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2008. A counter-terrorist operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted on the British crown colony of Gibraltar. Its purpose: to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms-buyer. Its authors: an ambitious Foreign Office Minister, a private defense contractor who is also his bosom friend, and a shady American CIA operative of the evangelical far-right. So delicate is the operation that even the Minister's personal private secretary, Toby Bell, is not cleared for it. Cornwall, UK, 2011. A disgraced Special Forces Soldier delivers a message from the dead. Was Operation Wildlife the success it was cracked up to be--or a human tragedy that was ruthlessly covered up? Summoned by Sir Christopher ("Kit") Probyn, retired British diplomat, to his decaying Cornish manor house, and closely observed by Kit's beautiful daughter, Emily, Toby must choose between his conscience and duty to his Service. If the only thing necessary to the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, how can he keep silent?… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member abbottthomas
Le Carre has moved well away from his early books in which, despite treachery and double dealing, there was always the feeling that the Powers-that-Be were on the side of justice and morality. I suppose the great advantage of the Cold War was that it was then clearly 'us' and 'them'. Now the
The book is written with Le Carre's expected fluency and has, rather depressingly, a credible plot. I was disappointed by the mismatch I found between Paul, the low-flyer, the middle ranking British civil servant central to the story and his later manifestation, Sir Christopher Tobyn. I am unconvinced that even a year or two as Her Majesty's High Commissioner to a group of Caribbean islands with his K thrown in could have transformed the decidedly uncertain Paul into the extrovert, independent lord of the manor he becomes. The brief early action sequence on Gibraltar is well-crafted and convincing. The extended denouement stacks up the paranoia and gives Le Carre plenty of opportunity for reminding us of clandestine tradecraft - which is the bodyguard's seat in a café, who to look out for in the street outside your house, etc..
Though not a match for TSWCIFTC and the Smiley/Carla books, I still rate this as one of Le Carre's best.
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distinctions are less clear and it becomes apparent that 'us' is most normal people and 'them' are the super-rich and politically powerful. Le Carre sounds as disappointed with New Labour as many of the rest of us.The book is written with Le Carre's expected fluency and has, rather depressingly, a credible plot. I was disappointed by the mismatch I found between Paul, the low-flyer, the middle ranking British civil servant central to the story and his later manifestation, Sir Christopher Tobyn. I am unconvinced that even a year or two as Her Majesty's High Commissioner to a group of Caribbean islands with his K thrown in could have transformed the decidedly uncertain Paul into the extrovert, independent lord of the manor he becomes. The brief early action sequence on Gibraltar is well-crafted and convincing. The extended denouement stacks up the paranoia and gives Le Carre plenty of opportunity for reminding us of clandestine tradecraft - which is the bodyguard's seat in a café, who to look out for in the street outside your house, etc..
Though not a match for TSWCIFTC and the Smiley/Carla books, I still rate this as one of Le Carre's best.
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LibraryThing member neddludd
Bob Dylan is still touring and John Le Carre is still writing books about all kinds of spies--even those who ostensibly serve the Queen. With daily bulletins on just how all-seeing and all-knowing the NSA has become, Le Carre fashions a tale based on a black operation set in motion by faulty
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information; think of the weapons of mass destruction not found in Baghdad. A rogue minister in a New Labor government sets up a joint public-private rendition of a Jihadist baddie. Only the man isn't there. The book then becomes an examination of what is moral and immoral in the conduct of foreign policy and state security. Is it kosher for someone from Whitehall to accept funding, inspiration, and logistics from a mysterious private sector neo-con American security firm funded by a nutty Fundamentalist right-wing matron? This book is as current as Snowden's latest bulletin about NSA hubris. The fact that it was written by the master of the genre, now well over 80, is a sign that Le Carre's mind is still young and sprightly. There are several tour de force passages, but I thought that the conclusion was a bit compressed and unsatisfying. It can still be said though that the way Le Carre uses the language is as assured and skilled as Rembrandt was with his paint pallette. There is no one who writes as well as this man. Show Less
LibraryThing member rongeigle
One of the things I love about le Carre' is the sense of characters lost in a bureaucratic labyrinth, and the reader is just as confused as they are, at least for awhile. The downside of this theme is that all can seem hopeless and doomed. In A Delicate Truth, le Carre' gives us a feel for the
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human in the labyrinth--the person, with a family, a wife, a retirement. It's a more personal, thus perhaps even more real for us. An excellent read by one of the masters. Show Less
LibraryThing member stevesmits
At one time I thought "what will LeCarre write about after the Cold War ended?" Well, he's found a lot of themes that resonate with the political milieu of the 21st century and he's still compelling.
