A Most Wanted Man, by John le Carré

A Most Wanted Man is le Carré's 21st book. It represents a continuation of a shift in John le Carré’s writing that started after his Karla-series and A Most Wanted Man, by John le Carre became very visible in The Constant Gardener and continued in books like The Mission Song and Absolute Friends. The focus is less on the British Secret Service, and there is increasingly anger and to some extent moral outrage present in his stories. No longer dealing with the Cold War, which I guess to some extent to le Carré, and probably for many among the rest of us as well, provided some higher moral justification for spying, John le Carré now has to some extent become involved with the moral dilemmas of spy-craft in the new world where the enemy is a much more diffuse and less clearly defined entity.

Also, especially in A Most Wanted Man, he is a self-appointed defender of people who find themselves caught up in the War on Terror. Thus, A Most Wanted Man is a book about political as well as private corruption.

In A Most Wanted Man the master storyteller lines up a number of decent, principled people in a setting full of conflicts and contradictions. You just know that principles will have a hard time surviving to the end of the day. So, then, the question becomes: Which of these decent characters will be coerced first into selling his principles down the river? Which one will be the hardest squeezed, the first out-maneuvered, or out-gunned? Will anyone escape the meat grinder?

At the core of the plot of A Most Wanted Man is the arrival of a Chechen fugitive, a stateless and badly beaten refugee, in Hamburg. Issa, the most wanted man the title refers to, is an odd, strangely innocent Muslim, magically given a blurred outline rather than a full and complete characterization by John le Carré. Issa Karpov wants to reclaim a mysterious inheritance, become a doctor, and devote himself to Islam.

In the middle of the ensuing diplomatic complications are the beautiful Annabel, a young civil rights lawyer determined to save Issa from deportation; the conscious-ridden Tommy Brue, an affable private banker hiding layers of secrets, and his long time assistant; and the good, bad, and ugly men and women of the international spying community who view Issa an asset to be used in bigger games.

Le Carré excels in portraying the ruthlessness of intelligence organizations and how the logic of a case or of a political setting drives men as well as organizations to actions otherwise devoid of rationale. As well, he is capable of placing on display the ruthless exploitation of human weaknesses, and weaves the familiar elements of his fictional universe into plots that unwind with a sickening inevitability. A Most Wanted Man is a somewhat uneven book, not John le Carré’s best in my opinion (my favorite is Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) but it never the less is one of the most sophisticated fictional responses to the war on terror so far. Also, as it is written by one of the top storytellers of our time, its narrative pace is more or less perfect, and it’s prose pleasant and very seductive.

Du kan bestille Marionetten (norsk tittel) direkte fra Bokkilden!

Other wonderful books by John le Carré from amazon US that we recommend: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Smiley's People, and A Perfect Spy.

Or, if you prefer to order from amazon UK: A Most Wanted Man, The Constant Gardener, The Mission Song, Absolute Friends, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Smiley's People, and A Perfect Spy.


The Associate, by John Grisham

John Grisham has whipped off more bestsellers than most. Some I’ve loved, some I have not liked all that much at all. He is a master of legal thrillers, and is a great The Associate, by John Grisham storyteller who knows how to build suspense. The Associate offers an action-and-suspense plot that reminds me a lot of The Firm.

The Associate is about a young lawyer, Kyle McAvoy, who is blackmailed - by a federal law enforcement agent named Bennie Wright - into taking a job with a big New York law firm, as an associate with Scully and Pershing, and with a salary of $200,000 a year.

Scully & Pershing’s clients include a military contractor enmeshed in an $800 billion lawsuit concerning a newly-designed aircraft. The deal is that McAvoy can avoid exposure of a crime he committed in the past if he provides inside information on this case. This huge legal battle involves two large law firms each representing a giant defense contractor, and at stake are billions of dollars and future business opportunities as well.

Grisham portrays life as an associate in the firm as a living hell of some kind. The partners in the firm, who are paid well over a million dollars a year, are smart, cynical, greedy and dishonest. Kyle soon hates his job, as do most of the associates, and they are worked very hard. However, at 200.000 plus, I have a feeling many people would be willing to suffer that particular hell for a while.

