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Absolute Friends
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Our Game
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At 48, Tim Cranmer is a secret servant in retirement, free to devote himself to his manor house, his vineyard and his young mistress, Emma. But a rival in love disappears with Emma, and Tim sets off in pursuit.
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I could listen to Michael Jayston all day.
- By Kirsty Lloyd on 20-07-15
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Single & Single
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A corporate lawyer from the House of Single & Single is shot dead on a Turkish hillside for crimes that he does not understand. A children’s entertainer in Devon is hauled to his local bank late at night to explain a monumental influx of cash. A Russian freighter is arrested in the Black Sea.... The logical connection of these events and more is one of the many pleasures of this story of love, deceit, family and the triumph of humanity.
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Perfect voice for the master's stories
- By Peter on 21-06-11
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A Most Wanted Man
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A half-starved young Russian man 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. In pursuit of his mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the 60-year-old scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in Hamburg.
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Slow to get in to
- By Vicuña on 17-09-15
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The Mission Song
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Bruno Salvador has worked on clandestine missions before. A highly skilled interpreter, he is not a stranger to the Official Secrets Act. But this is the first time he has been asked to change his identity – and, worse still, his clothes – in service of his country.
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The Mission Song
- By Hywel on 03-03-15
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Our Kind of Traitor
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Set in contemporary, recession gripped Britain, a left-leaning young Oxford academic and his barrister girlfriend take an off-peak holiday on the Caribbean island of Antigua. By seeming chance they bump into a Russian millionaire called Dima who owns a peninsula and a diamond-encrusted gold watch. He also has a tattoo on his right thumb, and wants a game of tennis.
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Much ado about nothing really
- By Amazon Customer on 22-10-10
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The Tailor of Panama
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Harry Pendel is the charismatic proprietor of Pendel and Braithwaite Limitada of Panama, through whose doors everyone who is anyone in Central America passes. Andrew Osnard, mysterious and fleshy, is a spy. His secret mission is two-pronged: to keep a watchful eye on the political manoeuvrings leading up to the American handover of the Panama Canal on 31st December 1999; and to secure for himself the immense private fortune that has until now churlishly eluded him.
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Great start but got bored in the middle
- By Alex on 31-07-18
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Our Game
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
At 48, Tim Cranmer is a secret servant in retirement, free to devote himself to his manor house, his vineyard and his young mistress, Emma. But a rival in love disappears with Emma, and Tim sets off in pursuit.
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I could listen to Michael Jayston all day.
- By Kirsty Lloyd on 20-07-15
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Single & Single
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A corporate lawyer from the House of Single & Single is shot dead on a Turkish hillside for crimes that he does not understand. A children’s entertainer in Devon is hauled to his local bank late at night to explain a monumental influx of cash. A Russian freighter is arrested in the Black Sea.... The logical connection of these events and more is one of the many pleasures of this story of love, deceit, family and the triumph of humanity.
-
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Perfect voice for the master's stories
- By Peter on 21-06-11
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A Most Wanted Man
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A half-starved young Russian man 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. In pursuit of his mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the 60-year-old scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in Hamburg.
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Slow to get in to
- By Vicuña on 17-09-15
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The Mission Song
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: David Oyelowo
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Bruno Salvador has worked on clandestine missions before. A highly skilled interpreter, he is not a stranger to the Official Secrets Act. But this is the first time he has been asked to change his identity – and, worse still, his clothes – in service of his country.
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The Mission Song
- By Hywel on 03-03-15
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Our Kind of Traitor
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Set in contemporary, recession gripped Britain, a left-leaning young Oxford academic and his barrister girlfriend take an off-peak holiday on the Caribbean island of Antigua. By seeming chance they bump into a Russian millionaire called Dima who owns a peninsula and a diamond-encrusted gold watch. He also has a tattoo on his right thumb, and wants a game of tennis.
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Much ado about nothing really
- By Amazon Customer on 22-10-10
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The Tailor of Panama
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Harry Pendel is the charismatic proprietor of Pendel and Braithwaite Limitada of Panama, through whose doors everyone who is anyone in Central America passes. Andrew Osnard, mysterious and fleshy, is a spy. His secret mission is two-pronged: to keep a watchful eye on the political manoeuvrings leading up to the American handover of the Panama Canal on 31st December 1999; and to secure for himself the immense private fortune that has until now churlishly eluded him.
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Great start but got bored in the middle
- By Alex on 31-07-18
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The Constant Gardener
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 17 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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The beautiful Tessa Quayle is murdered near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, the birthplace of mankind. And her putative African lover and travelling companion has vanished from the scene of the crime. Tessa’s husband, a career diplomat and amateur gardener at the British High Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers and their motive. On his way he meets terror, violence, and conspiracy, but his greatest discovery is the woman he barely had time to love.