A Delicate Truth is about a "semi off the books" undertaking to capture a terrorist (a so-called
No surprise that the plan is bungled and the affair is covered up from public exposure.
Several years later, the foreign offical and one of the commandos (who was on loan from his British army regiment) discover how wrong the affair went. They embark on an effort to bring the truth to light and in so doing encounter the wrath of the plan's sponsors who are determined to use any means to keep it secret.
LeCarre tells us through this story of the worrisome intertwining of governments and private contractors to carry out governmental functions. While one does not always trust governments to act legitimately and honestly, there is, at least in western democracies, the expectation that the public has standing to know and judge the government's actions and that boundaries set through the political processes really matter. The use of corporate entities (who have their own interests at their core) allows actions that transcend the moral constraints of government bodies. That corporations can and will transgress legal and ethical strictures is vividly portrayed through this novel.
The dilemma of the book's protagonists is an interesting parallel to Edward Snowden and the NSA revelations. Snowden (who was a private contractor) swore to keep his work secret. His conscience compelled him to break his oath and reveal aspects of intelligence gathering that have shocked the public and would bring about the sanction of the US government, if it could. Was he justified in his action? (To go far back in time, was so-called "Deep Throat" justified in bringing to light the illegal activities of Nixonites?) These are weighty matters that deserve deep thought.
A Delicate Truth is about a "semi off the books" undertaking to capture a terrorist (a so-called
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extraordinary rendition) who's been traced to Gibraltar. A British foreign office official is conscripted to observe the commando type action and report to his minister. It's a hush-hush quasi-legal plan that has implicit support of the British and American governments. Orchestrating the operation is a shadowy American defense corporation with ties to a right wing group with wealthy evangelist supporters. The plan utilizes military-style contractors to snatch the suspect from Gibraltar. No surprise that the plan is bungled and the affair is covered up from public exposure.
Several years later, the foreign offical and one of the commandos (who was on loan from his British army regiment) discover how wrong the affair went. They embark on an effort to bring the truth to light and in so doing encounter the wrath of the plan's sponsors who are determined to use any means to keep it secret.
LeCarre tells us through this story of the worrisome intertwining of governments and private contractors to carry out governmental functions. While one does not always trust governments to act legitimately and honestly, there is, at least in western democracies, the expectation that the public has standing to know and judge the government's actions and that boundaries set through the political processes really matter. The use of corporate entities (who have their own interests at their core) allows actions that transcend the moral constraints of government bodies. That corporations can and will transgress legal and ethical strictures is vividly portrayed through this novel.
The dilemma of the book's protagonists is an interesting parallel to Edward Snowden and the NSA revelations. Snowden (who was a private contractor) swore to keep his work secret. His conscience compelled him to break his oath and reveal aspects of intelligence gathering that have shocked the public and would bring about the sanction of the US government, if it could. Was he justified in his action? (To go far back in time, was so-called "Deep Throat" justified in bringing to light the illegal activities of Nixonites?) These are weighty matters that deserve deep thought.
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LibraryThing member KayMackey
John leCarre's tightly-knit plot style is as compelling in this modern thriller as in his Cold War spy novels.
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
There has been a lot of media attention recently on John le Carre to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his classic espionage novel "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" which was later filmed with Richard Burton giving a marvellous performance as Alec Leamas. Fifty years on and le
The book opens with a senior if unexceptional Civil Servant in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) being asked to go to Gibraltar under cover (as "Paul Anderson"), and to act as direct contact for maverick New Labour Minister, Fergus Quinn, who has been prevailed upon to become more directly involved in operational matters than can ever be prudent. Having languished in boredom for a couple of days, Paul is suddenly called upon to act, and becomes embroiled at the sharp end of a stakeout of a prime suspect in the War Against Terror.