The Associate has a nice plot, but is seems to be a little repetitive by now. And while it is well written, it is not one of Grisham’s best books. But Grisham can create excitement and he knows the craft. While not at all up there with Grisham’s best, I suspect this book will still sell in millions. As well, I suspect Grisham devotees will mostly be satisfied by The Associate.

It is, after all, a John Grisham?

Links to John Grisham's books at amazon US, at amazon UK, and at amazon CAN.

The Sanctuary, by Raymond Khoury

Raymond Khoury is the author of The Last TemplarLink to The Last Templar at amazon US (as well as The Sign) , a wonderful thriller that won him a great readership. The follow-up, The Sanctuary, The Sanctuary, by Raymond Khouryis not, to my mind, quite in the same league.

The Sanctuary has two somewhat parallel story lines. The first takes place around and following 1750. The second takes place following 2003.

The historical background story starts in Naples in 1750. In the middle of the night, three men with swords burst into the palazzo of a marquis. They are lead by the Prince of San Severo. He accuses the marquis of being an imposter, and demands to know a secret only the marquis harbors. A fight ensues, and the false marquis escapes. He leaves behind a raging prince now more than ever obsessed with finding his quarry and his secret.

The other storyline in The Sanctuary starts in Baghdad in 2003. An American army unit that is hunting down Saddam's inner circle makes a horrifying discovery: a state-of-the-art, concealed lab where dozens - men, women, children - have died after enduring gruesome experiments. The mysterious scientist running the lab - the Hakeem - the doctor - escapes, and takes with him the startling truth about his work. A clue is left behind, carved into the wall of one of the underground prison's cells: a circular symbol of a snake feeding on its own tail.

As the power of the symbol comes to light, revealing the centuries of destruction left in its wake, it eventually becomes evident that the parties search for the Elixir of Life – the ingredient that multiplies people’s life span or make life eternal. The struggle between the groups search for the secret is intense, and The Sanctuary is full of action. It is an ok read, but not at all up to the quality of The Last TemplarLink to The Last Templar at amazon UK. You may want to read it if you’re a fan of Raymond Khoury, otherwise there are other great books to be read. Life is short.

Links to Raymond Khoury's books: Raymond Khoury at amazon US, and Raymond Khoury at amazon UK.

The Bourne Deception, by Eric van Lustbader, Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum died in March 2001, but even so The Bourne Deception, by Eric van Lustbader & Robert Ludlum new Jason Bourne novels keep coming. Somebody must have decided there was a market for Jason Bourne’s adventures even after Ludlum’s death. So now follow-ups are written by author Eric Van Lustbader. Lustbader has written 20 or so more or less best-selling novels, and should be able to take on this mission.

In this book a very highly placed American makes a deal with a Russian to have Bourne killed – once more. And in exchange for this, the Americans will kill a terrorist for the Russians (a bit of a shift from the old days, when the *Russians supposedly supported terrorists?) A Russian sniper, who turns out to be Leonid Arkadin (see The Bourne Sanction ) finds Jason Bourne in Bali. He shoots him, hitting him square in the chest, but somehow the very severely hurt Bourne escapes and lives.

Then the canvas widens. A US airplane is shot down over Egypt. War hawks plot for an American invasion of Iran. A rouge American security outfit with extremely greedy owners meddles with intelligence reports and kills high ranking US Government officials. The American Secretary of Defense pushes for war to increase his own standing in the government.

The plot in The Bourne Deception is rich and past paced. And there is lots of action – almost too much, in the sense that it feels a little like sitting in a roller coaster train. The plot moves along, but its underpinnings are weak and strange, the logic that drives it a little artificial, and in the midst of it all Van Lustbader – who has a metaphysical leaning – throws in a little meta-physics (something Ludlum would never have done!).

I have to say I have read the follow-ups to Ludlum’s Jason Bourne novels by Eric van Lustbader with growing frustration. More and more I experience the books as overwhelmed by movie-like action descriptions as a substitute for intelligent plots and clever dynamics. The Bourne Deception I liked even less than the previous. To my mind, these books are now moving into a territory where only for the really diehard fans of the Jason Bourne saga will enjoy them.

Links to Lustbader's books at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.
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