laticsexile 's review for:

A Perfect Spy by John le Carré

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Le Carré right at the top of his game. If it’s not his best spy novel, it’s his best literary novel. With skill and panache, he flips backwards and forwards in time, jumps between first and third person for the protagonist, slowly revealing the layers of the onion of Pym’s character and his past. It’s also a brave portrayal of the relationship between Pym and his  father, which runs as an uncomfortable seam through the book. Wonderful stuff.