A Most Wanted Man

by John le Carré

book data

436 ratings, 3.46 average rating, 164 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		12%
4		38%
3		36%
2		10%
1		2%

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published

October 7th 2008 by Scribner

binding

Hardcover, 448 pages

isbn

1416594884 (isbn13: 9781416594888)

description

New spies with new loyalties, old spies with old ones; terror as the new mantra; decent people wanting to do good but caught in the moral maze; all th...more

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10/20/08

Chuckell rated it:

(review of isbn 0670069124)

Read in October, 2008

I feel like John le Carre is thought of as the grand old man of spy fiction. But his books really aren't what I tend to think of when I think of spy novels--they're always about world-weary bureaucrats doing grubby things that they know better than to be doing, about sad beat-up men whose best efforts generally just bring them, and everyone around them, more sadness. No high-tech gadgets or thrilling derring-do here--just an unhappy story with an unhappy ending. But gorgeously written.

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11/27/08

Mary rated it:

(review of isbn 0743579232)

The wanted man at the center of LeCarre's latest becomes a deeper mystery, even as more is revealed at every turn of the plot. Set in Germany, the book pulls in Russia, Chechnya and Turkey in its opening chapters. The storyline moves from international banking to Islamist intrigue. As the multi-national cast of characters struggle to make sense of the political twists and turns, none gets a full story of what is happening, and the key characters' motivations are a complex blend of each one's ind...more

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06/26/08

Eno Sarris rated it:

(review of isbn 0743579259)

I like LeCarre (Spy Who Came in from the Cold is great), and this one is centered in one of my hometowns, Hamburg. What's great about this book is LeCarre's unique analysis of post-9/11 spying, and all the red tape and International finagling that is going on. What's also good about this book, though, is that the characters are interesting and believable, and not just there to advance the plot.

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12/15/08

Erik Simon rated it:

Superb, if your'e into espionage, and if you are, you probably already know that no one does it better than Le Carre, except maybe Graham Greene when he aimed his pen in that direction. This book is a great yarn about the spooks in the newest incarnation of espionage, the "war on terror." The quotation marks were intended.

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10/16/08

Corny rated it:

bookshelves: thrillers

Read in October, 2008

This is not vintage Le Carre, not that we are likely to see vintage Le Carre again, with the author approaching 80. My standard for judging him is "The Honourable Schoolboy" which along with the rest of the trilogy constitute the finest spy novels I have ever read.
It seems he ran out of material once the Russians left the stage. Either that or the characters are simply not as compelling because he is no longer writing about "what he knows." The center of this stage is t...more

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10/03/08

Foodpie rated it:

(review of isbn 0743579259)

Read in August, 2008

A Most Wanted Man continues Le Carres exploration of the complex, often painful world of the post soviet intelligence community. Following the journey of a young man named Issa as he pursues his patrimony in Germany and unravels the lives of everyone involved in the process, A Most Wanted Man is as much a story of delayed judgment and unreserved conclusions as it is a spy novel. For those who have sinned there is no escape, not even in death. Secrets will be revealed, stories told, and the full ...more

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12/24/08

Jason rated it:

bookshelves: read-2008

Read in December, 2008

Never having read anything by le Carré before, I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew of his legacy, and I had seen The Constant Gardener (a film I quite enjoyed, though that was partly because of the gorgeous cinematography), but that was about it. So it was on the recommendation of an interesting review in the NY Times a month or so ago that I picked this book up.

I'm glad I did. A Most Wanted Man is a very striking novel about people trying to live their lives in a world that was ch...more Never having read anything by le Carré before, I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew of his legacy, and I had seen The Constant Gardener (a film I quite enjoyed, though that was partly because of the gorgeous cinematography), but that was about it. So it was on the recommendation of an interesting review in the NY Times a month or so ago that I picked this book up.

I'm glad I did. A Most Wanted Man is a very striking novel about people trying to live their lives in a world that was changed after the events of 9/11. For most people, this change hasn't been a personal one, but rather something ideological. Luckily, most of us only have secondary or tertiary connections to the horrific accidents, at best, and so the change that has occured has been in the actions of governments and the feelings of fear, anger, etc. that we feel.

