Don’t forget that I’ve just forged through two, 1,000 page books, Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants, and now Clancy’s tome

Gimme a break this time, okay?

Don’t worry

You’re in the right place

I’m glad you’re here, though

and don’t worry if it seems like you landed on the wrong planet

John le Carre’s last interview

But did you know that John le Carre is a pseudonym

I didn’t

for David John Moore Cornwell? He was actually a spy for MI5 and MI6 in England and left the service to write novels once this blockbuster hit

Next on my shelf will be his latest, Our Kind of Traitor, which reportedly is the “old” John le Carre

I’m not what that means to everyone, but it does confirm my sense that his novels got increasingly obtuse over time, with his George Smiley character as inscrutable as ever

Too much subtlety, nuance, innuendo, misdirection

like George Smiley

If you read or watch the interview, you’ll see that le Carre rejects the James Bond formula where it’s eminently clear who’s wearing the white or black hat

He prefers the uncertainty, and in his last several books, achieved it

If you’re paying close attention, great

If you’re reading in bed with your faculties flagging, it’s hard to keep it all straight

What do you think of John le Carre’s novels? If you love this genre, you must have read at least a few of these?

Thriller Roundtable