhere.) You can guess all the rest quite clearly. It is again another screed bemoaning the overreaching US led anti-terror security forces. It's a short book (fro LeCarre) The characters are thin for Le Carre, the action also repressed, and the descriptions terse. None of this plays to his strengths. The slow plot meanders it way to the inevitable conclusions, without any of the twists, turns, mis-directions, or sheer personalities that Le Carre has inspired in his more memorable works. Skip this, and read Night Manager or Our Game, which cover the same themes in much better style.
    • 5/5
      Moral and financial complexities permeate this novel which carries with it a biting commentary on western foreign policy and particularly that of America. A follow the money journey through an archipelago of global banks both large and small who are subtly connected to vaguely named charitable organizations. Here too is the classic spy story, but it carries the more raw and violent edge of the post 9/11 era. One of the book?s main characters; the steely, ruthless and indefatigable German spy chief Gunther Bachman states ?we are not policemen, we are spies. We do not arrest our targets. We develop them and redirect them at bigger targets. When we identify a network, we watch it, we listen to it, we penetrate it and by degrees we control it. Arrests are of negative value.? And in the shadows there is the suggestion that we ?shake-down? and torture too and this has a decidedly more sinister and edgy feel than the interrogation of Bill Hayden of yesteryear. The reader gains a comprehension of the chronic paranoia which spawns the evil shadows in the closet sense of things (or not) which, in turn generates the motivation behind the actions of three western spy agencies in this story. This becomes a study in moral complexity, fear and policy. Do these agencies and their people become a monster in pursuit of one? If a person is 95% good and 5% bad does that make them all bad? Mostly good? Bachman describes what 5% ?bad? means in the real world when the author paraphrases his thought by saying that the public is protected from having to grapple with the dilemma which he concludes is the ?slaughterhouse blood washing over your toe caps, and the hundred percent dead scattered in five percent bits over a square kilometer of the town square (presumably from a suicide bomber).? 5% bad might lead to 100% dead being the inference. And so the psychology becomes amplified and finds itself to action and policy. So accustomed to their paranoia are they that truth becomes obscured. Maddening. Bachman wrestles with this dilemma; but the classic LeCarre character Mr. Tommy Brue and the German civil rights lawyer who defends the protagonist do even more so. Where does this leave us? Finally the reader is clear that the book?s protagonist, Issa, is (or might be) innocent but nonetheless has been sucked into the maelstrom of American lead extraordinary rendition and spying and this leaves the reader hanging. What is to become of Issa? We realize that the story might continue in some Egyptian or Syrian torture chamber and that there are many stories just like it and that justice has very well been compromised and perverted OR has it?This is as close to the ?old LeCarre? as I?ve seen among his most recent novels. It harkens back to the moral complexity and haunting questions of the Karla trilogy, or The Spy Who Came in From the Cold or The Night Manager. It?s very good, but it just squeaks into 5 star territory well behind of the aforementioned. It leaves me wrestling with a lot of important questions which out live the reading of the book. And that, I suspect, is the point. It is also what makes it so good and worthy of just getting into the 5 star zone for me.
    • 2/5
      John le Carre is in a class by himself as an espionage novelist; Tinker, Tailor, Spy and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold are great novels. Unfortunately, to me, A Most Wanted Man doesn?t hold up to this level. The novel starts far too slowly, and while the intelligence and moral ambiguity that are le Carre novels? hallmarks are present, G?nther Bachmann is no George Smiley, and the terrorist Issa Karpov is no Karla. It waits to be seen if A Delicate Truth is a better read.
    • 3/5
      I wouldn't evaluate Rembrandt based on paintings he did in kindergarten, and it seems similarly unfair to judge a past master of the spy thriller genre by the output of his emeritus years. Though I have known his name all my life, A Most Wanted Man was the first John le Carr? book I've read. I found it a steady, workmanlike novel, not the type of intricate, shape-shifting page turner I had come to expect. Its themes of Islamic terrorism and corruption are topical, but the characterisations are thin and the plot lacks a sense of urgency - never a good sign for a thriller.
    • 2/5
      Can't believe anyone gave this 5 star rating! Obviously not familiar with Le Carre's earlier works: Tinker, Tailor, Honourable Schoolboy, Night Manager etc. all FIVE STAR quality thriller-fiction. Sadly, Most Wanted was MOST definitely not so! Being polite this was mediocre Le Carre. The reader is short-changed from start to finish. Poor characterisation with the 3 mains hardly more than light-weight efforts, lacking description, vigour, emotion and wholly unbelievable for the "wanted Chechen" to have a relationship of any sort with the female lead - - she seemed to drift in and out of pages without reference to any reality of a life - - and the banker was never convicingly explained. As for the ending: Suddenly some Americans who barely got a mention for hundreds of pages are there in abundance and kidnap the wanted lad running roughshod over the principle German character in his own backyard! Sorry Mr Le Carre, but where've you been the last decade or so? Aside from their aggressive over-reaching military muscle, the Yanks don't get to play spy games in everybody's hometown anymore without permission. The ending bordered on risible and more or less confirmed my overall impression of the novel, the author was as unconvinced by the narrative as me.