So it is for the characters of this novel. We are introduced to Issa, who may or may not be connected to terrorism, and his lawyer, a German woman who desperately wants to save this poor man. We are also introduced to the intelligence community, mostly through Bachmann, a German intelligence agent, but there will be plenty more of his ilk by the time the novel is even halfway through.

What surprised me is how little action there is in this book. It isn't the Bourne Identity or even a Jack Ryan type novel. This is about conversations and surveillance. It succeeds. It digs into how agents are fighting amongst themselves, trying to save the world in the only way they know. Only everyone has a different idea and how this mishmash comes together to form policy is both realistic and frightening. More interesting are the people who get caught up in the game of intelligence through no real desire of theirs and how they are manipulated and how they try to manipulate. Does this book directly relate to most common people? No, but parallels can easily be drawn, though our lives are much more benign, much less fraught with peril and Islamic extremists.

I'll admit the vehemence in the ending is a bit...exagerated, though the action and the decisions make absolute sense to me. I cannot give it away, but it seems that it was the only way, really, for this book to finish. I raced through the end, desperate to know and I was satisfied in my racing. It's sad and it's sorrowful, but it's well done and it's beautiful as well. I shall be adding a few of le Carré's novels to my stack of books to read after this, because A Most Wanted Man is a truly good book worthy of consideration.(less)

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12/16/08

Tony rated it:

bookshelves: fiction-crime---detection

Read in December, 2008

Le Carre, John. A MOST WANTED MAN. (2008). ***. Despite all the great reviews this novel got for LeCarre, I thought it was rather boring. It’s really about the internal and intermural rivalries that go on among various security agencies from various countries, spawned by 9/11. The story is set in Hamburg, and begins when a refugee from Chechnia shows up seeking asylum with a Turkish family living in the city. He is an emaciated young man who has arrived illegally in Germany via Denmark,...more Le Carre, John. A MOST WANTED MAN. (2008). ***. Despite all the great reviews this novel got for LeCarre, I thought it was rather boring. It’s really about the internal and intermural rivalries that go on among various security agencies from various countries, spawned by 9/11. The story is set in Hamburg, and begins when a refugee from Chechnia shows up seeking asylum with a Turkish family living in the city. He is an emaciated young man who has arrived illegally in Germany via Denmark, Sweden, Turkey and Russia. In all of those places he had been incarcerated and tortured to one degree or another. We’re not sure what his crimes were, just that he needs to stay out of jail. His name is Issa (which, I learned, is the Muslim equivalent of the name Jesus) and he is quickly assigned an attorney from one of the civil rights groups in the city. Anna, her name, is a savvy, street-smart lawyer – although she turns sort of wimpy in the end – who advises Issa of his rights. Turns out that he wants to become a medical doctor, and, to this end, wants to lay claim to monies his estranged (and dead) father, Karpov, had secreted in a private account in a bank in the city after World War II was in its final stages. Karpov was not a nice guy, but he looked out for the future. Several of his fellow officers also contributed money to the same blanket account; code-named “Lippizanner.” The head of the bank has to get involved, of course, but during the course of the story manages to fall in love with the attorney – even though there is a disproportionate difference in their ages. Now we have money and a dispossessed person driving the plot. Enter the spy teams. Sniffing a sure kill in the “War on Terror,” the rival spies of Germany, England, and America converge upon these three principals. LeCarre is obviously trying to drive home some points here, but they are points we already know about. This lacks the tension and excitement of a typical LeCarre novel.(less)

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05/25/09

Christine rated it:

Read in September, 2008

There is a reason Le Carre is called the master of the spy novel. Even with the changing complexities of the international scene, his finger is firmly on the pulse of the intelligence community and the new challenges they face. In this novel, he highlights not only the increasingly complex problem of sorting out the terrorists from the merely devout Islamic community but also the challenges faced when competing spy agencies from several friendly countries become involved in a case. Le Carre hand...more There is a reason Le Carre is called the master of the spy novel. Even with the changing complexities of the international scene, his finger is firmly on the pulse of the intelligence community and the new challenges they face. In this novel, he highlights not only the increasingly complex problem of sorting out the terrorists from the merely devout Islamic community but also the challenges faced when competing spy agencies from several friendly countries become involved in a case. Le Carre handles these issues and more with aplomb in his latest novel, “A Most Wanted Man.”

