Reviews

Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré

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theknack's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

austinburns's review against another edition

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4.0

le carré doesn’t usually name current presidents or PMs so it was a bit jarring to read all about trump and brexit. but the clear position he takes is invigorating. as usual, the ending is very abrupt and i wanted a bit more to come after.

idonthavebroadband's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

mikeybuck's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

skycrane's review against another edition

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4.0

I was introduced to le Carre with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and though I enjoyed that a lot, I had trouble getting into the sequels, and I'd read basically none of his other novels until this one caught my eye. The main narrative of this book is presented as an explanation or self-justification for the protagonist's unfortunate connection with a young man he befriends. This makes the novel into a funny sort of mystery. Instead of the classic spy novel setup where there's a double agent or some nefarious plot, instead there's an implied bureaucratic clusterfuck down the line, and you've got to sort out how exactly our hero got dragged into a position where'd he be sat down to explain how he met his badminton partner, with his career depending on his answers.

In general, this novel is very little about the foreign threats to Britain and how its intelligence services react to them, and very much about how the people within those services deal with the demands placed upon them. Bright, ambitious young people join up and are expected to lie to, blackmail, bribe, compromise, and otherwise manipulate strangers. They are expected to do all these morally reprehensible things without qualms in service of their country's interests, even when those national interests can change radically from year to year depending on who's in charge.

tessyoung's review against another edition

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3.0

My 3 star rating is a bit tight, I would happily go to a 3.5 but not go as far as a 4. I love Le Carre and thought this would be the perfect read while I was away from home. I thought I'd race through it in the week and wouldn't need to bring it home in my limited luggage allowance. However, I found it a slow start and struggled to get into it at first. It felt like there was a lot of groundwork and pre-figuring what was to come and a certain impatience on my part to get the the denouement. When it came it was good, a little predictable with not much of a twist, but I couldn't help feeling like this book could have been more tightly written and edited. In the end I finished it on the bus to the train station...