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Emotional, addictive and typical Le Carre
- By joanna green on 30-11-14
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The Little Drummer Girl
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In this enthralling and thought-provoking novel of Middle Eastern intrigue, Charlie, a brilliant and beautiful young actress, is lured into ‘the theatre of the real’ by an Israeli intelligence officer. Forced to play her ultimate role, she is plunged into a deceptive and delicate trap set to ensnare an elusive Palestinian terrorist.
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Superb. lé Carre at his best
- By Janine on 02-06-14
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Call for the Dead
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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This novel, set in London in the late 1950s, finds George Smiley engaged in the humdrum job of security vetting. But when a Foreign Office civil servant commits suicide after an apparently unproblematic interview, Smiley is baffled. Refusing to believe that Fennan shot himself soon after making a cup of cocoa and asking the exchange to telephone him in the morning, Smiley decides to investigate – only to uncover a murderous conspiracy.
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A refreshing change
- By eatough1999 on 27-01-15
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The Russia House
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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It is the third summer of perestroika. Niki Landau, philanderer and travelling rep, attends the first Moscow audio fair and is asked by beautiful young Katya to take a parcel back to England. It’s addressed to Barley Blair, jazz-player and drinker, and contains information vital to the defence of the West. But times and heroes are changing. And Barley Blair is a man who makes his own rules of engagement.
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Perfect voice for the master's stories
- By Peter on 21-06-11
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A Delicate Truth
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: John le Carré
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A counter-terror operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted in Britain's most precious colony, Gibraltar. Its purpose: to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms-buyer. Its authors: an ambitious Foreign Office Minister, and a private defence contractor who is also his close friend. So delicate is the operation that even the Minister's Private Secretary, Toby Bell, is not cleared for it.
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Outstanding writing and narration
- By Al on 14-05-13
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A Perfect Spy
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 20 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Magnus Pym, counsellor at the British Embassy in Vienna, has suddenly vanished, believed defected. The chase is on for a missing husband, a devoted father, and a life-time secret agent. Pym's life, it is revealed, is entirely made up of secrets. The race is on to find the perfect spy.
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Fascinating insight into the mind of a spy
- By Mr on 13-04-13
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The Pigeon Tunnel
- Stories from My Life
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: John le Carré
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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'Out of the secret world I once knew, I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. First comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to the imagining, and to the desk where I'm sitting now.' The Pigeon Tunnel, John le Carré's memoir and his first work of nonfiction, is a thrilling journey into the worlds of his 'secret sharers' - the men and women who inspired some of his most enthralling novels - and a testament to the author's extraordinary engagement with the last half century.
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As enjoyable and thought provoking as ever
- By Caroline brown on 14-11-16
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A Small Town in Germany
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The British Embassy in Bonn is up in arms. Her Majesty's financially troubled government is seeking admission to Europe's Common Market just as anti-British factions are rising to power in Germany. Rioters are demanding reunification, and the last thing the Crown can afford is a scandal. Then Leo Harting - an embassy nobody - goes missing with a case full of confidential files. London sends Alan Turner to control the damage, but he soon realises that neither side really wants Leo found - alive.
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Slow to start but worth sticking with
- By Steve Hocking on 18-07-17
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The Night Manager
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 19 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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The night manager is Jonathan, a veteran of clandestine operations. In flight from a failed marriage and his own past, he has taken refuge in the luxury hotel trade. Yet he finds no escape from his demons. Driven by a desire for atonement and by an inherited patriotism, Jonathan allows himself to be recruited as a British secret agent with a mission to expose the murderer of the woman he himself betrayed. His odyssey takes him across Britain and Canada to the Caribbean and the jungles of Panama.
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Demands your attention, then rewards
- By Nils on 07-04-15
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John le Carré
- The Biography
- By: Adam Sisman
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 26 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In this definitive biography - blessed by John le Carré himself - Adam Sisman reveals the man behind the best-selling persona. In John le Carré, Sisman shines a spotlight on David Cornwell, an expert at hiding in plain sight - "born to lying," he wrote in 2002, "bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practiced in it as a novelist."
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Riveting
- By Francis on 21-10-15
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The Ipcress File
- By: Len Deighton
- Narrated by: James Lailey
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Len Deighton's classic first novel, whose protagonist is a nameless spy - later christened Harry Palmer and made famous worldwide in the iconic 1960s film starring Michael Caine. The Ipcress File was not only Len Deighton's first novel, it was his first best seller and the story that broke the mould of thriller writing. For the working class narrator, an apparently straightforward mission to find a missing biochemist becomes a journey to the heart of a dark and deadly conspiracy.
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A great classic
- By H. Tollyfield on 05-04-14
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The Spy and the Traitor
- By: Ben MacIntyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket. The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia.
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Brilliant Documentary of the Cold War
- By Paul on 03-10-18
Summary
The friends of the title are Ted Mundy, British soldier’s son born 1947 in a new independent Pakistan, and Sasha, refugee son of an East German Lutheran pastor and his wife who have sought sanctuary in the West.