The story begins when a strange homeless man (Issa) begins following two Turks as they make their way around Hamburg. The Turkish mother and son eventually have pity and take the Russian into their home; he claims to be an undocumented medical student and a devout Muslim. The truth about his origins and purposes remain murky throughout the story, but German intelligence suspects this illegal is a Jihadist with terrorist intentions. A pro bono civil rights lawyer from a German sanctuary group suspects he is the victim of political torture, a lost soul. The Turks believe he is one of them, a stateless Muslim destined to be unfairly treated by European authorities.

Complicating matters is a banking deal made between Issa’s father, a Russian Red Army officer and a British banker operating out of Hamburg. The banker, father to Tommy Brue, who now runs the failing bank, Brue Freres, made a deal to invest Issa’s father’s money and pass it along to his heir later. When Issa shows up in Hamburg, not only is his own sordid past dredged up, but that of the banker’s son as well. Issa sees this money as a vehicle by which he can help other Muslims, particularly Chechens, but also a way for him to fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor.

The German intelligence group who follow Issa are trying to use him as a tool to catch bigger fish, but the plan is soon co-opted by a number of other intelligence agencies, both inside of Germany and abroad. In the end, nothing goes as planned, not for Issa, not for his lawyer, not even for the German intelligence group. This commentary on the state of intelligence affairs, post 9/11, is telling indeed and what gives the novel its punch.

Le Carre has mastered the landscape of the Cold War to great success. Now, he has a new international playing field to write of, and he has taken his insight into the world of spies to new heights in “A Most Wanted Man.”. It’s clear that he is the master of his genre, with a depth and style of writing that surpasses most of the recent thrillers lining the shelves of bookstores everywhere. Le Carre retains his commanding position in the literary world and offers new understanding of what it means to be a spy in the 21st century.(less)

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12/06/08

George rated it:

Read in December, 2008

John le Carre has created in Issa his most enigmatic character yet, which is saying a lot for le Carre. Issa has more in common with Chauncey Gardiner in Being There than any character in any other spy novel you've ever read. He's a cypher in the beginning and remains a cypher until the end, but everyone reacts to him based on their own inner demons, rather than anything Issa ever does or says, and he remains the one innocent character out of the whole lot. And by everyone, I mean exactly that, ...more

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03/22/09

J. rated it:

bookshelves: europe, fiction, suspense-espionage

Read in April, 2009

A quandry here: the first two thirds of this is dull set-up and exposition stuff that doesn't manage to get the narrative flowing. A vaguely interesting counter-terrorism network is documented and arrayed against a not-very interesting suspect and his associates.

What keeps you in the book is that this isn't someone's early, earnest attempt at a suspense novel; this is a late work, from master John le Carré, who certainly knows his way around the chessboard. So there must be somet...more A quandry here: the first two thirds of this is dull set-up and exposition stuff that doesn't manage to get the narrative flowing. A vaguely interesting counter-terrorism network is documented and arrayed against a not-very interesting suspect and his associates.

What keeps you in the book is that this isn't someone's early, earnest attempt at a suspense novel; this is a late work, from master John le Carré, who certainly knows his way around the chessboard. So there must be something to it all, right ?

Well, yes and no. If the same skill & care that concocted the endgame here-- the riveting last third of the book-- could have been brought to bear on the exposition, this would be the best le Carré in a long time, a small masterpiece.

As it stands, the first two-thirds are spent pushing anonymous pieces around the board, adjusting the grounds for the endgame; I'd love to be saying here that it was like watching clockwork to see the pawns being guided into place, that it was a very sophisticated process to witness, interlocking parts gliding into place for the final set-piece..... but it wasn't.

All in all, the introductory parts are (purposefully ?) tossed out in a shambles, perhaps in an attempt to make the end more compelling. For me, this needed to be pared down to novella-length to show only the endgame, or expanded to five, six hundred pages to faithfully render characters & exposition in more than shorthand form. (Something to note is that the beleaguered hardback industry, which requires not more or less than 300 pgs as the standard for suspense, espionage, mystery fiction, --have a look at recent ones--- always prevails these days... Established author or novice, three-hundred pages. Sorry to say that novels don't come out later in director's cut versions.)