We then move back to London where Toby Bell, aspiring fast streamer within the FCO, recently appointed Private Secretary to Quinn, is contemplating risking his career, and possibly his freedom, by indulging in his own act of espionage by secretly recording one of Quinn's meetings. Quinn has been his own man, and contrary to prevailing practice has striven to exclude officials in general, and Bell in particular, from most of his meetings, and Bell has come to resent it. He vacillates over a whole weekend, "letting I dare not wait upon I would, like the poor cat i' th'adage", but as we know from the start he must, he does indeed screw his courage to the sticking point and makes the clandestine recording.
When he comes to listen to his secret recording Bell is appalled by what he hears, and finds himself plunged into the depths of conspiracy theorising. And then he finds himself transferred to a posting in Beirut with next to no notice. When he returns to Lodon three years later he finds that Quinn has moved on as part of the ceaseless tide of ministerial appointment that raises some while drawing others down. Bell starts to believe that his recklessness of three years before might have come to nothing, and that he can continue the pursuit of his career without further cause for concern.
And then "Paul" writes him a note ...
Le Carre obviously knows his material inside out, and this novel is as resonant as any of his canon with that unique prose style. The plot is watertight and, above all, utterly plausible. All of the characters her portrays are completely credible, and, sadly, I doubt whether many people nowadays would struggle too hard to believe that the government could behave in such a cavalier and disingenuous manner. Another winner.
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Carre has lost none of his touch, and his latest book shows that casual mastery of plot, character and political context that has marked all of his finest work.The book opens with a senior if unexceptional Civil Servant in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) being asked to go to Gibraltar under cover (as "Paul Anderson"), and to act as direct contact for maverick New Labour Minister, Fergus Quinn, who has been prevailed upon to become more directly involved in operational matters than can ever be prudent. Having languished in boredom for a couple of days, Paul is suddenly called upon to act, and becomes embroiled at the sharp end of a stakeout of a prime suspect in the War Against Terror.
We then move back to London where Toby Bell, aspiring fast streamer within the FCO, recently appointed Private Secretary to Quinn, is contemplating risking his career, and possibly his freedom, by indulging in his own act of espionage by secretly recording one of Quinn's meetings. Quinn has been his own man, and contrary to prevailing practice has striven to exclude officials in general, and Bell in particular, from most of his meetings, and Bell has come to resent it. He vacillates over a whole weekend, "letting I dare not wait upon I would, like the poor cat i' th'adage", but as we know from the start he must, he does indeed screw his courage to the sticking point and makes the clandestine recording.
When he comes to listen to his secret recording Bell is appalled by what he hears, and finds himself plunged into the depths of conspiracy theorising. And then he finds himself transferred to a posting in Beirut with next to no notice. When he returns to Lodon three years later he finds that Quinn has moved on as part of the ceaseless tide of ministerial appointment that raises some while drawing others down. Bell starts to believe that his recklessness of three years before might have come to nothing, and that he can continue the pursuit of his career without further cause for concern.
And then "Paul" writes him a note ...
Le Carre obviously knows his material inside out, and this novel is as resonant as any of his canon with that unique prose style. The plot is watertight and, above all, utterly plausible. All of the characters her portrays are completely credible, and, sadly, I doubt whether many people nowadays would struggle too hard to believe that the government could behave in such a cavalier and disingenuous manner. Another winner.
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LibraryThing member JohnPeterAltgeld
Not Le Carre's best. The plot is weak. As is usual in his spy stories, Le Carré has created some interesting characters, but his plot on the corporatization of war fails because the evil depicted in the novel just doesn't seem as worrisome as the reality is
LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
His best book in years (not that other recent books were anything to sneeze at). Similar to others in that it is an indictment of government, just not with so much outward anti-Americanism this time. He is a master story-teller, and at 82 years old he writes as well as ever. Amazing.
