Our Game

The next unread book on my shelf was a John Le Carré novel and Our Game proved to be an excellent novel if you sign up to the idea that British Intelligence was run by a bunch of public schoolboys who never really grew up. Come to think of it that is also a description of the British government over the last fifteen years or so. In addition to this the hero of the story is Tim Cranmer; a retired spy and I enjoy reading about retired individuals who can bring a more balanced view to the world in which they live.

Tim Cranmer like many public schoolboys gets rich due to his inheritance and so is not unduly worried when he is forced to retire from British Intelligence after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He is disturbed from his struggles in show more managing his English vineyard by a visit from the police who wish to interview him about the disappearance of Professor Larry Pettifer who they believe was a close friend of Tim. In fact Larry Pettifer was a double agent who Cranmer handled throughout his service as a spy: Pettifer had also seduced Cranmer's younger girlfriend (the beautiful Emma). Things get more difficult for Tim when he is summoned back to MI5 headquarters and discovers that they believe that he is implicated in a plot to embezzle millions of pounds from Russian oligarchs, that he would have known when he worked for the intelligence services. Tim realises he must use all his spy-craft to work for himself and track down Pettifer.

Le Carré introduces his readers to the wilds of the North Caucasus and the tribal Russian republics of Chechenia, Ossetia, and Ingushetia following the breakup of parts of the Soviet republic, (decent map supplied), this contrasts with the gentlemanly culture of the British intelligence service which takes up two thirds of the novel and is really Le Carré's forte. Cranmer's character is well presented: a man having to get back into harness with a world that he thought he had left behind; he is not a super-hero, but with a little luck and some skill manages to make some headway. There is perhaps no fool like an old fool and Tim comes close to realising this when he looks back on his relationship with Larry and his love for Emma.

Le Carré takes the violence out of thriller writing, but still manages to create enough tension and grittiness to make his stories feel real enough and he has a good story here. He also imbues a more balanced and nuanced view of international politics and the world of spying. The Russians are not all beastly savages and the Brits and the Americans are not as sure footed or as unprejudiced as their governments would have us believe. A criticism of Le Carré's approach is that perhaps he makes it all appear too much of a game, (hence the title of this book). In this novel there is a bit of a hole, character-wise, because we only get to meet Larry Pettifer through flashbacks from Tim Cranmer and information from other characters, and so as readers we only get second hand information on his aims, ambitions and his conscientiousness. Is he a selfish, grasping, crook or is he an idealistic, man-of-his-word trying to make the world a better place? The answer of course lies somewhere in between, but he remains an inconsistent character. When the adventure part of the story gets going it becomes a page turner, but there is much to enjoy in the internal and external politics of the police and intelligence agencies in the meantime and so 4 stars. show less

This is a novel about how being a spy shapes you forever. It’s about the aftermath and what sacrificing your true identity means for the rest of your life. I was reminded of Restless by William Boyd and wondered how much of an effect this book had on his. Surely le Carre was an influence. What contemporary espionage writer is exempt?

It’s been a long time since I read one of le Carre’s more “hardcore” spy novels. The Smiley novels. The ones where hard men make hard decisions and get left out in the cold. This novel, while still perilous, is set a bit after active duty. We have handler and handled, betrayer and betrayed, seducer and seduced. Sure, it’s a bit quieter and more introspective than many a spy novel, but I think show more it’s more powerful as a result. The relationship between the two main characters Tim Cranmer and Larry Pettifer is the real focus. In some ways, they’re two sides of a single coin, but it’s not that cut and dried. Larry has always been contemptuous of Tim’s more staid personality and safer choices. His hedonism and arrogance make him an effective spy, but a really lousy friend. If they ever were friends. How much of either man’s personality is real? At times Tim’s third-person references made me really understand how much of a role it was for him, but Larry’s tear-away behavior made me think he thought his role all too real.

Spoilers !

Cranmer (I couldn’t help wondering what the significance of that name really was) is a man in retirement. He’s beginning a new life with a very young woman, also new. He’s inherited a sprawling estate and has been freshly relieved from his job at the “treasury”. Yeah, he’s a spy. A handler; and his handlee has also been newly put out to pasture. Too bad he’s only 30 miles away at a university, being the best terrible don on campus. Makes it very convenient to pop by for Sunday lunch. During those idyllic lunches on the estate, Larry succeeds in seducing the impressionable and sheltered Emma, Tim’s paramour. I can’t really describe her as more. She’s not really a fully-formed adult to Tim. He buys her clothes for heaven’s sake. What mature, independent woman is going to allow this? Instead Emma represents all objects of affection for Cranmer; lover, wife, child and madonna. No, Larry’s gung-ho, take-charge attitude toward the put-upon peoples of the southern Russian republics have Emma swooning at his feet and soon they’re both gone.