    • 4/5
      A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carr? While A Most Wanted Man was a well written page turner it lacked the complexity I have come to love in Le Carr??s novels. Published in 2009 it was topical and I suspect it was the author?s way of bringing the practice of extraordinary rendition carried out by governments that keep quite about what they are doing and, when their actions are exposed, justify everything under the banner, ?The War on Terrorism?.Le Carr? gives the reader a glimpse of the shady world of international counter espionage and the pervasive nature of modern surveillance.A somewhat linear tale told by a master whose stories are not normally so straightforward.
    • 4/5
      This is a novel that readers need to be prepared to invest a considerable amount of time in because this is not a quick read. Although the book isn't terribly long, it is heavy going and full of detail. Is there a pay off? Not in the traditional sense. More of a thought provoker than a wrap up in the end.A young Muslim, of somewhat indeterminate origin is transported illegally to Germany. He hangs around the Hamburg railway station until he identifies a fellow Muslim, who happens to be Turkish, and follows him home.He and his mother take in the illegal immigrant because of their beliefs in hospitality and the Koran, but not due to any militant factionism or inherent Islamism. The young man appears to understand some aspects of the Koran and Islam and not others which is puzzling to his hosts. An attorney who works for a civil rights and human rights agency is contacted by the family. He has a letter of introduction to a private bank and a private account. He does not want to touch the money because it was deposited their by his father - a high ranking KGB member during the Cold War. The money is ostensibly blood money. The young man wishes the money to be distributed to organizations to assist Chechen's who have been affected by Russian occupation. But here lies the rub. Islamic organizations who do such work, also funnel money into terrorist activities. The banker who has inherited his father's private bank, likewise inherits his fathers connections with the British and German secret services. The young attorney is also pulled into the affair.And so begins the political, espionage and private machinations and interests that are at odds with one another. Each player ? the accidental hosts, the banker, the attorney and the illegal immigrant become caught up in the much larger picture of the post 9/11 world: stop the funds, thus halting the spread of terrorism.The end result is a series of moral quandaries that the reader must ponder. Is helping someone who appears to harbor no terroristic ambitions and who has been tortured for his beliefs and managed to escape, right or wrong? And further, what will happen to the hosts? Can one be labeled a terrorist for aiding someone by accident? What are the repercussions if the hosts are only on permanent resident visas to their host country?What are the roles of private banks in holding and laundering blood money? What responsibilities do they have beyond acting as responsible stewards for the money with which they have been entrusted? What is the role they play between ?old money? (in this case funds that have sat in cold storage for 50 or more years) and the transfer of that money back to areas from which it was misappropriated in the first place? How liable or not are bankers? What are their fiduciary trusts?How far can a civil right attorney go? At what point do personal feelings and agendas start to cross and blur lines with professional responsibilities? Is that kind of work ultimately soul crushing as individuals get caught up in larger political and social agendas? How far can an individual go to help and when does it stop being aid and assistance and start to be aiding and abetting?Then there are the macro pictures and agendas: politics, secret services, anti-terrorist organizations, intelligence services, police at all levels. Can they really identify what is a true agenda? Can they really stop the flow of funds without actually hurting people on the ground who need those funds to stay alive and to fight terrorism from their end of the pipeline?As I said, this book raises more questions than it answers. However, it is a great jumping off point for book clubs who might like to use fiction to discuss these questions. Or for discussion groups on world affairs, to use fiction as a tool to open up a discussion about how the world works. Especially the post 9/11 world. This is a four star read but if you want a neat, tidy bow on the end of the story - you will be gravely disappointed.
    • 2/5
      Solid spy thriller with a nice mix of mysterious characters from Chechens and Russians to a number of agents with the usual inter-agencies' rivalries. In the end though, the real villains turn out to be much more familiar. Good writing and pacing; lousy politics.
    • 3/5
      Plus some more of a star. There are quite a lot of characters in the book but they are all well drawn individuals so no trouble keeping track. And most of them are pretty interesting and pretty nice - which makes for some tension as John le Carre is not known for his happy-ever-after endings. I thought it was well written and enjoyed the intelligent exploration of such current issues as migration, refugees and security services.
    • 3/5
      Issa arrived in Germany with no past and access to large money. He didn't want the money as it was gained immorally according the the laws of Islam. The story unravels his past, and who he is, without providing a lot of definite answers. Issa is studied by several teams, oftenwith different interpretations of the past. This book is set in Germany, near the current time. It involves current issues, and feels typical for Le Carre's work. The story moves slowly at first, in Le Carre's style, there is little action, as subtlety and knowledge are key. The suspense builds well, but slowly. Not all of the questions are answered, but the events are clear.
