I found this a little bit confusing at first, I couldn't work out who each character was or how they were connected. As the book went on, though, I got caught up in the story. It's about a Chechen man who is smuggled into Germany. The man, Issa, is a rebel and a "known" terrorist who has been tortured. He makes contact with a lawyer, Annabel Richter, and a wealthy British banker, Tommy Brue. He needs their help in order to stay in Germany and become a doctor. As the story unfolds, we see that Frau Richter desperately wants to help Issa, and Mr Brue's bank has a past which means that Issa has claim to millions held in its vaults. Enter German, British and US Intelligence! ( )

Le Carre tackles the territoriality and ethics of modern terror investigations with this story, set in Hamburg. He creates an intricate investigation and espionage operation that comes to a jarring end -- making a mockery of one spymaster's promise to a source: "We won't tell you all the truth, dear, we can't. But whatever we do tell you will be true." ( )

Issa arrived in Germany with no past and access to large money. He didn't want the money as it was gained immorally according the the laws of Islam. The story unravels his past, and who he is, without providing a lot of definite answers. Issa is studied by several teams, oftenwith different interpretations of the past.

This book is set in Germany, near the current time. It involves current issues, and feels typical for Le Carre's work.

The story moves slowly at first, in Le Carre's style, there is little action, as subtlety and knowledge are key. The suspense builds well, but slowly. Not all of the questions are answered, but the events are clear. ( )

First le Carre I have ever read. What I liked was the infinite gradation of morality; what I disliked was its plodding slowness. I am not sure I would read another by him. ( )

Audiobook. Interesting that LeCarre is moving into the post 9-11 world of terrorism. As always, it was a good read. In the end this one seemed to have a political point for the ending. That did disappoint me. I am interested in LeCarre because he engages political issues and writes complex psychological narratives. This book just didn't quite work for me and so disappointed. ( )

I've always been interested in why Le Carre is so popular. That's not to denigrate his writing, but rather to suggest that his books seem too slow, too serious, too English to consistently feature in best-seller lists. I'm also interested in what seems to be his shift to the left in recent novels. Here he offers a critique of the current 'war on terror', showing how the innocent are victimised, how the vaguely threatening are turned into global pariahs and the ethical are marginalised. I'm not sure he's offering a genuinely leftist critique of current US-British policy so much as a lament for the passing of old-style liberal espionage, but it's good to see such a popular author challenging what's going on.

As for the slowness, there really isn't much that happens in this novel. It's a good read nonetheless, heavily character based and moving towards a rather inevitable but still satisfying conclusion. ( )

Good, not great, le Carre' ( )

Not his best. But always interesting, always atmospheric. And a cracking-good ending. ( )

Well-written, forward-moving plot, good characters. Nice to see an intelligently written book of this genre. The storyline is a little less complex and more discernible than some of Le Carre's older spy thrillers. But still - at the risk of sounding like the Emperor in "Amadeus" complaining that a Mozart piece has "too many notes" - I think it has "too many characters" at least among the secondary players that we find in the German, American and British intelligence and police services -- hard to keep everyone straight. A movie version might help in this regard. But the main characters: Brue, Annabel, Bachman, and Issa, are all original and interesting personae.

There's an occasional bit of political/editorial commentary inserted into the mouths of some of the characters, but it's not laid on too heavily (as in Crichton's "State of Fear" for example) and frankly I'm pretty much in agreement with the author's perspective anyway. ( )

Spy novels aren't my thing. I really had to force myself to get through this book. Lots of characters, many with multiple names. The characters seemed stereotyped to me--the misunderstood, but fiercely Islamic victim; the beautiful, stiff-upper-lip woman lawyer who everyone falls in love with, the slightly bumbling banker coasting to retirement. Blah, blah, blah. And of course, the Americans come along in the last 5 pages and screw up the best-laid plans of the Brits and Germans spies. ( )

A page-turner, as most of his books. ( )

John Le Carre turns his still considerable literary and story-telling talents to the `war on terror' in his latest work. Set in Germany, a middle-aged ex-pat English private banker and a young idealistic left-wing lawyer form an unlikely alliance to help a somewhat mysterious illegal Chechen Muslim refugee when he turns up in ill-fated Hamburg. The Chechen has come to claim `black' bank account from the British banker with the aid of the lawyer.