Read most of
Read most of
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this book on vacation in Paris. Show Less
LibraryThing member freelancer_frank
This is a book about the possibilities of moral relativism. The characters are all compromised in their own ways, and the story concerns how they compromise further and to what degree. Le Carre plays a lot of engaging tricks with time in the narrative. In a way, time takes the place of the Soviet
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Union - it is the new monolith against which the individual struggles to keep their integrity intact. Le Carre subtly paints a picture of the world in which all values are potentially undermined, and his open-ended conclusion fits this viewpoint perfectly. Show Less
LibraryThing member sheilawhite
Not my usual type of book but it was a free reads book, and they ask if you can write a review of it so that the giveaways can continue.
That being said I found it to be a very confusing book as you had to really follow along closly so that you wouldn't miss anything and so I found that it isn't a
flag
That being said I found it to be a very confusing book as you had to really follow along closly so that you wouldn't miss anything and so I found that it isn't a
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book or authour I would read again unless I get it as a free readflag
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
Not his brilliant best, but still an entertaining read. A careful look at what could plausibly lie behind the UK government's denial of involvement in extraordinary rendition.
As alway with Le Carre, this is a character driven study. In this case we follow two people, one Kit, a quiet member of the
This is yet another of LeCarre's looks at the role corporations have within the political intelligence scene within both the UK and the US. How much of this is 'true' is a debatable point, which I guess is Le Carre's idea - to make readers think about what may underlie the brief sentences that make the national news. His writing is always slow and studied, there are no dramatic actions scenes but he does convey the tensions and doubts of the key players admirably well. It is however a brief and somewhat simplistic story. We only get one side of the events, and have no idea as to the actual truth that occurred. There is little devious plotting, merely a mostly faceless shadow that opposes them, with no stated motive. One can suppose a lot of things, as the 'heroes' do. Kit's wife is frequently stated as being ill, but no name or symptoms are ever given and it is far from clear why or what she is suffering from, or how this should effect Kit.
Not his best, but still very readable and casts doubts, as ever, on the UK political scene.
As alway with Le Carre, this is a character driven study. In this case we follow two people, one Kit, a quiet member of the
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Foreign Office, called upon to provide on the scene oversight to a secret mission, and then for the majority of the book, Toby Bell, a Private Secretary to a minister, who learns some facts that he'd rather not. Kit observes a deniable operation whereby British special forces, detached from normal duty, aid an American force of mercenaries on a raid to capture a suspected terrorist looking for information. There is some confusion about the presence of the target, but the raid goes ahead and Kit is assured of the teams' success. Three years later Kit meets, by chance, one of the soldiers on the team , now out of the army, and learns some disquieting facts which he passes to Toby. Together they have to learn a diplomatic way of expressing a delicate truth to those in power - both political and physical. The ending is ambiguous, which is unlike Carre, who normally manages to convey a clear sense of where the inequities might be.This is yet another of LeCarre's looks at the role corporations have within the political intelligence scene within both the UK and the US. How much of this is 'true' is a debatable point, which I guess is Le Carre's idea - to make readers think about what may underlie the brief sentences that make the national news. His writing is always slow and studied, there are no dramatic actions scenes but he does convey the tensions and doubts of the key players admirably well. It is however a brief and somewhat simplistic story. We only get one side of the events, and have no idea as to the actual truth that occurred. There is little devious plotting, merely a mostly faceless shadow that opposes them, with no stated motive. One can suppose a lot of things, as the 'heroes' do. Kit's wife is frequently stated as being ill, but no name or symptoms are ever given and it is far from clear why or what she is suffering from, or how this should effect Kit.
Not his best, but still very readable and casts doubts, as ever, on the UK political scene.
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LibraryThing member rufusraider
Another thinking man's espionage thriller by John le Carre. The plot is about a member of the foreign office investigating a secret rendition in a British territory on his own time. An American company who is involved in the privatization of the intelligence and security services, is the firm that
The investigation starts after on of the British troops contacts the foreign officer assigned to watch over the rendition about a problem that occurred.
