My first jaunt into espionage. Noteworthy features: remarkable vocabulary with a hint of Britian that takes some adjustment. Significant character development. At times a bit too much character development. The emphasis towards the end of the book shifted to the pencil pushers instead of the gun slingers, a bit drawn out. Over all a good read. I might try another le Carre before I reached for the night manager. ( )

2769 The Night Manager A novel by John LeCarre (read 29 Jul 1995) It was 30 years since I read LeCarre's most famous book, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, when I decided to read this book because two years earlier I heard George Will speak glowingly of it. I did not like it: it is full of gratuitous obscene words, the "hero" is immoral, it spends a lot of pointless time on "lavishness," and at times it is boring. It tells of Jonathan Pine, a hotelier who is recruited to help catch Dicky Roper, an arms seller and dope dealer. The story is quite improbable, and I missed 'real' heroics such as Tom Clancy throws out. I know of no reason to read more of LeCarre. [Though on July 23, 2007, I did read his Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy--which did not overwhelm me either.] ( )

The main character here is a retired soldier, working the night shift at a hotel. He meets a woman who has information about an arms dealer.

Because of this, he gets involved in a sting operation against the arms dealer, as he would like a bit of revenge after the woman is murdered because of the information she passed on.

A slightly different book, with a commentary on how all governments mostly ignore the arms trade as they make craploads of cash out of it.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/03... ( )

Special edition sold only in U.K. airports.

Significant change of direction for Carre here. Our Game discribes the international drugs/arms scene and how government doesn't really want to do much about it, becasue of the profit they earn. How true to real life it is, is irrelevant because its a totally gripping read, with all of Carre's attention to detail and powerful characterisation. ( )