I received this book as part of a promotion from Penguin Press in exchange for an honest review.
I'll be honest, I'd never heard of this author or the I received this book as part of a promotion from Penguin Press in exchange for an honest review.
I'll be honest, I'd never heard of this author or the series that this book is in up until I received the message from the good people at Penguin asking if I would be interested in reading it. It was described to me as a John Le Carre-esque thriller, and while some of that certainly is true, that sentiment doesn't ring true throughout the whole novel. The Searcher is a book that is both good and bad and while there is a lot of good within these pages the issues I do have are more reminiscent of a first time novel than the third book published by an author.
The searcher is an excellently written book and hits the sweet spot between under explanation and description and over explanation and description. Mr. Jones does an excellent job painting the nation of Georgia as a beautiful country, full of picturesque landscapes and cities full of beauty and history. He is also able to quite clearly paint an image of the events in the readers mind, making the desired "Movie in your head" experience come to full fruition within his pages.
Mr. Jones was also able to write one real hell of a first and third act, the first 50 and last hundred pages are really really well developed and do indeed make you want to continue reading. Mr. Jones is able to present the old and tired fish out of water scenario in the beginning of the book with a fresh and exciting twist, showing just how wrong a situation can turn in a country that you dont understand. That same excellence is repeated in the ending hundred pages of the book as the main characters are put through another hellacious crucible in which you just want them to catch a break.
Unfortunately it is the second act, where tensions are at their lowest, that this book really takes a dip in quality. Largely the biggest issue is that there simply isn't anything that makes you want to continue reading, the protagonists quest is obviously still active but for most of the middle of the book Mr. Jones doesn't give us that piece of information that we want solved. There is no kernel of information or vital question that we keep turning the pages to find the answer to, instead what we get in the middle of the novel is a string of random events that either make no sense to the overall plot or yield no information at all.
These issues manifest in conversations that give us no new information, "leads" that either take the protagonist nowhere or aren't well explained, and my personal favorite, the insane things that happen with no explanation at all. There are two major occurrences in which the latter takes place to an extreme degree and I'll write them out because they literally have no bearing on the story.
At one moment our protagonist is kidnapped by two men, driven out to a factory, a dog is killed in front of him and thrown in a vat of acid, the two men then threaten to drop him in, but then they hoist him back up and just tell him to leave the country. Then, later in the novel, a would be assassin attempts to stab someone in the street, the protagonist resolves the fight, and the duo simply leave. Both of these moments are never explained, we never learn who perpetrated either event, who set either event up, and neither even its resolved in any way by the end of the book. It's that kind of writing that reminds me of a freshman effort and not the overall well written nature that this novel has.
The Searcher is the kind of book that you'll find in airport book stores, its not all that long, its reasonably well done, and if you pay attention and put some time in you can really really enjoy it. It seems to me that Mr. Jones hasn't totally honed his craft yet, he is definitely an author that I would recommend paying attention to as his potential is huge. The Searcher has a good beginning, a great ending, and some real excellent writing, the only thing holding this back from being an excellent book are some issues with the plot. ...more
The advent of 24-hour cable news networks after 9/11 marked themselves as a major step forward in the news gathering world. These networks were primarThe advent of 24-hour cable news networks after 9/11 marked themselves as a major step forward in the news gathering world. These networks were primarily invented for events like 9/11, so that the American people would be able to get the breaking news for major events almost instantly. These networks also created a new society where the demand for information and instant gratification increased to an all time high.
Gone were the days where the military could take its time with operations, gone were the days where the government could carefully plan to release a piece of information, and gone was the old world we had before 9/11. Back in World War II and the Cold War government intelligence operations had time with which to develop resources, they had time to make headway in operations and they had time to get solid intelligence they could use in their fight against the Nazi's, the Japanese, and the Russians.
