Product Description

In the shadowy recesses of Whitehall and Washington an unholy alliance operates between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade.



Jonathan Pine is ready to stand up and be counted in the fight against this ultimate heart of darkness. His mission takes him from the cliffs of west Cornwall, via northern Quebec and the Caribbean, to the jungles of post-Noriega Panama. His quarry is the worst man in the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32090 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

Observer
‘A marvellously observed relentless tale’

Review

‘A marvellously observed relentless tale’

‘Le Carré is the equal of any novelist now writing in English’

‘A story complex and intense enough to carry both the philosophical weight and the page-turning tension that, combined, make him the supreme tale-teller he is’

About the Author
John le Carré was born in 1931. After attending the universities of Bern and Oxford, he taught at Eton and spent five years in the British Foreign Service.

Customer Reviews

Pine's quest
Jonathan Pine, sometime hotelier, soldier, killer, lover and agent, is swept up in a complex international intrigue. Weapons for sale is the pivot around which money, power and even romance impinge on Jonathan's life. The many roles, varied and useful as they are, leave him with no particular purpose in life. Until he encounters "the worst man in the world". The prompt is Sophie, who might have been a lover, but who belongs to Freddie Hamid. Freddie is aligned with Richard Onslow Roper, of Nassau, the Bahamas. The name and location are almost a slap in the face, since the Caribbean island-nations are host to shady firms. Little or no taxes and even less government supervision make it possible for the unscrupulous to engage in many forms of chicanery. Drugs and weapons loom large in that realm.

Left at loose ends by the fall of the Soviet Union, British Intelligence services need a fresh cause. If nothing else, all those bureaucratic structures and their personnel need to turn their expertise to new tasks. The problem is that the Cold War enabled influential people to develop links through the various spy networks. How many wealthy aristocrats are now involved in picking up the pieces to further enrich themselves? And which ones are doing so? Pine, picked up by one of the new spin-off intelligence organisations is set to learn answers to these questions. A faked murder sends him to unreachable places with a new identity. It puts him in a position to penetrate the Roper organisation. Throughout this tale, Pine is driven by the ghost of Sophie, who was found beaten to death in Egypt. Even in the backwoods of Quebec, hiding from authorities and maneuvering to complete his mission, he is beset by the image of her in his mind.

LeCarre's style is well applied in this tale of international wheeling and dealing. He exhibits a well-versed familiarity with the places described. It's his characters, however, that give this story its richness. From the intelligence bureaucrats through the "heavies" Roper employs as his protectors and fronts, to Pine and the women his life touches, there are no false images conveyed. The author portrays them effectively and consistently with no distracting or invalid diversions. Which is not to imply any of them are shallow or above credibility. Although the conclusion is unexpected, especially given the circumstances, the "spy novel" author has brought a new facet to intelligence writing. It's a captivating book and well worth either the established LeCarre fan or someone taking him up for the first time to have in their collection. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Fine book,compulsive reading.
From the moment you pick it up,it smacks of a good novel.The hero Jonathon is a multilayered,Upright Englishman who takes on the most daring mission of infiltrating Dicky ropers complex network of associates(not to mention his georgeous woman Jed).Only fault is that it never really explains too well the reason he takes on this kamikaze mission(some story about a girl from his past in Cairo who`s murder was linked to Roper).All and all,it is a very enjoyable read from one of the finest writers of thrillers around.

Noel from dublin,Ireland.

glocks28@hotmail.com

Very, Very Average
I came to this after the Smiley Trilogy and the Last Pilgrim. While there are a couple of vignettes in the book using characters from the Last Pilgrim, this does stand on its own and no knowledge of any of the other books before this is necessary.

However, after getting just over half way through the book I really stopped caring about any of the characters and I felt that it was really just a glorified James Bond story without the gadgets. The main protagonist starts as an ex-spy working in a hotel in Switzerland, there are some flashbacks, some bed hopping, some pointless plot mechanisms that really felt like Le Carre was trying to shoehorn the story line which was seemed to be heading to a dead end each time. As I say, I didn't finish it so unless the last third was any different then I would say this is not one to match any of the Smiley Books. If you haven't read Le Carre before, for heaven's sake don't start with this one.