New spies with new loyalties, old spies with old ones;
terror as the new mantra; decent people wanting to do good
but caught in the moral maze; all the sound, rational
reasons for doing the inhuman thing; the recognition that
we cannot safely love or pity and remain good "patriots" --
this is the fabric of John le Carré's fiercely compelling
and current novel A Most Wanted Man.
A half-starved young Russian man in a long black overcoat
is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an
improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse around his
neck. He is a devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is
Issa.
Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer,
determines to save Issa from deportation. Soon her client's
survival becomes more important to her than her own career -
- or safety. In pursuit of Issa's mysterious past, she
confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old
scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in
Hamburg.
Annabel, Issa and Brue form an unlikely alliance -- and a
triangle of impossible loves is born. Meanwhile, scenting a
sure kill in the "War on Terror," the rival spies of
Germany, England and America converge upon the innocents.
Thrilling, compassionate, peopled with characters the
reader never wants to let go, A Most Wanted Man is a work
of deep humanity and uncommon relevance to our times.
Look for John le Carré's piece "The Madness of Spies," a
revealing glimpse into his time working for the British
intelligence, in the September 29, 2008, issue of The New
Yorker
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