The two men meet first as students in riot-torn West Berlin of the late 60s, again in the grimy looking-glass of Cold War espionage and, most terribly, in today’s world of terror. Spanning 56 years, Absolute Friends is a savage fable of our times.
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- Wras
- 09-05-17
Revolution in order to establish the dictatorship
George Orwell.
The character set up takes the entire book and in the end, you realise that you knew nothing of their real motivations, I could not care for either; Ted Mundy is a bitter dislocated man that lives in between cultures and belongs to no culture he just touches the surfaces without feeling or understanding the motivations and is influenced by all that have authority over him, he is a chameleon responding to external colours but he has none of his own. Sasha is the revolutionary friend that just wants chaos to rule but has no real convictions just a promoter of self-destruction and anarchy for the sake of anarchy as a response to his hate for his father. They are not likeable or easy to understand they are after 465 pages but shadows of political animals that feed at the bottom of political intrigue.
Also surprisingly the great taboo of Islamic criticism is evident here, no real explanation is given for the shadowy money moving from Dubai or the ideas that promote it, we can talk of all other isms but not Islamism, this self-sensorchip is astonishing to me when it comes from such a great author; Milos Forman said "The worst evil is - and that's the product of censorship - is the self-censorship, because that twists spines, that destroys my character because I have to think something else and say something else, I have to always control myself". that is the influence that this evil gives the book, in the end, the only bad people are the ones we can be criticised the others float like angels by the side of God no matter how covered in blood they are, unbalancing the story and the message supporting all the allegations that all terror attacks are but the product of a political misunderstandings, or secret societies, that everyone knows about.
Disappointing ending and plot, with interesting descriptions of historical events throughout the life of the two characters.
8 of 12 people found this review helpful
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- bignewshound
- 18-11-15
Absolute
This was never one of Le Carre's best received novels. But with the wisdom hindsight, I the cold light of a post 9/11 day it it perhaps his most brutally honest and terrifying. I read it when it came out and listed to it again in November 2015. It is Jayston - the best reader of Le Carre my a long chalk mark - at his very best.
Presentation aside, it is the content which on second visit I found so astonishing. I listened to the final few hours of the story on the weekend Paris and the world was reeling in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. What the novel is driving at. What it is implying and what it is explicitly saying are screamingly apt. This is not a subtle novel. This says it for all to hear. Everything that happens to us. The horrors which drive us to take cover under our duvets or seek solace and distraction in box sets, mobile technology and consumer goods of all shapes and sizes can all be traced back to one source: an unholy and utterly cynical alliance between power brokers and gun toting thugs across the political divide with the good old U S of A gluing them all together. Sleep well in your beds.
8 of 12 people found this review helpful
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Overall
- Peter
- Bristol, United Kingdom
- 21-06-11
The perfect voice for the master's story
John Le Carre writes quite amazing stories - about flawed innocents with pure intentions caught up in the mendacities of the real word. There is something about Michael Jayston's voice, the slightly jaded world-weariness, that makes it quite the perfect vehicle for Le Carre's writing.
8 of 12 people found this review helpful
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- bibliophile
- 12-06-14
Superb reading
A very good listen. The reading was superb. The plot was resolved with a little too much paranoia, though!
4 of 6 people found this review helpful
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- Georgie
- 09-04-14
One of le Carre's best
Whether you're a fan of le Carre or a newcomer, this one is a must. It's his insight into what happens behind the scenes that is so important - this is an educational book as well as a great thriller.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful
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- rodney
- 31-10-14
Jayston genius
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Jayston and le Carré have done it again; the most fabulous duo since laurel and hardy.. In a 'word' unputdownable..
What about Michael Jayston’s performance did you like?
Michael has the rare ability of instantly transforming the written word into something utterly real. If his narrating was compared to a cake it would be something made of solid gold with a diamond cherry on top.
5 of 8 people found this review helpful
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- Diana Brighouse
- 12-04-17
brilliant
Fantastic (and chilling) story, performance pitch perfect. If I could give more than 5 stars I would.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful
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- Chalk the Sun
- London
- 19-10-16
Complex and engaging
The Cold War to the War against terrorism told through an ambiguous friendship between two extraordinary vividly created character s Wonderful reader too
3 of 5 people found this review helpful
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- Chrissie
- 06-08-16
BrillIant Le Carre'.
Brilliant, complex, and so many dislikable characters in one novel! Well worth a read, and best in as near to one sitting as possible if the plot is not to be lost!
3 of 5 people found this review helpful
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- peter
- Szentendre, Hungary
- 27-05-13
WOW
it's a must for all le care enthusiasts. It’s a must for thinkers of topical contemporary concerns. It’s a must for anyone interested in great writing. the author is the most underrated english writer of our times. and naturally, michael jayston does it again!
3 of 5 people found this review helpful
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- fredmonster
- 19-07-10
A sort of accidental spy
Masterfully read by Jayston, brilliant ending that would never be the same in a movie version.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful