Our Kind of Traitor

John le Carre is back with another dangerous game. Our Kind of Traitor harkens back to le Carre's classic work in telling stories about the British intelligence system, al;so known as spies. This one tells a classic tale starting with recruitment, then moving through all the opearational and human sides of an intelligence operation. Many of the characters are either unstable, which throws the few stable or grounded ones into high relief. The author leads us through the story skillfully. It's not unlike stories he's told before. This time he's not trying to shoe-horn in a tale about terrorism or grand stand politics. He plays his strengths this time out, reminding us of how powerful those strengths are.

Of course, there is no George Smiley; le Carre's greatest character is behind him and there will never be another. But Our Kind of Traitor does feature a number of very clearly drawn and quite wonderful characters. of course, there is almost nothing that qualifies as "action," in the modern entertainment sense of the word. No car chases, no gunfights, no leaping off buildings, bridges and ski-slope gondolas. The only sequence that features truly filmable action takes place off the page. What we get instead is mood, moral dilemmas and human characters that feel very real. This novel skirts around the worlds of international high finance and intelligence, but we never feel abandoned there. There is always someone to lead us through the maze until we reach the very end.

Of course, it may be that this book is best appreciated by having read all of the author's previous work. This allows us to see the stratgies of the intelligence agency as the characters are led through the various steps and stages. We can see the plotting and the scheming even when they aren't pointed out to us. We recognize the rhythm.

How does Our Kind of Traitor rank among le Carre's body of work? It is jouneryman work. leCarre is past his pinnacle, but this is a good solid work, and coming from him, that means this is a superb book. I enjoyed it and it has stayed with me. I would recommend it highly.

Other reviews can be accessed through the John le Carre website.