    • 2/5
      This book was tough for me to get through, and the end was unrewarding. The story starts slow, introducing many characters, including intelligence workers from multiple governments, most of whom are trying to deceive each other. Around the halfway point, my interest engaged and took hold in the developing plot. Although I gave up on tracking the many peripheral characters, I was invested in finding out what happened to the central three characters. I was disappointed, then, that the ending came very abruptly, literally leaving some of the protaganists out on the street. There was no epilogue following up on these characters, so I was left still wanting to know what was going to happen to these people. This is the only book by Le Carre that I have read; I have heard others are better. I recommend skipping this one.
    • 4/5
      Le Carre tackles the territoriality and ethics of modern terror investigations with this story, set in Hamburg. He creates an intricate investigation and espionage operation that comes to a jarring end -- making a mockery of one spymaster's promise to a source: "We won't tell you all the truth, dear, we can't. But whatever we do tell you will be true."
    • 2/5
      This is the first John le Carre book that I have read (I have seen The Constant Gardener, but not sure if that counts in these times!). I really like non-sensationalist approach that le Carre takes in buiding a story around espionage and how the intelligence community around the world has been affected after the events of 9/11. This is in stark contrast to novel like The Afghan by Fredrick Forsyth.The book is very well researched, and as somebody who is interested in the subtle aspects of espionage and intelligence instead of the James Bond variety, I really enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      le Carre always shows the darkest side of the espionage business. No different in this work exploring the intelligence agencies activities in the so-called war on terror.
    • 3/5
      A bit hard to follow. Not the best by this author
    • 4/5
      Le Carre takes us into the squalid realms of the anti-terrorism intelligence in the 21st century. Issa, a Chechneyan refugee from Turkish and Russian prisons, has made his way into Germany. His late father was a notorious corrupt Russian military officer who looted Soviet finances at the waning days of the USSR and deposited millions in a Hamburg-based British private bank led by Tommy Brue. Issa is heir to this illicit fortune but wants to avoid claiming it because of its nefarious origins. He is being aided with his immigrant status by Annabel Richter, a public interest lawyer, who wants him to file a claim as she thinks this will aid his asylum seeking. Issa appears to be naive and somewhat ethereal and genuinely devoted to Islam. He says that all he wants is support for medical training so he can return to Chechnya to aid his people. Annabel falls in love with Issa and he with her, but a romance doesn't ensue due to his Islam beliefs.The German, British and American intelligence agencies have been following this young man and seek his capture as he is alleged to be a violent Muslim terrorist. Whether he really is a jihadist is murky but the intelligence crowd is anxious to nab him. There is a rift in intentions among his pursuers. One faction headed by Gunther Bachmann wants to use him for counter-intelligence, particularly to co-opt a prominent Muslim leader in Hamburg who purports to be a moderate but whom they suspect is funneling money to terrorist groups. The other authorities want to make showy arrests that will advance the public's attention to their competence in combating the War on Terror.Our British banker has been troubled by the dirty Russian money accepted by his late father. His marriage is failing and he becomes infatuated with the much younger lawyer. Both he and the lawyer are "turned" by the intelligence agents as they think by cooperating they can protect Issa from deportation back to Russia or Turkey where he will be tortured again. They agree to arrange a meeting between Issa and Dr. Abdullah, the imam who is a money launderer for the terrorists, where Issa will turn over funds to Abdullah for charities that are really a front for terrorists groups. Bachmann's intent for the meeting is to confront Abdullah in his crimes and use him to dig deeper into the finances of terrorists.In Le Carre's sly style the German, British and American operatives are working at deceiving each other as well as Brue and Annabel. The dramatic ending reveals a heavy-handed snatch by the Americans, Brits and some Germans that betrays Bachmann, Brue, Annabel and Issa. Manipulation, falsity and treachery are themes that Le Carre extracts from the real world of intelligence work.
    • 3/5
      If I were to sum up this book in one word it would be _unconvincing_. Le Carre continues to be weak in his characterizations of women and his treatment of the sympathetic Muslim characters seemed closer to magical realism than realism. I felt the author was substituting flavour for substance. It is not the ambiguity of the characters and the problems that I found disappointing -- it is the fact that I felt no insight into the struggles the different characters. Too many of the characters seemed to have no "there" and so I felt their choices were arbitrary -- that is to say that the characters acted in a certain way because the plot of the novel required them to do so rather than the plot arises from the nature of the characters.
    • 2/5
      Very solid, emotionally taught le Carré, right up until the ham-fisted, trite ending. I miss the old le Carré.