But not only did the society change but the war did as well, in a post 9/11 world you could no longer measure your victory by inches of territory taken, you could no longer figure out how many tanks, troops, ammunition, and weapons your enemy had. At the beginning of Vietnam and forward war effectively became a counting contest. How many have we killed? How many have they killed? How many have we arrested? How many have spilled information after interrogation? And all those questions rolled across the ticker tape on those 24-hour news networks.
We no longer have time to develop resources and make lengthy operations, in a world with a society locked to Fox and CNN they want answers now, they want results now, and they want to know how we are doing now. So our intelligence communities resorted to making arrests, find the bad guy and lock him away; You may not get any major intelligence out of him and it may have made more sense to make him defect and use him to feed you information from the inside but at least the people at home are happy.
In a world that demands instant results that's what you get, a whole lot takedowns and arrests that barely move us forward. That is exactly what A Most Wanted Man is about, that concept of old school intelligence vs. new world order intelligence. When a half starved escaped Chechen turns up in Hamburg it's up to Gunther Bachmann and his team of spies to figure out why he's there and what he plans to do. Gunther wants to use the Chechen to rope in bigger targets and use the bigger targets to rope in even larger ones.
It takes a minnow to catch a barracuda and a barracuda to catch a shark
But his superiors and the American and British intelligence services don't want a long game, they want the results of a short game and this book depicts a struggle like that in a miraculous way. I've now read three of Mr. Le Carre's novels and all three of them have a different and unique voice, an accolade that doesn't belong to many authors. The writing in this one is an improvement over Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, in that novel the writing would go on for too long, often ruining the middle of a conversation. In A Most Wanted Man there is just the right contrast of writing and dialogue to form a perfect medium, and very quickly I found it extremely difficult to put the novel down.
All of the characters are really well put together and all have the backstory and dialogue necessary to make them feel real. In particular the character of Gunther Bachmann is great, I cant really put my finger on it up his character is so well done that above all else I loved his chapters the most. My love for that character also leads to the one and only complaint that I have about the novel, there isn't enough Gunther Bachmann for the first two thirds of the novel. I definitely understand why Mr. Le Carre wrote the way he did, the novel was more about the Chechen and the people surrounding him but I always found myself looking forward to Bachmann's chapters more than I did the others. I would have ended up giving the novel four stars but by the last two thirds Gunther was much more present which retained my enjoyment to give it five.
A Most Wanted Man isn't just about the story told, its about the clash between old world ideas and new world ideas, its a clash of the old and the new as it relates to the US's interaction with other countries. It provides a critique on how the US and England interact with other countries and how we do assert ourselves in ways that we probably shouldn't. It's a fantastic critique on that very idea and it brings forth a conversation that needs to happen before it's too late. There is more that this book says about post 9/11 ideals in it's end than I can ever say in a review, and if you do read this book for any reason, it's ending is an incredible one.
Life is a strange but wonderful thing in which not only are we all a part of but are all intertwined together through a series of connections. The worLife is a strange but wonderful thing in which not only are we all a part of but are all intertwined together through a series of connections. The word Sonder is defined as the realization that every single random passerby has a life as vivid, complex, and real as your own. It is populated with ambitions, friends, routines, worries, fears, and above all, life. The lives around us continue and continue and are shaped like an anthill under the ground, infinitely complex and dazzlingly intricate. For a moment we can be a part of their life just as they are ours, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, or the man who reminds them that they dropped something.
I bring this term to the forefront when I write this review because The American is built on the principles of Sonder. A man who is a loner, quiet, no connections, but you know he has a life and you play a part in it as that extra when you see him walking through the market or leaning at a bar nursing a cappuccino. This is a book about men like that, the bystanders, the background fillers, and what we would know if we could just envisage what happens when they go home.
I wont describe the plot to you because I think this is a story best read if you know less about it when you go in, the turns and subtleties that you read have more weight and more impact when you know less. The story is framed as if you finally went up to that background filler and asked him who he was, our protagonist is speaking directly to us and its all as if your sitting across from him over dinner in a sleepy Italian café.
