Our Game by John le Carre Hodder & Stoughton $195 YOU would think that by 1995, the great reading public would have grown tired of stories of spies and secret agents, wouldn't you? The answer is no, not when they are created with this degree of artistry.
In his new novel John le Carre takes us back to the world of British espionage. But this is no wild-eyed James Bond fantasy. It is a measured, understated journey into the quiet world of a retired spy - a gentleman of 48 who has retired early to the country to spend his time pottering in the garden and interacting with the local villagers. Boring? It doesn't turn out as dull as he would have liked.
Ex-agent Timothy Cranmer lives an idyllically peaceful life, until one day, the past intrudes into the present in an explosive way.
Without giving too much away, I can tell you that retired agent Cranmer is spending much of his time running over past events in his mind - how he found and ' created' a protege for the secret service.
Lawrence Pettifer was a boy who was at the same school, and then the same university as he was, although several years younger. Cranmer steered the younger man's energy and passion into a successful career in espionage. Now the whole life-long adventure has come to end for both of them, as they take the early retirement that is an agent's right.
But Cranmer's friend disappears - along with Cranmer's companion. This being a spy thriller, it all becomes infinitely more complicated, and nothing is quite what it seems.