As with the George Smiley novels, this is a thinking man's story. There is very little physical action.
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conducts the secret rendition. One of the ministers is working with the company to put an official presence at the site to avoid problems between the US and Britain. The minister joins the private company after the rendition goes sour. The investigation starts after on of the British troops contacts the foreign officer assigned to watch over the rendition about a problem that occurred.
As with the George Smiley novels, this is a thinking man's story. There is very little physical action.
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LibraryThing member kitap7
An unputdownable Le Carre as usual. A transparent allegory for the joint Anglo American invasion of Iraq and the suicide of David Kelly.
LibraryThing member librarian1204
Excellent. I could not put this book down. I have read Le Carre from the beginning. Sometimes in recent years, I was not as excited as I was in the past. But this book is so good. Moving quickly, plotted so well, written with insight, purpose and intensity. Makes one wonder and accept that all is
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never what it might appear to be. Show Less
LibraryThing member YogiABB
A Delicate Truth is truly a thriller. It is about a joint American-British military-private industry anti-terror operation in Gibralter and the aftermath years later. I'm not going to spoil a thing about it except to say that this book is LeCarre at his best. The villains are truly banal, the
This book has a trailer. It gives a pretty good idea about the book.
This book is seriously good. I give it five stars out of five. Get it at the library. I'm a slow reader but I tore through this one in a matter of hours. Get it, read it, try and put it down.
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heroes are trying to do the right thing but don't exactly know what to do.This book has a trailer. It gives a pretty good idea about the book.
This book is seriously good. I give it five stars out of five. Get it at the library. I'm a slow reader but I tore through this one in a matter of hours. Get it, read it, try and put it down.
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LibraryThing member bfister
I wasn't sure at first I would enjoy this latest novel from the man who invented the modern morality-play espionage novel. An undistinguished career foreign office paper-pusher is dispatched to the field to oversee a joint terrorist operation in Gibraltar. There, a reluctant Welsh military officer
Another official, young and brash and with highly-honed instincts, gets wind of the botched operation a few years later and begins to sniff around, soon realizing his career trajectory will take a sharp turn if he carries on. But he does (and the plot takes off like a rocket) because lurking under those political instincts is a stubborn belief in doing what's right. Eventually he, the now-retired tut-tutting diplomat, and the Welsh soldier, drummed out of the army, his marriage, and mainstream society, join forces to expose what happened when mercenaries, supplied by a right-wing American firm that has made a killing on the amorphous, unending "war on terror," blundered on a small remnant of Britain's empire.
In the post-cold-war novels of LeCarre his weary geo-political game of chess has given way to a game where the rules are hidden and the players are not so much governments as individuals in power who will benefit if they operate on behalf of giant corporations. He often uses a kind of parody that tastes like bitter laughter but which also refuses to bow to the "life is stranger than fiction, which has to behave itself" rule. I think he's given up on trying to portray his enemy with sympathy, and t don't blame him. You can make this stuff up, he seems to be saying, and he's writing about a threat that feels more powerful than Communism because the moles are in charge and those who object are entirely on their own. The banding together of these three individuals in a hopeless situation is moving and thrilling and couldn't be more topical. It's depressing that they are so few and so outgunned, but it's thrilling to be in their company.
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looks to him when ordered to take action that seems precipitous and unwise. He tut-tutts ineffectually and something happens, but we're not sure what. It's all behind a curtain of confidentiality - but the official is assured everything went well. Another official, young and brash and with highly-honed instincts, gets wind of the botched operation a few years later and begins to sniff around, soon realizing his career trajectory will take a sharp turn if he carries on. But he does (and the plot takes off like a rocket) because lurking under those political instincts is a stubborn belief in doing what's right. Eventually he, the now-retired tut-tutting diplomat, and the Welsh soldier, drummed out of the army, his marriage, and mainstream society, join forces to expose what happened when mercenaries, supplied by a right-wing American firm that has made a killing on the amorphous, unending "war on terror," blundered on a small remnant of Britain's empire.
