Sunday, October 2, 2011

#41: Our Kind of Traitor by John LeCarre

A young British couple on vacation end up in a fateful tennis match against a Russian businessman that sends the pair spiraling into the shadowy world of espionage in John LeCarre's Our Kind of Traitor.

LeCarre's work in the 60s and 70s, especially his George Smiley novels, are almost without peer in the spy genre.  Admittedly I have picked up and put down a lot of his novels since, finding them a bit mixed as the years have gone on. Probably the last one I really enjoyed was Our Game, but admittedly I have avoided a few newer entries that--based on this novel--might be worth a look.

This one struck my fancy from the beginning, written with a good mix of dark humor, interesting characters, complex plotting, and bursts of sobering violence.  It was great to see LeCarre still has some in the tank well into his 80s, writing a contemporary and relevant spy thriller.  Recommended for long-time fans of LeCarre and/or the genre.

I checked this out from the Morrison-Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana and read it at a steady pace.

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