The American is a quiet novel, and what I mean by that is this: There are no explosions, no massive gunfights, no double crosses set to a meeting with a villain stroking a cat. This novel is not about the highlights of a criminal seeped in intrigue, this is a novel about the end of a criminals career and its seeped in realism. We hear about his exploits, yes, but its his musings on life, death, religion, happiness, peace, and meaning that make this book such a subtle and beautiful masterpiece.
At its very core The American is about life, it is about end of life, it is about love, it is about the history of the world and what we can do in order to play a part in it. Mr. Booth writes with the words of a poet as he describes anything from a woman to rain to the sweet perfume of oil coming from a freshly cleaned gun. This is not a novel for everyone, I know that, but its one that I could recommend to almost anyone. It serves as a deeply intense character study not just into the protagonist but life itself and the connections between humans, and its one of the most beautiful works that I've read on the subject.
It has beautiful language, excellent descriptions, realistic characters with real motivations, a romance that actually feels real, and a twisty end that I honestly could never have expected to happen. The book may be called The American but the events that take place in those Italian mountains wont leave my mind for as long as I can remember them. ...more
This is perhaps one of the most surprising Bond books out of the five that I've now read. I wont explain all of why its surprising because I think itsThis is perhaps one of the most surprising Bond books out of the five that I've now read. I wont explain all of why its surprising because I think its better to be just as shocked as I was when you read it rather than know going in. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the second entry into the infamous Blofeld trilogy where Bond finally meets his match in a dastardly villain.
After the events of Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me we find 007 back where it all started, The Casino Royale. This choice to return to the casino is framed by the writing of his resignation letter from the secret services, he feels as though he's finally had his fill and wants to spend the rest of his life abroad. This is also when he meets Tracy, a young depressed girl who races him on the country roads leading to Royale. This chance encounter leads to a conversation with her father in which Bond learns where Blofeld has taken up residence after operation Thunderball, and under the guise of a records man looking to confirm the new Blofeld's claim to a family dynasty he fly's out to the mans hideout.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is different from most of the Bond books for two reasons, it's much slower paced and it's a lot more emotional. As I mentioned above the story is framed by the writing of his letter of resignation and for a lot of the book James is contemplating life after the completion of the current operation, and all of this makes for some really intelligent writing about a life after service in a life of secrets and action. James doesn't really want to be up in the alps but he knows that he must, that if is isn't there then Blofeld will be able to do whatever he wants, and James, for what is probably the first time ever, has a crisis of conscience between preserving his own life and taking down a threat that he knows affects everyone.
The second part of what makes it different is the pacing, most Bond books do have a period of slowness where he investigates, but almost all of this book is investigation and meetings surrounding the events that we know are happening. The action finally comes at what is probably the last twenty pages or so and it really only serves as a bookend to what we've been reading for the past hundred and fifty. Action comes and goes very quickly but its not without reason, clearly this Blofeld is not only hard to track and pin down but he also has the ability to evacuate quite quickly if need be and Mr. Fleming writes the ending of this story with that in mind.
The only problem I had with this book was that it seems to fall in a weird place between a character study and an action novel, almost as if it wants to have its cake and eat it too. I would have preferred more of cliffhanger as the team returned to the mountain with more time focused on James than to have it split so suddenly. Other than that minor complaint its quite a fantastic little novel.
This book, ultimately, is about the character that you've come to know for eleven books. Its about his insecurities as he grows older and what he really wants beyond a life of espionage. Mr. Fleming humanizes Bond in this book and I think that was a great choice, seeing the layers of stone peeled back to see the real human underneath. Plus the ending features quite the gut punch, that comes as total devastation after warming to this newer version of 007. Read it and I'm sure you'll feel just as I did, and you'll truly hate his arch nemesis. ...more
I am supremely disappointed with Mr. Fleming at this particular junction in my reading career. For a long time now he has consistently been one of my I am supremely disappointed with Mr. Fleming at this particular junction in my reading career. For a long time now he has consistently been one of my favorite writers and James Bond one of my favorite characters of all time, and this was a tragic, wasteful, entry into the series. I will have to do my best to keep my anger down as I write this so bear with me.
