THE MASTER at work walking the razor's edge

[Peter]

I wouldn't be a sexy romantic crime thriller writer with a wine and cheese bent if it weren't for this exquisitely fine writer and gentleman. NOBODY DOES IT BETTER. Master John is a living cultural treasure. Correct, a LIVING CULTURAL TREASURE.

If the UK does not put his face on a postage stamp tomorrow then I'm flying to London to throw Pounds at small-minded clerks until they do. I'll look up their skirts and pop their myths and chill their beer. Hell, I'll send smoke-signals to the Queen and infuriate her lil dogs.

When I took an easy chair and opened Mr. LeCarre's new book, I gave my credit card to my kids and said Order Pizza and LEAVE ME ALONE. After midnight I warmed up cold pizza and started this discussion.

LONG LIVE THE MASTER. Thank you, sir. More please.

[Peter]

I reviewed this book yesterday with much the same praise, although I wouldn't hold my breath on the postal front. The English celebrate the dead more readily than the living. But for serious pressure, take away their tea.

Not to mention several of Le Carré's books have undoubtedly miffed MI6.

Since I am longterm fan, I thought I'd share this Daily Mail interview with the man himself:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/mosli...

[Peter]

A great piece. As is the documentary on the Yugoslav double agent that funded the WW2 wartime Circus with German money, the genesis of James Bond.

[Hnabbe]

I just finished reading John Le Carré’s latest novel “A Delicate Truth” which left a lasting impression on me. Famed for his uncanny ability to write in an entertaining yet reflective way about the shady machinations of hush-hush government agencies, the English author has chosen a topic which is indeed “delicate” to say the least. He constructs a fictionalized yet highly relevant yarn of the vicious inroad of private defense contractors into Her Majesty’s ministries, a state of affairs which still remains largely concealed. Indeed there seems to be a dangerous collusion between high-ranking government officials on the one hand and crafty as well as aggressive defense-contractors, on the other, which breeds not only corruption but also dangerous international situations. Just think of the inexcusable war against Iraq and the many armament firms and private security agencies which have been profiting from it.

John Le Carré’s “A Delicate Truth” brings this shady state of affairs to the fore through the complex interactions of a highly credible cast of characters. The chief villain of the novel is Jay Crispin an ex-officer and smarmy wheeler-dealer of the “terror-industry”. His strongest ally is Mrs. Spencer Hardy of Texas (otherwise known as “Maisy”) the billionaire owner of Ethical Outcomes Incorporated, a shady company of defense contractors. The other villain is Angus Quinn, a powerful junior Minister of the so called New Labour, who has access both to army procurement and secret intelligence.Out of sheer self-interest he becomes involved in the schemes of Crispin and his shady associates and as a result he supports their scheme which results in a disastrous special rendition project in Gibraltar. Rather than detailing the plot I would like to point to one of the most interesting characters of this novel. He is Giles Oakley, a career diplomat involved in hush-hush affairs, who even though critical of the wrongheaded foreign policies of New Labour, he remains for a long time sitting on the fence. After leaving the Foreign Office he ends up as a key executive of an “illustrious sounding” banking house. One of the key notes of the novel is the professed but ambivalent belief of some of the characters in patriotism, a patriotism which, however, cannot conceal a cynical edge.

The end of the story in which the institutionally concealed truth comes to light is open-ended; that I think adds a great deal to the credibility of Le Carré’s bleak story.

[Peter]

I so look forward to reading this. My reading season begins in October. THANKS

[Paul]

I was so disappointed by this book, and I've loved almost everything else he has written. The canvas was way too small; it was so much 'who cares' for me.

[Gilles]

Too many thrillers by other writers are about heroes fighting super villains bent on destroying the world or a good portion of it (yawn). Who needs anymore of that? I stopped reading Clancy, Cussler, Ludlum, et al years ago.
It just struck me that the focus of Le Carré’s recent novels, unlike thrillers by other writers, is never on geopolitical catastrophies in the waiting such as an India-Pakistan war or a nuclear Iran or a North Korean nuclear strike on Japan, or an Ebola virus attack on the U.S., etc. It’s as if other thriller writers need the crutch of an impending end of the world in the balance to sustain the interest of the readers. Le Carré needs none of these artifice. Although his characters and plot are set in the same dark and secretive world of spies, secret agents, field operatives and intelligence, his focus is often on expendable, down-on-their-luck, disenfranchised, voiceless, and marginal individuals crushed by much greater political and/or capitalist interests; e.g. an islamist refugee in “A Most Wanted Man”, a poor teenage girl in the Kenyan back country in “The Constant Gardener”. “A Delicate Truth” is along the same line. Le Carré is truly in a class by himself.

[Paul]

I just found the book too small, and by that I do mean plot, yes, but also the characters. I was not drawn in. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was not a huge plot, but I so cared about the main character. Didn't happen here. I agree, though, that there is too much 'world at stake' plots and they too have become so 'yawn'. Give me people, people I care about!