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A Most Wanted Man | 
 enlarge | Author: John Le Carre
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $28.00
Buy New: $12.00
You Save: $16.00 (57%)
New (58) Used (19) Collectible (1) from $10.75
Rating:  94 reviews
Sales Rank: 117
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4
ISBN: 1416594884
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781416594888
ASIN: 1416594884
Publication Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 89 more reviews...
 A trop drawer story November 15, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Obama was elected, and my reading of LeCarre's A Most Wanted Man gave me such great pleasure. May LeCarre have all the best for the coming year. In a phrase, we owe him for all the pleasure for all the books he has given us.
A Most Wanted 20th Le Carré Title November 14, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
John le Carré beats many authors of espionage novels for a number of reasons. He's a true first-person Cold War Era authority as he was working for the British Foreign Service in the early '60s, even before the Berlin Wall went up, then eventually for MI6 (the UK's external intelligence agency). Born as David John Moore Cornwell, he wrote his first novel, Call for the Dead in 1961 while still a member of his government's service, thus requiring his use of the pen name we know as John le Carré. It was in that first novel that he introduced George Smiley, his most famous recurring characters, and its sequel, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is one of the most celebrated novels in the espionage genre.
But the Cold War as we knew it is over, and the Wall that separated Germany has mostly been sold to souvenir seekers. George Smiley, who would have been over 100 by now, was retired a number of books back, gone but not forgotten. Le Carré's latest book, A Most Wanted Man, introduces us to Issa Karpov, a half-Russian, half-Chechen Muslim refugee in a long black overcoat who has turned up in Hamburg to reclaim a mysterious inheritance and devote himself to Islam. He is also being pursued by competing security services that fear that he just might be there to unleash some fundamentalist havoc upon the country. We meet Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer who is determined to save Issa from deportation, and soon Issa's survival becomes more important to her than her own safety.
Making this into a seemingly improbable trio is one Tommy Brue, a sixty-year-old private banker with a failing British bank based in Hamburg who has a number of secrets, business and personal, that he'd rather not remember. Add to this mix the rival spies of Germany, the US and the UK, all set to converge upon the unlikely trio, as they've identified Issa as the perfect live bait for an altogether bigger fish.
This is a tale about corruption, both political and private. The plot revolves around the most highly-debated debated policies in a contemporary terror-freighted Europe, and Le Carré creates credible, lifelike characters whose conflict with the agents of the powers that be add to the dark realism of the novel. Keep in mind that it's set in Hamburg, the former home of the 9/11 hijackers, which in some ways explains the concerns of the German security services at the arrival of Issa, whose name indecently, is said to mean Jesus. The symbolism has a somewhat subtle point.
But since the end of the Cold War, the US seems to have replaced the USSR as the antagonist of choice in Le Carré's writings. He has never disguised his sometimes contemptuous attitude for much that is American, but it seems to have increased over the last decade.
Absolute Friends was disappointing to this reader because it seemed that Le Carré couldn't choose between writing a solid book or an anti-American lecture, and it didn't function effectively as either. It reflected the author's anger against justification by both the US and the UK for their current involvement in Iraq as the front line in the war against Muslim terrorism.
This attitude hasn't stopped me from buying and reading everything he has written, but I do wish that he would treat the Americans and his own British countrymen with the appreciation and compassion that he shows to Muslim fundamentalists. There is, however, something to be said for such a usually unemotional and dispassionate writer as Le Carré letting his passion to get the better of him once in awhile, as he has done in his latest offering. Few writers of spy thrillers deal with contemporary political events with such keen perception as does John Le Carré.
If you're looking for a recent release with white-knuckle car chases, wild exchanges of bullets and sultry women, then Le Carré's stories are not for you. Just look to Ted Bell's Tsar: A Thriller if it's an action-packed spy thriller that you're seeking, as it's all there. Most of Le Carré's books are all about character development and plot, and "A Most Wanted Man" reflects the slow, meticulous process of putting together the intricate espionage enigma.
This is not his best work, in this reader's opinion. George Smiley would be over 100 by now, the Berlin Wall is gone and the Cold War is past us, as noted before. That being said, John Le Carré is still in a league of his own.
Bob's Review November 12, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Great book, full of mystery and action. I highly recommend it to LeCarre's fans. Fast delivery and great price!
A Most Wanted Man November 11, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
A top notch story from a master. Intricate plot, fascinating characters, all the twists and turns to keep you guessing, then hoping until the end. I loved it!
He's still the best November 11, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
A great read, hard to put down. Held my interest til the last page. And what an ending!
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