The Spy Who Loved Me is the most unique Bond book for a couple of reasons. The Novel is told in first person, the point of view is of a woman, there is no master end of the world plot, it takes place over a six hour time period, and its very short. The novel centers around a young woman who finds herself alone on the last day of sleepy little motels season, tomorrow morning she will leave the motel and move on with her life. Suddenly two men appear at the door and begin an evil plot to end her life, but will subject her to a bad time beforehand. James Bond finds himself at the motel as well with a flat tire and the tension begins.
Let me start by saying that you could easily throw out seventy of the pages of this book, there is no reason for them. In the beginning of the novel, after we are introduced to the protagonist, we are subject to her entire romantic history with three particular men. This history is horrendous to read, misogynistic, and drags on with no purpose other than to titillate the more depraved readers.
The second part of the novel, aptly called them, is actually when this book becomes readable. There is now a reason to read as danger has been introduced, but that doesn't make it any better. These two men are evil scum of the earth who clearly only want to harm this woman badly before her eventual demise, and its quite awful to have to read. I have no idea weather that was purposeful to make the reader hate the two assailants but I can certainly tell you that parts of it were just awful to read.
The most interesting part of the book comes at page 89, more than halfway through the whole thing, when James Bond actually shows up. I actually liked from this part to the end because it gave me a clearer sense of who James was to the outsider who hadn't met a man like him before. You also get to see how he operates when he's thrust into a situation unexpectedly and its actually quite a joy to read.
But of course Mr. Fleming has to go ahead and tear up all that I liked about the book when the conflict has been resolved, the scene where they sleep together (After the protagonist was beaten and almost raped) is absolutely horrifying to read, and especially one quote, which I wont bother to put here, made me extremely furious. But at the end of it all she ends up settling with the fact that she knew she could never be with James and once again its quite interesting to see the character from someone else's point of view.
Overall the book is okay, it isn't special and I certainly will never recommend it but for such an experimental idea it does work out in some places. Its quite interesting to see what happens when James comes across a random dire situation, and its supremely interesting to see the character from someone else's point of view. All of that, however, is dragged down by seventy pointless pages of sexual history, some really awfully misogynistic writing, and an awful sequence between James and the protagonist. This book would have functioned much better as a short story beginning when James shows up, it would have been much better received and I think I would have like it much much more.
I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone. ...more
Espionage and Africa, not a common combination such as peanut butter and jelly, but if anyone could do it, it was Mr. Le Carre. For a while now I've bEspionage and Africa, not a common combination such as peanut butter and jelly, but if anyone could do it, it was Mr. Le Carre. For a while now I've been trying to get around to reading one of the master novelists works (Two are still sitting on my shelf) but had never got around to it. I finally picked up The Mission Song and was not disappointed, but rather a little confused.
The Mission Song concerns a young migrant from the Congo, specifically eastern Congo from a province known as Kivu. This young man has found himself as a data bank of languages and is employed by the British government as a translator in their many "Chat Rooms". One day his supervisor asks him to go undercover on a mission and translate for a syndicate holding a meeting on a faraway island. What our protagonist doesn't know is that the meeting will concern the fate of his former country.
All of this sounds well and good on paper, and while Africa is certainly a hotbed of corrupt government, genocide, war crimes, and war itself it can be difficult to adapt that into a novel. I did, however, have faith in Mr. Le Carre based upon all the acclaim he's gotten as a spy novelist. The novel certainly has legs and it certainly gives quite an interesting plot revolving around a potential coup but it really gets bogged down by details, all the little details.
