Re-reading le Carré


John le Carré

A Most Wanted Man

Hodder & Stoughton 2008, 340 pages

 

This week I took A Most Wanted Man from my shelf in order to read the book flap and skim through the book, just briefly, mind you, to bring back to mind what it was all about, as I plan to watch the movie this weekend.

Well, I read the first few pages, then the first chapter, and because all was quiet in the house, I kept on reading, and once you’re in, you’re in…


(And yes, my first words after seeing the movie will probably be: The book was much better than the movie. But it was filmed in Hamburg.)

Here’s the text from the front flap:

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 round 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.

 

Here’s a link to Hodder & Stoughton’s website where you can read the first chapter of the novel and get hooked on it yourself:

https://www.hodder.co.uk/Articles/First+Chapter+A+Most+Wanted+Man+John+le+Carre.page


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