Their efforts quickly come under the eye of various counter-intelligence agencies: German, British, and US. Each agency has its own agenda in dealing with the trio. Le Carre does a nice job describing the nuances of the agencies' various modes, motivations, and interactions. One group of German agents, the good cops, wants to use the banker, the lawyer, and the Chechen (and the Chechen's money) to compromise and turn a prominent Muslim doctor with suspicious ties. The others, especially the Americans, have other ideas.

Le Carre also creates an intriguing ambiguity as to who or what the Chechen really is. Is he a terrorist? A hapless victim? Likewise, with regard to Dr. Abdullah - is he a legitimate conduit for channeling money to leading Muslim charities or is he knowingly directing part of the funds to nefarious ends?

I found the story less than compelling at times - in a word, put-down-able (if that is a word). The motivations of the banker and to a lesser extent, the lawyer to take huge risks are not entirely convincing. But then LeCarre has never really produced page-turners.

The interplay of the anti-terror cops with one another and their victims (no other word for it, really) leading to the sudden and the powerfully disturbing denouement - a sickening kick to the stomach made all the more distressing by its realism - compensate for any shortcomings. Not on a level with Smiley's People, but much better than many of his post-Cold War offerings. Highly recommended. 4.5 stars. ( )

Moral and financial complexities permeate this novel which carries with it a biting commentary on western foreign policy and particularly that of America. A follow the money journey through an archipelago of global banks both large and small who are subtly connected to vaguely named charitable organizations. Here too is the classic spy story, but it carries the more raw and violent edge of the post 9/11 era. One of the book’s main characters; the steely, ruthless and indefatigable German spy chief Gunther Bachman states “we are not policemen, we are spies. We do not arrest our targets. We develop them and redirect them at bigger targets. When we identify a network, we watch it, we listen to it, we penetrate it and by degrees we control it. Arrests are of negative value.”

And in the shadows there is the suggestion that we “shake-down” and torture too and this has a decidedly more sinister and edgy feel than the interrogation of Bill Hayden of yesteryear.

The reader gains a comprehension of the chronic paranoia which spawns the evil shadows in the closet sense of things (or not) which, in turn generates the motivation behind the actions of three western spy agencies in this story. This becomes a study in moral complexity, fear and policy.

Do these agencies and their people become a monster in pursuit of one? If a person is 95% good and 5% bad does that make them all bad? Mostly good? Bachman describes what 5% “bad” means in the real world when the author paraphrases his thought by saying that the public is protected from having to grapple with the dilemma which he concludes is the “slaughterhouse blood washing over your toe caps, and the hundred percent dead scattered in five percent bits over a square kilometer of the town square (presumably from a suicide bomber).” 5% bad might lead to 100% dead being the inference. And so the psychology becomes amplified and finds itself to action and policy. So accustomed to their paranoia are they that truth becomes obscured. Maddening. Bachman wrestles with this dilemma; but the classic LeCarre character Mr. Tommy Brue and the German civil rights lawyer who defends the protagonist do even more so. Where does this leave us?

Finally the reader is clear that the book’s protagonist, Issa, is (or might be) innocent but nonetheless has been sucked into the maelstrom of American lead extraordinary rendition and spying and this leaves the reader hanging. What is to become of Issa? We realize that the story might continue in some Egyptian or Syrian torture chamber and that there are many stories just like it and that justice has very well been compromised and perverted OR has it?

This is as close to the “old LeCarre” as I’ve seen among his most recent novels. It harkens back to the moral complexity and haunting questions of the Karla trilogy, or The Spy Who Came in From the Cold or The Night Manager. It’s very good, but it just squeaks into 5 star territory well behind of the aforementioned.

It leaves me wrestling with a lot of important questions which out live the reading of the book. And that, I suspect, is the point. It is also what makes it so good and worthy of just getting into the 5 star zone for me. ( )

One man’s meat is another man’s poison – a British idiom meaning different people like different things, just as certain writers no matter how well respected are not universally enjoyed.

John Le Carré is the GOM of British spy writers: for years his merest scribble has been beatified no matter how dreary or potboilerish, and no-one has ever exclaimed “but the Emperor is not wearing any clothes!’