But le Carré knows his endgame like nobody else, and how to conduct his characters in the final act. The tone here is controlled, acerbic, and taut. If your patience holds through the intro chapters, the finale is beautifully structured, timed and rendered in short, devastating order. (less)

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02/04/09

Glee rated it:

Read in January, 2009

This is a direct lift from someone else who read this book -- it so described it for me, I thought I'd share....

"I feel like John le Carre is thought of as the grand old man of spy fiction. But his books really aren't what I tend to think of when I think of spy novels--they're always about world-weary bureaucrats doing grubby things that they know better than to be doing, about sad beat-up men whose best efforts generally just bring them, and everyone around them, more sadness. ...more

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04/11/09

Cindy rated it:

Read in April, 2009

The characters are a foreigner on the lamb, alleged to be a terrorist; a banker and a lawyer conspiring to do a noble act; a munificent cleric making a small mistake; a station chief with a thwarted plan. The setting is the modern German seaport of Hamburg post 9/11, referred to as "the second ground-zero" by a tenuous, fractured intelligence community struggling to prove it is no safe harbor for terrorists. How does an open, multicultural metropolis answer to the world for harboring ...more

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11/14/08

Maureen rated it:

Read in December, 2008

Even though espionage has long been held to be John le Carre's bailwick, his novels long ago surpassed the spy genre by squarely addressing larger issues of the human condition. A Most Wanted Man most certainly meets the standards I have come to expect from this author.

There are two sets of characters here: one is a Russian Muslim who has illegally entered Germany, his young woman attorney, and a banker for an old established private German bank that has failed to keep up with the t...more

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06/03/09

Jennifer rated it:

(review of isbn 0340977094)

Read in June, 2009

Really well put together meditation on espionage in the post 9/11 era...main character is a half-chechen orphan boy whose father, a russian gangster, has died and left him a substantial amount of tainted money. Everyone's looking for the boy, who is nicely drawn, subtly damaged, not a terrorist but not exactly safe and sane either. All the characters are quite complex and good -- the banker Tommy Brue, the boy's lawyer, the Turkish family who takes the boy in, and, in a cameo, a moderate Mosle...more

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01/08/09

Bookmarks Magazine rated it:

While this novel may be le Carr�s first take on espionage in Europe after the Cold War, critics could not be more divided over its quality. Alan Furst, himself one of the greats of the genre, opines that A Most Wanted Man might be one of the author�s best, not for its content so much as for its technical brilliance. But other reviewers panned the work, arguing that le Carr�s outrage over recent American intelligence practices distorts the plot and renders many of the characters as mere clich�s...more

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05/29/09

Caleb rated it:

Read in January, 2009

My mother gave this to me for Christmas. I have enjoyed the Le Carre lineage - Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene, Le Carre. They are the masters of the genre, making them psychological exercises, and studies of contemporary culture. They are not boosters of the master narrative a la James Bond, but expose the miss-steps and futility. Le Carre probably came closest to the Bond myth, but through the very un-dashing character of Smiley. This book examines the contemporary western obsession with Islamic ...more

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04/13/09

Jim rated it:

(review of isbn 1439144907)

Read in May, 2009

Le Carre's Herr Bachmann - "A man who makes the weather does not take kindly to having the uninitiated peering over his shoulder while he performs his magic".

Le Carre lays bare his character's attempts at pretense, personal choice and privacy. "A Most Wanted Man" is a spy-thriller for certain, but also a character study which acknowledges our inability to maintain privacy within context of our current need for information. In a world of patriot acts and varied rel...more

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12/27/08

Kathleen Gilroy rated it:

I became a fan of le Carre in my late 20s when I was introduced to the Smiley novels. I make of point of reading everything as it comes out. His great subject was the cold war and its intricate relationships and betrayals. Now that the cold war is over, the plots and characterizations just don't have the nuance and intrigue of the earlier books. This book is set in post 9/11 Hamburg and involves several intelligence agencies pursuing a mysterious Chechen refugee. If you must read all of le ...more

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01/20/09

Simon rated it:

Another great book from LeCarré, who shows no sign of slowing down with this taut, insightful, sad novel. As a longtime fan, I'm fascinated by the way the meditations on moral ambiguity, which is what his early Cold War novels essentially were, have been replaced by passionate avowals of moral outrage. Ostensibly about a young immigrant seeking refuge in Germany, and the banker, social worker and spy who become involved with him, A Most Wanted Man is a gripping novel that, while it lacks a litt...more

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