As the reader you are introduced to so many names, so much history, so many syndicates, groups, and armies that it really can be hard to track. And I don't know if this was done to portray the confusion of what an interpreter has to do, and while I don't think that its not a stressful job, I simply don't understand why Mr. Le Carre would try to confuse his audience with the overload of information. My only other complaint with this novel is the lack of substance, we have a fantastic set-up and middle portion in which the fate of a country is discussed, and then once the protagonist leaves that meeting close to nothing happens, and the slow down is so evident. He tries to meet with people that he thinks will make a difference and none of these conversations, save for one, seem to carry any weight to the overall story other than to explain that people don't care.
Now what does the book get right? Well the history for starters. African history is all over the novel and the story does do a good job of explaining just what kind of a mess the country is in if it continues to go down the way it will go down. It is also spectacularly well written all the way from dialogue to description, and I did enjoy the style of first person in this case. The story is very well done and I did find myself caring about most of the characters, except for a particular romance I found wooden, and was entertained for most of the pages.
The Mission song is ultimately a good, solid espionage novel grounded in reality. There isn't any James Bonding here where there are explosions, car chases, femme fatales, and every other trope. The Mission Song is a real spy novel about real problems that have real consequences, if your a fan of slow burn espionage then you'll find yourself entertained. ...more
I cant really express how disappointed I was with this novel, when I first saw it in Barnes and Noble and read the description I thought that this wasI cant really express how disappointed I was with this novel, when I first saw it in Barnes and Noble and read the description I thought that this was going to be quite the spy novel that would deliver a short but good read. What I got instead was hardly that and while some of the interest of the premise remained nothing else really lived up to my expectations.
I don't know if its because I haven't read the previous novels in the series that I was lost but this at times was one of the most confusing novels that I have ever read. Mr. Granger continues to add characters throughout the whole book that muddle the structure and with all of those characters comes new subplots and storylines that make the book a mess of jumbled wire. Those storylines are all wrapped up by the end of the novel but I didn't appreciate how they just continued to show up, I never really felt like I knew when the story began.
The worst part of this novel has to be the writing though, there are times when the writing is just completely incomprehensible and your left wondering what the heck just happened more often than you should. If I could describe the writing it would be sloppy, the verb tense is never consistent, he uses parentheses when it doesn't make sense with how the story is being told, names of characters will be used multiple times in a sentence, and numerous other small details that could be quite easily fixed with a little care. Ultimately these little issues are so prevalent that in a way it ruins the experience of reading the novel and seeing where the story goes.
I also really disliked the way the story was told, the beginning held great promise with a Russian agent making the wrong kill but almost exactly after that it slows down so badly. We are treated to some of the most boring chapters about a mental institution in true Cuckoo's Nest fashion, to endless conversations about policy and jargon. The worst of all, however, has to be the disappointment of what the main plot is, the whole book your being told about an operation and a phrase and no one seems to know what they are, the final reveal is truely underwhelming.
The only real redeeming factors of this book are the very beginning, the very end, and the chapters that star our main character. But these moments are few and far between and the rest really feels very unbecoming of what could have a great story. I applaud Mr. Granger on the wrap up of so many plot points and the concept that could have been something great, but these things are overshadowed by all its flaws.
I think this is a good example of what happens when a writer forcefully tries to tell a story that represents the time in which its written. The novel has a lot to say about the shape of espionage in the modern computer era but it all seems so forced, none of it really feels like it belongs and the reader is left feeling very unsatisfied. The novel has too little action, too many characters, and not enough focus. There is some real good work here but you have to dig through a lot of paper to get to it....more
I think that my mind could be slightly bias because I loved the film starring Matt Damon, and as such I had very high hopes for its source material. II think that my mind could be slightly bias because I loved the film starring Matt Damon, and as such I had very high hopes for its source material. I was, however quite disappointed when I closed the back cover and shook my head in both disbelief and utter disappointment. I must also make a disclaimer that I judged this book independently of the film because I know that if I was rating it against the film it would only get one star.