In the post-cold-war novels of LeCarre his weary geo-political game of chess has given way to a game where the rules are hidden and the players are not so much governments as individuals in power who will benefit if they operate on behalf of giant corporations. He often uses a kind of parody that tastes like bitter laughter but which also refuses to bow to the "life is stranger than fiction, which has to behave itself" rule. I think he's given up on trying to portray his enemy with sympathy, and t don't blame him. You can make this stuff up, he seems to be saying, and he's writing about a threat that feels more powerful than Communism because the moles are in charge and those who object are entirely on their own. The banding together of these three individuals in a hopeless situation is moving and thrilling and couldn't be more topical. It's depressing that they are so few and so outgunned, but it's thrilling to be in their company.
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LibraryThing member camharlow
This is yet another excellent topical novel from John le Carre. It seeks to uncover the hidden dealings of government and as in some other of his more recent novels, the offending party is not only government, but also private corporations which have co-operated with and taken over some of their
Three years later, some of those involved in the operation, become allies to piece together the event. Le Carre gives them a variety of motives: naivety, turning a blind eye and guilty consciences and his clear, detailed writing contrasts the varying reasons and attempts to uncover the truth and make it known to the public.
The forces arrayed against them are a salutary lesson to potential whistleblowers.
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roles. This one concerns the secrets of the British government after a flawed and fatal mission to capture a terrorist in Gibraltar.Three years later, some of those involved in the operation, become allies to piece together the event. Le Carre gives them a variety of motives: naivety, turning a blind eye and guilty consciences and his clear, detailed writing contrasts the varying reasons and attempts to uncover the truth and make it known to the public.
The forces arrayed against them are a salutary lesson to potential whistleblowers.
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LibraryThing member emkemi23
My first go of charging ahead with A Delicate Truth failed as I lost my way in the detailed, complex story line filtered through with British slang. But, when I started fresh and gave A Delicate Truth the concentration that it demanded, I was justly rewarded. With emphasis on every sentence, the
I received a free copy of A Delicate Truth through Goodreads Firstreads.
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thrilling story of political cover-up came alive. A finely written fully believable story of government folly, political double talk, the murder of an honorable soldier, and of a weak, pedestrian retirement bureaucrat who elevated his game to right a grave wrong. Yes, the whistle blower and friends succeed in publishing the truth of despicable government misconduct. Don’t pass up the enjoyment of this all too true story of government run amuck and of the difference a few honorable folks can make.I received a free copy of A Delicate Truth through Goodreads Firstreads.
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LibraryThing member agingcow2345
The plot is absurd. The characters are stock figures out of central casting and absurd even on their own terms. Forget if you agree with the author's quite obvious views on America, GWOT, New Labor, the Deep State etc. He has ridden similar hobby horses before and simply done a better job of it.
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That said, through pacing, an exquisite sense of place [he makes each setting come alive] and his usual genius for dialog, he makes a fun read. Sadly not fun enough that I do not somewhat regret paying full price for an HC. With hindsight, I should have waited for my local library to get a copy. However, Hollywood will love making this movie as it does wonderfully nasty sendups of black ops, the W years and evangelical millionaire neocons. Show Less
LibraryThing member devenish
Well it's no Smiley and thats a fact. In 'A Delicate Truth',Le Carre tells the story of a clandestine operation, which takes place in Gibraltar,which goes badly wrong. Most of the book involves the efforts of the British Government and the Secret Service to cover up the mistakes of operation
There is an uneasy hopping about between past and present and a feeling of unfinished business about it. That is not to say that there is not much to admire here,just that Le Carre is not on top form.
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'Wildlife'. There is an uneasy hopping about between past and present and a feeling of unfinished business about it. That is not to say that there is not much to admire here,just that Le Carre is not on top form.
