March 1, 1999
Le Carr reads his new thriller with the voice of a master of the genre, gamely throwing himself into long passages of the dialogue-driven plot. He jumps right into the complex story, set in locations that shift back and forth from Turkey to England, with little set-up explanation. The sense of atmosphere is rich, the polished, descriptive scenes exquisite. However, perhaps due to the abridgment process, a listener is left playing catch-up throughout the tape, struggling to discern what's really going on with the characters. At heart, this is a story of a struggle between father and son, shadowy financier Tiger Single and children's magician Oliver Hawthorne. Tiger has deserted the family to consort with Russian mobsters, and Oliver, having betrayed his father once, now must fight to save his life. They're joined by a complex financial thread that provides the central framework for the international intrigue propelling the action. As audio, the listening experience is frustrating because the material sounds so wonderful, yet it's difficult to keep a grip on what's happening. Simultaneous release with the Scribner hardcover.
March 1, 1999
The unusual title of le Carre's latest book is the name of a London family firm whose members seem to be investment bankers, but of a very peculiar and contemporary sort. In fact, they work with the kind of people--Russian gangsters, Swiss lawyers, creators of dummy corporations around the world--that specialize in making big money out of drugs and arms, and laundering the proceeds. The firm is run by Tiger Single, a modern buccaneer who wants his son, Oliver, to move up in the business. But in a repeat of the kind of father-son conflict in The Honorable Schoolboy, Oliver is turning against everything his father stands for, and has begun to talk to H.M. Customs about the firm's activities. Eventually, as the Russians and their henchmen turn nasty and try to take over Single's empire, Oliver must decide where his loyalties really lie. The tale is energized by le Carre's breathtaking versatility with settings and voices, and his authoritative portrayal of the way things are done in the shifty world succeeding his former Cold War preoccupations. The problem is that, despite a gripping start and many incidental pleasures along the way, neither Oliver nor his father quite come into focus the way so many of the characters did in le Carre's last, The Tailor of Panama. There is something a little forced about Oliver, his adored baby daughter, his budding affection for agent Aggie; even Brock, the determined Customs agent forever on Tiger's trail, seems shadowy, and the denouement is unusually perfunctory for a le Carre novel. Not by any means his best effort--but even at less than full stretch, le Carre is never less than a riveting writer. BOMC main selection.