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Our kind of traitor : a novel by John Le…
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Our kind of traitor : a novel (original 2010; edition 2010)

by John Le Carré

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2,343816,536 (3.38)103
In the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and with Britain on the brink of economic ruin, a young English couple takes a tennis vacation in Antigua. There they meet Dima, a Russian who styles himself the world's number one money launderer, who wants, among other things, a game of tennis. Back in London, the couple is subjected to an all-night interrogation by the British Secret Service, which also needs their help. Their acquiescence will lead them on a precarious journey through Paris to a safe house in Switzerland, helpless pawns in a game of nations that reveals the unholy alliances between the Russian mafia, the City of London, the government and the competing factions of the British Secret Service.… (more)
Member:librorumamans
Title:Our kind of traitor : a novel
Authors:John Le Carré
Info:New York : Viking, 2010.
Collections:Your library
Rating:**
Tags:2010

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Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carré (2010)

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» See also 103 mentions

English (71)  Spanish (3)  Danish (3)  French (2)  Hebrew (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (81)
Showing 1-5 of 71 (next | show all)
I'm not sure what to think of this book. On the one hand, the prose has the usual deft touch of the master. The characters are rich and engaging and the settings colorful. I enjoyed almost every page once it got going. On the other hand, "where's the beef"?

I never really cared what happened to the characters. I think this is because I was never captivated by their needs or their motivations. And when the last few pages started rushing toward me, all I could think was that the ending was going to be tragically unsatisfying or awesomely wonderful. It was unsatisfying and unfairly left a majority of the plot threads dangling, including the ones that I actually did care about. ( )
  zot79 | Aug 20, 2023 |
University lecturer Perry Makepiece and his girlfriend Gail Perkins, a lawyer, are on a tennis vacation in Antigua where they meet Dmitri (Dima) Vladimirovich Krasnov, a self-confessed money launderer. Dima wants to get out of the control of the Russian mob and believes Perry and Gail can help by passing information to MI6 in exchange for protection. John le Carré's writing is elegant and sophisticated, and captures the reader's attention from the first page although I could have done with less dialogue from the brash Dima. It's a captivating story as expected, but I will always miss George Smiley. ( )
  VivienneR | Apr 18, 2023 |
Even more bleak and depressing than others of le Carré's late-career works. ( )
  JudyGibson | Jan 26, 2023 |
A fairly ordinary British couple meet a notorious Russian gangster while on holiday. The gangster wants out of Russia with his family and fortune intact and a secretive British agency wants to help. The British couple, asked to help, get further and further enmeshed in a world they know nothing about. John le Carre has be writing spy novels for a long time now and this one was excellent. ( )
  capewood | Mar 11, 2022 |
I've read very little of John le Carre's works. Seen a few of the movies. This was a quick, enjoyable read. A young professor and his girl friend on romantic holiday are approached by a rich Russian money launderer who is looking to defect. Tennis is a constant cover. They get sucked in deeper and deeper with professional British spies wanting these innocents to facilitate the arrangement but needing more and more verification. The plot works well until the very end when le Carre takes an easy and unsatisfying way to end the story. Worth the read but be prepared for a predictable ending. ( )
  Ed_Schneider | Aug 28, 2021 |
Showing 1-5 of 71 (next | show all)
Le Carré describes a shifting world where mobsters can be of use to the government, where the Secret Service doesn't care whom it sacrifices—British citizens or parts of itself—to reel in their quarry, and where the rule of law, or even what is considered to be legal, won't always apply.
 
added by lophuels | editThe Observer, Tim Adams (Sep 26, 2010)
 
Our Kind of Traitor is on an uplifting and pleasingly-familiar course, though it is one that confirms the depths of the author’s discomfort and anger at the world.
 
Somerset Maugham, another writer of dark spy stories, once had a character say of an aspiring grand old man of letters: "It is no good his thinking that it is enough to write one or two masterpieces; he must provide a pedestal for them of forty or fifty works of no particular consequence." Our Kind of Traitor may fall into the second category, but it's good to see Le Carré having fun as he reinforces the pedestal under his classic productions.
 
His most accessible work in years, this novel shows once again why his name is the one to which all others in the field are compared.
added by Shortride | editPublishers Weekly
 

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
John le Carréprimary authorall editionscalculated
Jayston, MichaelNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sacks, RobinNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Waltman, KjellTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Ullstein (28391)
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Epigraph
Princes in this case
Do hate the traitor, though they love the treason.

Samuel Daniel
Dedication
In memory of
Simon Channing Williams
film-maker, magician,
honorourable man.
First words
At seven o'clock of a Caribbean morning, on the island of Antigua, one Peregrine Makepiece, otherwise known as Perry, an all-round amateur athlete of distinction and until recently tutor in English literature at a distinguished Oxford college, played three sets of tennis against a muscular, stiff-backed, bald, brown-eyed Russian man of dignified bearing in his middle fifties called Dima.
Quotations
Federer is a bit perplexed about what to say - they clearly haven't met before - but he preserves his on-court nice manners, although he looks a tad irritated in a grouchy, Swiss sort of way that reminds us that his celebrated armour has its chinks.
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Wikipedia in English (1)

In the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and with Britain on the brink of economic ruin, a young English couple takes a tennis vacation in Antigua. There they meet Dima, a Russian who styles himself the world's number one money launderer, who wants, among other things, a game of tennis. Back in London, the couple is subjected to an all-night interrogation by the British Secret Service, which also needs their help. Their acquiescence will lead them on a precarious journey through Paris to a safe house in Switzerland, helpless pawns in a game of nations that reveals the unholy alliances between the Russian mafia, the City of London, the government and the competing factions of the British Secret Service.

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Penguin Australia

An edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia.

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