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LibraryThing member muddyboy
A book that takes a tremendous amount of patience and a small amount of expectation to read. Essentially, the entire book revolves around an undercover operation in which an innocent woman and her baby may or may not have been killed. It takes three hundred twenty pages of melodramatic prose to
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find out the answer and by the time I got to the conclusion I no longer cared. Either this is an "off book" for this celebrated author or his fans are very easily entertained. Show Less
LibraryThing member sarahlh
Full disclosure: I simply adore John le Carre's works. His George Smiley novels had me enthralled and enraptured all of last summer, and that was only the Karla trilogy. It's a bit odd for me to read a non-Smiley novel by Mister le Carre but gosh, after a while I don't care that my favorite
A DELICATE TRUTH has all the hallmarks of a cracking good mystery: espionage, terrorism, a massive cover-up on multiple levels, secret recordings, false identities, and a great deal of sneaking about by folks good and bad. In the center we find out unlikely protagonist, Toby Bell, a civil servant who would probably wish to do anything else but risk his job (and his life) trying to uncover the truth of Operation Wildlife. As the events of three years ago come to haunt the various characters, it's up to Toby Bell to answer the call that all great men must answer eventually if they are in a John le Carre novel: stick your neck out for the greater good or abandon your conscience in the name of Queen and country.
The only thing that threw me off was the switching between three years ago and present time, because for me, the switches weren't telegraphed enough and left me confused at times. Other than that, A DELICATE TRUTH is a great read for fans of the spy novel. Toby Bell isn't the unflinching owl-eyed man that George Smiley is but he's certainly a character worth following for the length of a novel, hoping he doesn't end up dead by book's end. And believe me, there are moments when you think it's almost the end for him! In a genre where the righteous and noble always seem to win out, John le Carre proves that sometimes the righteous get edged out by the ambitious and the morally bankrupt.
Note: This book is an advanced uncorrected proof and was given to me through Viking Books and the Goodreads' First Reads program. I received no monetary compensation for the writing of this review.
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middle-aged Circus member isn't even mentioned, that's how good A DELICATE TRUTH IS. (And naturally, it was odd to read something by le Carre that wasn't set during the Cold War. Cell phones? Texting? Flash drives? You don't say!)A DELICATE TRUTH has all the hallmarks of a cracking good mystery: espionage, terrorism, a massive cover-up on multiple levels, secret recordings, false identities, and a great deal of sneaking about by folks good and bad. In the center we find out unlikely protagonist, Toby Bell, a civil servant who would probably wish to do anything else but risk his job (and his life) trying to uncover the truth of Operation Wildlife. As the events of three years ago come to haunt the various characters, it's up to Toby Bell to answer the call that all great men must answer eventually if they are in a John le Carre novel: stick your neck out for the greater good or abandon your conscience in the name of Queen and country.
The only thing that threw me off was the switching between three years ago and present time, because for me, the switches weren't telegraphed enough and left me confused at times. Other than that, A DELICATE TRUTH is a great read for fans of the spy novel. Toby Bell isn't the unflinching owl-eyed man that George Smiley is but he's certainly a character worth following for the length of a novel, hoping he doesn't end up dead by book's end. And believe me, there are moments when you think it's almost the end for him! In a genre where the righteous and noble always seem to win out, John le Carre proves that sometimes the righteous get edged out by the ambitious and the morally bankrupt.
Note: This book is an advanced uncorrected proof and was given to me through Viking Books and the Goodreads' First Reads program. I received no monetary compensation for the writing of this review.
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LibraryThing member k6gst
A good one from his late, anti-capitalist period.
LibraryThing member Paul_S
First time I've seen a happy ending in a le Carre novel. The hero survives and gets the girl. He blows the whistle on the UK government. There's no epilogue so I assume they are immediately caught, the leak denied and they die after being tortured in some CIA facility.
LibraryThing member rab1953
In this book, Le Carré continues his theme of updating the spy novel by focusing on its contemporary forms. In this case, his target is the private broker trading information and muscle with government operators who prefer to keep things out of the public eye.
With his usual understated style, he
While this is the scene, the attention is really on the decent Britons who are entrapped in the scheme without being aware of it. When they get wind that things did not go as they were told, they want to put things right. Of course, this will involve significant cost to themselves, and the barriers they have to overcome make up the bulk of the novel. This part is Le Carré’s familiar storytelling, low-key spycraft slowly leading to a conclusion. His oblique style of dialogue is also familiar here, with characters carefully saying one thing in a chummy middle-class voice and meaning something other. Perhaps this is how it’s done in this world.