Larry started his career as a spy under Cranmer’s tutelage. Ostensibly, Tim feels responsible for changing Larry’s life and to some extent it’s true, but Larry has chosen his own course, serving as a double agent to Russia. With any double agent, you can’t really be sure where his loyalties lie. As the years press on, Larry becomes more and more sympathetic to the Chechen oppression and extermination by the Russians. In the end, it’s clear he and his accomplices have stolen a great deal of money from Moscow. It isn’t to feather his own nest though, but to fund a revolution against the Ossetians and their Russian overlords.

Naturally, Tim comes under suspicion as an accomplice from both his former employer and the local cops. I loved the tradecraft he devised to evade them in the immediate sense and also on the larger scale. Keeping the cops in the dark about the Office. The false identity ready to hand. The secret room in the church tower. Getting into Larry and Emma’s erstwhile safe house. Oh it was great. There is a lot of idealism and hope, danger and deceit. And of course le Carre’s writing has that lolloping grace it’s always had. He creates some great characters, sprinkles just enough back story into the main narrative and teases you with hints before giving you solid information. Altogether a really enjoyable novel that I’m ashamed took me 20 years to finally read. show less

I rarely feel as content as when I'm starting a new Le Carré. His gentle but persistent ratcheting of tension, laying out of mystery, I find thrilling. The largest part of this novel is all taut, claustrophobic tension — reminiscent of Tinker, Tailor, and Smiley's People. The small problem with Le Carré is that the later pay-off may not quite match the superlative build-up — either diverging too far from Le Carré's strengths (Honourable Schoolboy, Night Manager) or kinda petering out (I think... Russia House, maybe even Drummer Girl?). I feel that Our Game delivers on its promise — I enjoyed it immensely. It continues Le Carré's themes from the last few books — fall of communism, evils of — and the West's complicity in — show more the arms trade, and the West's moral culpability in not caring about the oppressed. Le Carré on top, angry, outraged form. Excellent. show less

I care nothing about the part of the world that becomes central to the story, but as always Le Carre's main character is absorbing. As a former spook, he tries to protect his new (but supposedly perfect) girlfriend and his old (albeit annoying) former trainee as he's persecuted by his own service.

Six-word review: Runaway lovers launch ex-spy's investigative odyssey.

Extended review:

Love, loss, and post-Cold-War intrigue featuring ethnic conflict in the North Caucasus region of the Russian federation.

I didn't know quite what to expect from le Carré. I'd always assumed he was hardcore when it came to spy novels, which are just not my genre. And I think he pretty much is. But here there was also a large helping of inner human drama, moral conflict, soul-searching, and ultimately something like redemption to elevate this novel above the level of routine cloak-and-dagger action.

The novel is a suspenseful story of a former Cold War agent's search for his longtime friend and colleague, who has apparently run off with the agent's show more girlfriend. Tim Cranmer's own doubts and questions and his lack of commitment to any ideal create layers of subterfuge and deception that lure us on to try to penetrate the puzzle, both of the escapees' movements and of the character himself. His application of spy tradecraft in the service of a personal mission interested me more than a motivation based in politics or commerce, where the side you're on seems fairly arbitrary and everyone's up to the same thing.

The author draws us in artfully, just as Cranmer is drawn in. As he begins to care about obscure ethnic combatants in the mountainous reaches of the Caucasus, so do I. Off I went to learn more about the setting and the background action. I had to look up the Republic of Ingushetia, which I'd never heard of, and do some reading about its history and geography. And I studied a map of the eastern half of Russia for a while. Abstractions such as statistics and names on a map became real-seeming people and places as Cranmer pursued the fugitive couple. The subtle shifting of his goal as time progresses adds an intriguing dimension to the focal character.

The ending was unexpected and surprisingly satisfying. show less

A tale of disappointed love, and deeply romantic. A spy, now retired (For they are never "Former" are they?) Sets out to discover the fate of a former protege, and his newly departed girl friend. The tone is bleak and the ending, will not be spoiled by me.

Tim Cranmer is a retired intelligence agent living in Bath with his young sweetheart, Emma. The story opens with two detectives arriving at his door, questioning him about the disappearance of his friend (and former double agent), Larry Pettifer. Cranmer goes to the Office to gain more information. He finds himself suspected of assisting Larry in stealing a large sum of money from the Russians. Both Larry and Emma have disappeared. It is set in the 1990s, after the Cold War and at the beginning of the Russian Federation.

We are privy to Tim’s thoughts as he pieces together what has happened. I was riveted to this story. We find out about the conflicts in the Caucasus between Russia and Ingushetia. This is a piece of history that is not show more told often, and I feel I learned quite a bit.

It is a complex mix of espionage, love triangle, and politics. It mixes action sequences with analysis. It portrays two contrasting personalities. Larry is the idealist. Tim is the practical one. Emma has chosen one over the other, creating conflict among friends. I had not read anything by le Carre’ in quite a while, and this book reminds me of why I enjoy his writing so much.

4.5 show less