A Most Wanted Man is a pedestrian story, firmly rooted in the post 9/11 al Qaeda atmosphere of paranoia, featuring a female German civil rights lawyer, a Germany-based British banker and a supposedly devout Muslim victim.

Le Carré’s experience, expertise and undoubted talent save the book from being a case of The Emperor is not Wearing Any Clothes to ‘The Emperor is wearing old boxer shorts and a stained T-shirt’.

Even the most banal of British is usually worth reading but unless you are a particular fan of any of these writers, borrow but don’t bother to buy these books. ( )

This troubling story deals with the limits of modern spy craft as it applies to finding and bringing terrorists to justice. Innocent people are falsely accused and the cascade of frightening events sweep others into a snare set by a multi-national anti-terrorist team. ( )

In the mold of his other books, but changed to contemporary story. A young man is smuggled into Hamburg and attaches himself to a Turkish widow and her son. He claims connections to an account with a private bank in the city. A young lawyer wants to help him, but soon they all are under the eye of various secret service outfits.

A Most Wanted Man is a spy novel extraordaire with themes more relevant to today's issues then most other thrillers I've read. Highlighting the war on terror and they way it has altered rationality, this is a book that should hit close to home for anyone. Issa, a young Russian with horrific scars, comes mysteriously to be in Hamberg. A devout Muslim, he is quickly under suspcion from all sides. Annabel, a young German lawyer is determind to prevent the government from deporting him and she drags a wealthy British banker into her cause. It's a game of cat and mouse as the rival spies try to find proof of Issa's terrorist connections.
I listened to this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. John le Carre reads the book himself, and he does a good job of it. I found the plot to be frighteningly plausible. I liked the main characters and especially enjoyed the relationships between Issa, Annabelle, and Tommy Brue. This is a book peopled with realistic people caught in unimaginably terrifying circumstances! ( )

There is something about Le Carré’s writing style that can grate on me some. And to a large extent, I really don’t care what happens to all his characters. He doesn’t get me emotionally involved. So A Most Wanted Man is not that much fun. It is not a hard-to-put-down, gripping page-turner.

But in the week since I finished the book, I cannot stop thinking about it. I cannot stop thinking about what the US and its allies are doing in the “War on Terror”. Are we doing the right thing? That’s probably why I keep reading Le Carré. His books leave you thinking. And that’s a good thing.

My complete review is on my blog, Nate's Library, specifically at: http://nates-library.blogspot.com/200... ( )

I gave up on this book after 100 pages. Nothing happened except the author introducing some rather dull characters. There seemed to be little at stake for any of these folks. Basing a book on the flimsy "war on terror" is probably not a good idea.

Fantastisk spionintrige. En mesterlig John Le Carré. ( )

John le Carre bases A Most Wanted Man on a most unlikely premise. To depict the extent of Western xenophobia and scapegoating spawned by 9/11, he chooses to set this spy novel not in the country that was struck by the terrorists, or in the nations targeted by the ensuing War on Terror, but in the country that served as a way station for several key 9/11 terrorists.

Hamburg, Germany, a city known for its openness to foreigners, is infiltrated by a fractured young man from Chechnya who may (or may not) pose the next grave threat to Western civilization. Young Issa's improbable entry into Germany, tenuous connection to Islamic radicals, and inherited right to a large secret bank account held by British-owned Brue Freres, place him in the crosshairs of German, British and United States intelligence agencies, each with its own mysterious agenda. When young civil rights attorney Annabel petitions bank owner Tommy Brue to release the secret funds and help protect Issa from deportation, Annabel and Tommy find themselves caught up in a multi-layered plot that tests their willingness to sacrifice their reputations and livelihoods for the benefit of this enigmatic young man.

A Most Wanted Man succeeds not only as a sophisticated spy thriller, but also as a nuanced character study, provocative political commentary, and thoughtful examination of what it really means to be a moral human being. The writing is fluid throughout, and the well-constructed plot builds suspense even in the absence of violent action. The ending, though, left me with the impression that le Carre wound this tale so tightly that it jammed up at the climax and could not release properly. When this gets made into a movie, as seems to be the case with most of le Carre's books, the screen writer's challenge will be to devise a more fitting resolution to this fantastic build-up. ( )

http://www.bookgeeks.co.uk/2008/09/01... ( )