For Le Carré, these decent Britons are the flawed heros of the story. They are not perfect – they have second thoughts, they wonder if it’s worth it, they are distracted. For this novel, they seem a bit too decent. They choose to do the right thing, knowing that there will be consequences. In his other novels, Le Carré’s characters seem to do what they have to do because they don’t have a choice. The situations force them to make the only choice they can short of selling out. While I don’t doubt that there are decent honorable civil servants in Britain, this sort of purity makes the story line a little questionable.
And then there’s the moral dis-equivalency. State agencies, including the British security services, carry out operations to protect their interests and the interests of their political superiors. To what extent does it matter that the operations are carried out by mercenaries? Are the controls really set to a higher standard for state actors than for their hirelings? I do think that there is a potential for greater control when government oversight is involved but there’s also a potential for greater self-justification. But does that justify the level of outrage that Le Carré reflects here? Or, to go deeper, how is the combination of state and private action in this story different from the machinations against the operations of the Cold War enemies? Is it worse now because the targets are vaguely defined potential terrorists from a string of Muslim countries? Le Carré seems to think so, and perhaps he is right, but with a writer who seems to insist on a moral standard these are questions that make me question the initial premiss of the book.
In any case, at least these are questions that the story raises, unlike the action-oriented focus of many other spy stories.
With his usual understated style, he
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directs considerable anger at those who do undercover operations for money – clearly separating them from those in the official business who do necessary bad stuff on principle. In his cold war novels, there is a distinct ambivalence about doing nasty things in the service of the state. You do what you have to do to prevent a worse outcome, but you become morally compromised and that bothers you. The novels with more modern themes don’t have that ambivalence. The perpetrators are self-interested venal thieves and murderers with links into the spy world. In this story, they have enticed an ambitious, and equally venal, junior minister into a poorly judged and poorly executed scheme. The minister loses his political future, his staffers are shifted out to plumb positions where they won’t be around to raise any questions, and the private brokers carry on in apparent luxury. Interestingly, it seems to be the state security service who cleans things up to avoid embarassing the government.While this is the scene, the attention is really on the decent Britons who are entrapped in the scheme without being aware of it. When they get wind that things did not go as they were told, they want to put things right. Of course, this will involve significant cost to themselves, and the barriers they have to overcome make up the bulk of the novel. This part is Le Carré’s familiar storytelling, low-key spycraft slowly leading to a conclusion. His oblique style of dialogue is also familiar here, with characters carefully saying one thing in a chummy middle-class voice and meaning something other. Perhaps this is how it’s done in this world.
For Le Carré, these decent Britons are the flawed heros of the story. They are not perfect – they have second thoughts, they wonder if it’s worth it, they are distracted. For this novel, they seem a bit too decent. They choose to do the right thing, knowing that there will be consequences. In his other novels, Le Carré’s characters seem to do what they have to do because they don’t have a choice. The situations force them to make the only choice they can short of selling out. While I don’t doubt that there are decent honorable civil servants in Britain, this sort of purity makes the story line a little questionable.
And then there’s the moral dis-equivalency. State agencies, including the British security services, carry out operations to protect their interests and the interests of their political superiors. To what extent does it matter that the operations are carried out by mercenaries? Are the controls really set to a higher standard for state actors than for their hirelings? I do think that there is a potential for greater control when government oversight is involved but there’s also a potential for greater self-justification. But does that justify the level of outrage that Le Carré reflects here? Or, to go deeper, how is the combination of state and private action in this story different from the machinations against the operations of the Cold War enemies? Is it worse now because the targets are vaguely defined potential terrorists from a string of Muslim countries? Le Carré seems to think so, and perhaps he is right, but with a writer who seems to insist on a moral standard these are questions that make me question the initial premiss of the book.
In any case, at least these are questions that the story raises, unlike the action-oriented focus of many other spy stories.
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Awards
Deutscher Krimi Preis (2014)
Crimefest Awards (Shortlist — 2014)