Let me just get the elephant in the room out of the way, the book is a completely different entity from the film; I actually think that on a bare adaptation standpoint, the film is one of the worst I've seen. Aside from the differences from book to film my problem is simply the novel's lack of substance, it feels much more like a freshman novel than it does from a seasoned writer like Mr. Ludlum. This book will show some of the greatest flashes of brilliance only to let you down moments later. For example, Mr. Ludlum will be writing about some kind of conflict involving gunfire, death, and all sorts of action but almost always, at the middle of the description, it just becomes incomprehensible. There is a part at the end in which a character seems trapped by the main villain, and with no description whatsoever, the villain disappears and is replaced by a government official. I thought that the villain had been killed, but no, he someone made it out of confined room inside of a house with government agents crawling all over its interior.
Aside from the mere incomprehensible portions of the novel the middle of the book takes a giant dip in quality. Mr. Ludlum paints Paris as this giant turning point that Jason needs to get to in order to learn about himself, and yet he takes his sweet time with the bureaucratic processes of European banking before anything happens. The beginning of this book was absolute dynamite and I was really looking forward to the next four hundred pages, but as soon as they get to Paris this piece of fiction really drags it's feet. I will admit, however, that once the American government gets involved towards the end this book really picks up once again.
The only other complaint I have with the novel isn't something that I can say simply because it's a massive spoiler. There is a moment at the end of the novel where I thought that Mr. Ludlum was going to make a really risky and creative decision, in fact it was teased in the pages for quite a while. However when it came down to the moment it didn't happen and I was quite let down, not because it didn't happen but because the change felt like an afterthought (read it and you'll know what I mean).
What this novel did get right was some of the coolest set-ups ever, between shady CIA organizations and secret armies of deadly assassins this novel really had everything going for it. Bourne and his woman were well written in the beginning and the book really makes you root for him. Despite all of my gripes over the book I want to read the next ones simply because at this point I want to know who the villain is, and if a writer can make his or her reader want to do that then they've definitely done something right.
The Bourne Identity is a wholeheartedly average book, its the kind of book you pick up from the airport book store to read on a plane, but its still a good one. Ultimately The Bourne Identity is like the Fast and Furious of books, you'll read it if its in front of you, but most wouldn't go out of their way to experience it....more
James Bond seems to be a series that follows a pretty darn easy format, there's a plot that endangers either the whole world, or at least a part of itJames Bond seems to be a series that follows a pretty darn easy format, there's a plot that endangers either the whole world, or at least a part of it. That plot is being put into motion by a villain that fills the part of an evil mastermind, and then there's always a girl. Under normal circumstances that simple layout can often make a book series drab or less exciting because the readers feels as though they are reading the same book that they've read several times before. But Ian Fleming is skilled enough at his craft that he breaks the mold and is able to make every book feel new, fresh, and exciting; rather than the same recycled formula from so many editions before.
I think that what separates Mr. Fleming from other espionage novelists is simply his experience, for those of you who do not know Mr. Fleming himself had some experiences in the military during post WWII London. I think that it's this reason that makes him seem so seamless as he describes the in depth operations of what Bond is doing on his missions, and I also think it's this reason why no other predecessor to Mr. Fleming has come near being able to write as good of a Bond novel.
For those of you who do not know, the plot of Thunderball revolves around a terrorist group called Spectre. This group has just come into the possession of two nuclear warheads and is threatening to use them on two major cities if they are not paid a very large sum of money in gold bullion. M then sends Bond to a location where he feels the leader of this plot may be set up and the plot takes off there, there's a plot, there's a villain, and there's a girl; all the makings of a great Bond adventure.
I certainly love Bond and love the way that Mr. Fleming writes the character but in my reading so far none of the novels have come close to Casino Royale. Royale just had something to it that none of the others have seemed to capture in my eyes, but I do hope that I find one of the originals that does come close or even surpasses the book for while it is my favorite, I wouldn't mind company in the category.
