Author : John Le Carre
What is it about : My favourite author's latest installment, could be seen as a "prequel" to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold - without a shadow of doubt, the all-time classic spy story. The legendary spy master's right hand man, Peter G., found himself to be the subject of a series of legal finger-pointing. Being recalled back to London from his idyllic retirement haven in France, he was forced to confront all the demons in his younger days and any skeleton-in-the-cupboard thirty years on, not yet out in the daylight. In a nutshell, the offspring of his friends/foes caught up with him and demanded answers and compensation of the innocent blood spilt all those years ago, but was Peter being made a scapegoat or was he really to blame ? Was the fatal Operation in question, a five-star cock-up or was it execution-par-excellence up till the last minute ? Read on.
Some thoughts after having read the book : The danger, nostalgia, despair, manipulation, cynicism, in the world of spy-craft which made this author's novels so memorable, were all there to be found. The description of the helplessness, self soul-searching of Peter and the eventual answers he seemed to have found along the way, past and present, made this book a riveting read. Having read so many of his novels, I treated the characters herein with much familiarity - Control, Smiley, Bill Haydon, Jim Prideaux, Alec Leamas; very much liked to say : hi there, long time no see !
Would I recommend this book to you : I guess as a first book for newcomers to this odyssey into the times and atmosphere of the Cold War espionage years, might be a bit far-fetched, confusing even; as the characters in this book had not been as well and fully formed (except Peter, the narrator himself of course) as in previous installments. In my opinion, however, still very much readable and excelled in capturing your undivided attention, definitely enticing you to start reading from his first novels.
