The first John LeCarre that Ive read [twas more than 10 years ago] was Our Game. His characters in this book get tremblingly jealous, nauseatingly vengeful, furiously indignant. The protagonist himself is languishing on moral dilemmas. I have read Constant Gardener, Tailor of Panama, Absolute Friends, since, Our Game remains his strongest for me... until this one.
Some people, as with Absolute Friends and Constant Gardener, would probably dislike the book for its ending. Lecarre could have wrapped it up differently by revising just the last 20 page, and the book will sell a couple of hundred thousands more, but LeCarre chooses the most plausible ending that he thinks happen today (same case for his the books I mentioned above). It's his own little way to fan the ember of activism and awareness/alertness on what's happening.
Well even if you don't like spycraft stories and the political underpinning in the book, you will still enjoy the very human characters. They are brilliantly framed, most probably rigorously pre-studied, and the drama is taut. This book is guaranteed worth your while.
To us who work 8am to 8pm, we cant really hope to finish a novel anymore in one week. Much less, expect to start it. But how LeCarre waves real breathing people will take you to finish a book once you started. The tension is always there even without the gunfights and explosions. Last 75 pages especially are fire-y, frenzy.
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