I think that my biggest issue with the novel was simply the pacing, now I do understand that Bond cant just shoot up every single area that he thinks may be evil but there was a distinct lack of action in this particular novel. I did love the investigation and the ways in which Bond and Leiter attempted to figure out if they had the right man, but nothing really happens until the last twenty or thirty pages in the book and that was what left wanting more when I was finished. The novel wasn't boring at any point, the entire thing was enjoyable and fun to read as always but this final battle had been hyped for over a hundred pages and when it finally happens it fails to fill just over ten pages; I was just disappointed.
The original Bond novels are wonderful and I love to read them but this is one that I didn't so much enjoy as some of the others I have read. It was a good time seeing more of an investigative side of Bond but I was ultimately let down when I finally approached the climax of the story. If your a fan of 007 then check it out, but for casual readers of the series this one is skippable. ...more
This novel is the third in Mr. Fleming's James Bond espionage procedural and once again it doesn't fail to please. As always the setting is completelyThis novel is the third in Mr. Fleming's James Bond espionage procedural and once again it doesn't fail to please. As always the setting is completely on par with the other two books and it makes you feel like you're part of the SIS during the 50's. I must also give Mr. Fleming props on his ability to come up with a series of completely different and highly original plots. You never know whats coming next in this series and each plot leaves you breathless and waiting for the next.
The third in this series chronicles the SIS investigation into the Moonraker project, Britain's new ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) program. James is initially curious as to why the SIS would look into the countries own program but it is revealed to him that its head, Sir Hugo Drax, may be up to no good. The Mission is technically unsanctioned but Bond believes that if M is suspicious then it must be for good reason.
All the usual Bond tropes are here, a malevolent villain, a beautiful and strong female character, and a secret plot that could end the world. Bond must investigate all of these things and attempt to stop anything evil that he uncovers at the Moonraker base. The book doesn't contain the same amount of action as the first novel but instead focuses more on how Bond investigates a situation rather than his ability to fire a weapon. I enjoyed the book and it had me going until the conclusion but I still like the first book above this sequel, so for that reason I have to give it three stars rather than four. ...more
When I was a kid while all the other children were playing cops and robbers I remember playing spies and communists, hoping that one day I would becomWhen I was a kid while all the other children were playing cops and robbers I remember playing spies and communists, hoping that one day I would become a secret agent working for the US government. I wanted to be just like 007, chasing down bad guys in exotic countries, wearing suits and ties into casinos looking for clues, and keeping a Walther PPK strapped between my armpit and body.
When I finally was able to get my hands on the Penguin published first book in the James Bond series (which has some excellent cover art) I was giddy with excitement to start reading. This book was, after all, the begging of the franchise that started the movies I loved so much and the franchise that inspired my massive infatuation with espionage. I hoped to God that I wouldn't be let down in my reading and I'm pleased to report that I wasn't.
Mr. Fleming holds nothing back as he begins his monumental spy series by describing 007 moving through a casino as he makes large sums of money off the tables. This initial scene establishes Bonds eye for detail, his intelligence, and the cold calculating way of thinking that would become synonymous with the character. The novel then chronicles 007's attempts to bring down Le Chiffre, an equally calculating scum of a terrorist financier. The plot is brilliantly set up and executed through a high stakes poker game and by its finish it leaves you wanting to read the next book.
The book is a quick read that you could knock out in a days time but its easy to read format doesn't take anything away from the plot. Its full of elegant descriptions and wonderful action sequences but what Mr. Fleming really hits on the nose is the period, you feel as though you've been immersed in the cold and cruel decade of the 1950's, a time when most of the world was being overcast by the cold war. This period was also the height of modern espionage and Mr. Fleming takes full advantage of that fact.
