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Summary: Le Carre in the New World Order
Review: John Le Carre novels have an atmospheric quality. I tend to read them more slowly than usual to let the sense of corrupted ideals and imminent menace establish itself within the complex, relationship driven scenarios. Le Carre's odd construction unfolds in a series of vignettes and flashbacks, often at seeming tangents to the storyline, elaborately and sensuously detailed, while important plot developments can be dealt with and dismissed in a paragraph. His novels have to be read carefully to retain continuity due to the abundance of participants and the abrupt changes in pace, venue & time. The end of the Cold War left Le Carre without a natural theatre for his pragmatic exigencies to beat down moral principle. His people in previous books tended to be minor functionaries, acting out of habit, in the exhausted codices and machinery of the Cold War. Bleak Kafka like landscapes such as Berlin acted as a backdrop to roles in which meaning and nobility had long since been lost. The gangster barons of economically ruined Russia and the errant knights of Merchant Banking have replaced his Cold War operatives with cool aplomb but perhaps a less clinical austerity. The moral issues of the Free Market become equally vague and malleable in the over all scheme of things. The manners, intrigues and betrayals of family now replace that of state and ideology. MI5 and MI6 are replaced with agents of the Foreign Office & Customs Service to provide the de rigueur bureaucratic intricacies. A great cast of characters, well developed, and the irrepressible Le Carre knack for cynical panache presents itself. Women are sprinkled in as mystical sexual icon or Amazon princess. I rated this book as a 4 (i'd rate it 4.4975 if this were allowed!), however, the author is an acquired and peculiar taste and I'm sure many die hard Le Carre afficionados will have no problem giving full marks to his new incarnation.
Rating: 
Summary: A thriller with gravity -- top-notch
Review: Having read only one other Le Carre (Night Manager), I thoroughly enjoyed this and even bought a second copy as a gift. As a thriller it's a solid page turner (and yes, late into the night), with a gravity and insight into the human condition reserved for "serious" literature. Maybe more seasoned Le Carre readers are hip to the bag of tricks, but I found it top notch.
Rating: 
Summary: Deja Vu
Review: While I am an admirer of LeCarre, and while I believe that he has not lost his powers, I find this book's characters to be caricatures, and the plot to be predictable. The protagonist, the women, and the heavies are already familiar to LeCarre readers. LeCarre is justly noted for his sensitivity to ethical dilemmas, but the one potentially at the heart of this novel (a son's loyalty to his father) is not developed. Gone, too, are what I most treasure in LeCarre: the interrogations that are conversations, and the conversations that are interrogations. One last lament: the explication is clumsy. In the opening chapter a man about to be executed by the heavies goes on and on explaining to his executioner plot background that the executioner knows even better than the victim; later, a lawyer who professes to be worried for his life, babbles more explication at great length. On the other hand, LeCarre is an interesting enough writer for his weaker works like this one to still be pretty good reads.
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Summary: La Carre's worst effort. He must be exhausted.
Review: As a long time LaCarre fan who has read everything he has written since "The Spy Who ...", I was most disappointed in this one. It had nothing of interest: dull, dull, dull. There was not a single character that one could care about. Don't waste your time with this one!
Rating:
Summary: Best LeCarre book in years
Review: LeCarre has recaptured the form he showed with the Smiley books by capturing the seedy side of trade with the gangsters in the former Soviet Union.Single & Single is a law firm in London that has ties to the Russian underworld. As the story unfolds, the younger Single travels to Moscow, Georgia and Istambul to do his father's bidding. He meets colorful characters in a book full of LeCarre's cerebral images. This is a must read for fans of the spy novel.
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Summary: First time for Le Carre.........no mas!
Review: I found this book to be very hard to understand and to stay with. I read for enjoyment and relaxation. I didn't get either. I had to labor through 180 pages before I threw in the towel and the book in file 13. If you must read it, go to the library. At least you can take it back.
Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 stars
Review: Based on the other reviews, this book appears to be a "love it of leave it" type. I enjoyed how the author peeled off layer after layer revealing secrets along the way. The writing style was, at times, a little confusing. But that only required the reader to think and read carefully. This was welcomed in comparison to some of the bland and formulistic writing today. Not quite five stars but close.
Rating:
Summary: His best since Smiley's People
Review: I loved this book. His ear for dialogue is matched only by Elmore Leonard and I don't think his sense of the complexity of ethical behavior is matched by any other contemporary writer. I am a little distressed by the arrogant, dismissive tone of some of the one star reviewers. Surely it's not fair to offer such scathing reviews to a book that they didn't take the time to understand--or even finish.
Rating:
Summary: "BRILLIANT'
Review: Shades of 'A Perfect Spy' Anyone with low I.Q.sshould NOT read LeCarre. The complexity of his books are their strong point. They are not confusing to someone who reads above comic book level.
Rating:
Summary: is a very bad book
Review: it is a very bad book, their argument it is very poor don't bu
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