This novel marks a return of sorts for le Carré. Firstly, it's a return to the topic of Russia, something that has been absent from the last few books he has written. It's also a return to his highly-stylized narrative, his great dialog, and decent characterization, all of which were absent from his previous novel, "A Most Wanted Man". However, what remains is still what I call an 'activist novel', which is pretty much what le Carré's last five novels have all been about. But this time it has been muted a bit and the plot takes a more predominant role.

Le Carré gets a lot of things right in this novel, and I think many long-time fans will be pleased. There were, however, two items that disappointed me. One involved a subplot regarding the money launderer's daughter, which could easily have been edited out. The other is that le Carré has pretty much ended his last five novels the same way. I think it's high time for him to give us something a little different as it's getting a little predictable now.

I say give this one a try. It's good, and you won't be disappointed. Really, I can't say enough about the narrative and dialog. It's worth the read for that alone. It's also interesting to read a few of the newspaper articles that are being mentioned with reference to this novel just to see how close to reality le Carré really is with this plot.