Simply put, you cant call yourself an espionage fan if you haven't read at least one James Bond story, and where better to begin than the begging itself....more
Real spies dont wear primly tailored suits or carry small pocket sized weapons in case a deal goes wrong or drive super charged cars through the countReal spies dont wear primly tailored suits or carry small pocket sized weapons in case a deal goes wrong or drive super charged cars through the countryside of far away lands nor do they sleep with stunning women on every mission or take down a megalomaniac with plans to end the world. Real spies are older, middle aged men with a youth behind them who spend hours in rooms pouring over files on the latest operations with only the goal to know more about their enemy than their enemy does about them. Real espionage has almost never been the stuff of James Bond, Jason Bourne or Jack Bauer, real espionage is a war on paper. Those papers are simply the naval movements of a countries boats or the training exercises of their soldiers, the only goal is to know what your enemies are doing and, in the rare case, do something to intervene.
There are two major sections of Science Fiction, escapist Sci Fi and Hard Sci Fi. Escapist Sci Fi is like Star Wars, strange aliens coexisting with humans, inexplicable inventions, and a classic story-line of good vs evil with all the standard tropes of the hero story. Hard Sci Fi is almost the exact opposite, it is Science Fiction founded in some kind of reality, the author may have aliens but its almost always the story of our first contact with them. Hard Sci Fi has plausible inventions and real science and calculations behind what your reading.
I tell you that because I am starting to believe that there are also two sections to the espionage genre as well, escapist espionage and hard espionage respectively. On the escapist side you have all the J.B.'s who drive fast cars, bed fast women, fight the next growing threat to humanity who always has a master plan to stop. But for every Ludlum and Fleming in the world there is also a Le Carre, someone who has real experience in the field of espionage and paints the service as it actually is.
Of the two novels I've now read by the master I have realized that in both of them there was never a whole lot that happened, but that's because in real espionage there isn't a whole lot that does happen. Mr. Fleming may have had some experience in British espionage but I can almost tell you for certain that spying has never been like James Bond. The scalphunters, the ones that get handed all the dirty thankless jobs may be close to James Bond but they are still off by quite a margin.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a novel about real espionage, it almost all takes place as conversations between characters about one thing: A mole at the top of British intelligence. There are no car chases, the only women, save for one, are retired, married or cheating on their husbands. Guns are only pulled two times in all four hundred pages and there is little in the way of suspense; but this is an incredible novel.
Any author who is able to make simple conversations thrilling is one that deserves praise. If this novel was given to someone less capable then it would very easily become a piece of garbage, but Mr. Le Carre is able to turn simple conversation into something more and its probably because his characters are so well done and so thought out that you want to hear what they say. Each character in this story has a detailed backstory, where they came from, what they've done for the service, where their loyalties lie, and just about any information that you would want to know as a reader.
The dialogue is crisp, intelligent, and varies is structure and style from one person to the next. The writing is also superb, the prose and its style make the reader feel as if he's walking down a London street on a rainy grey day with his shoulders up to stay warm. It's a dismal setting and the subject matter of the novel is sad, spies investigating one another, but it is all very thrilling. It's also a slow burner, at over four hundred pages Mr. Le Carre takes his time crafting a world and giving us each piece of information step by step but the slow pace is also what takes the suspense out of the novel. There is never a race against time that will make you grip a fist till your knuckles are white, the investigative team takes their time because they know the mole is in no hurry.
The only issue that I have with this novel is rather minor. During conversation Mr. Le Carre will, quite often, interject a flashback or a long winded piece of character information. These usually wouldn't be a problem for me but they go on for so long that they would take me out of the conversation and when it would finally come back with the next piece of dialogue I will have forgotten what was being said last. It's a minor issue but it was prevalent enough that I had to drop a star from my rating.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy isn't a novel for everyone, hardcore fans of James Bond who would be expecting something similar need not apply. Instead Mr. Le Carre gives us a realistic take on the intelligence service complete with watcher, safety signals, moles, scalphunters, cleaners, postmen, and dozens of other terms that only add to the immersion. It's a slow burner with a good pay off and fans of that kind of book with rejoice....more
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