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thisisstephenbetts's review
4.0
Going back and swooping up the le Carrés that I've chronologically missed. This one (with The Naïve And Sentimental Lover) falls between The Looking Glass War and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Set in the contrived, and now barely memorable, West German capital of Bonn, the plot explores the post World War II landscape of Western Europe. It barely touches on the USSR and its Eastern European allies, but is much more interested in what should be more friendly relations - both in allied countries, and also between departments of the same country.
One of the UK's low-ranking diplomats in Bonn has gone missing, and a hard-bitten spy, Alan Turner, is sent from London to investigate. The permanent staff in Bonn seem to be more keen to avoid a scandal than discover what happened, infuriating Turner, and allowing le Carré to excavate some of the class divisions that run through so many of his books.
This feels to me something of a stepping stone toward Tinker Tailor - the plot - and its structure - is becoming more complicated than in the earlier books, and the characters more morally nuanced. Additionally there's a significant amount of internal monologue which I don't remember seeing in other le Carrés. For me, while not unsuccessful, it did detract a little from the cleanliness, the suave efficiency of le Carré's prose.
One of the UK's low-ranking diplomats in Bonn has gone missing, and a hard-bitten spy, Alan Turner, is sent from London to investigate. The permanent staff in Bonn seem to be more keen to avoid a scandal than discover what happened, infuriating Turner, and allowing le Carré to excavate some of the class divisions that run through so many of his books.
This feels to me something of a stepping stone toward Tinker Tailor - the plot - and its structure - is becoming more complicated than in the earlier books, and the characters more morally nuanced. Additionally there's a significant amount of internal monologue which I don't remember seeing in other le Carrés. For me, while not unsuccessful, it did detract a little from the cleanliness, the suave efficiency of le Carré's prose.
webjoram's review against another edition
4.0
Aunque este libro ya tiene unos años, el dilema que plantea sigue estando muy vigente. Obviamente los personajes y las motivaciones pueden cambiar pero al final nos encontramos con la misma disyuntiva de siempre: el dinero y el poder siempre prevalecen sobre los principios morales y esto es algo que John Le Carré ha sabido reflejar muy bien en esta novela.
lilyisreadingsomething's review
3.0
Le Carre is the grandfather of all spy stories. Although a little slow paced, the story has enough depth to keep you involved. Unfortunately I think the female characters get stranded in typical gender stereotypes and none of them have enough spark to make you think they're anything but filler. However, Carre has great insight into the intelligence community and all the drama rings true.
sandin954's review against another edition
4.0
Tension filled cold war thriller set in Bonn during the late sixties. Started a bit slowly but, during the last quarter of the book, all the plot threads blended together for a really well done ending. I listened to the audio version read by one of my favorite narrators Simon Prebble
barts_books's review
4.0
The small town in question is Bonn. A sleepy province down the Rhine from Cologne which, to the bafflement of many, was chosen as the Post War capital of West Germany. A minor British embassy worker, Leo Harting, has disappeared with a significant number of confidential files. Sensing a Soviet mole a spy catcher from the Foreign Office, Alan Turner, is sent to investigate. All whilst set in time when there were genuine concerns the Far-Right could rise again in Germany and ex-Nazis remained free and in positions of government.
Turner is probably one of my favourite Le Carre creations. A tough, no nonsense Yorkshire man he is met with suspicion and downright dislike by the civil servants and diplomats in Bonn, but his unrelenting interrogation style yields results. Slowly, amongst the petty politics and social engagements of the embassy workers, a picture emerges of Leo Harting and the potential reasons for his disappearance.
I think on reflection this is an important bridging work between Le Carre's early Cold War classic thrillers and his Smiley/Karla trilogy. And they are classics; no-one captures that unique grubby sense of moral ambiguity better than Le Carre. In hindsight I just wished I'd approached this first after reading 'The Spy Who' rather than jumping into to the labyrinth density of 'Tinker, Tailor'.
Simply put: another fine, memorable Le Carre novel.
4.5 stars.
rocketiza's review
4.0
This was an odd/interesting one for me - it was better than his early mystery novels, and as intricate as his espionage novels, but written a bit more viscerally than his other works that I've read.
hein's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcohol, Murder, Genocide, and Antisemitism