A young Chechen Muslim is smuggled into Hamburg, an illegal immigrant with a lot of money. He persuades a Turkish woman to take him in. A human rights lawyer becomes involved in his case and then a powerful city banker. Why? There are clues all over the place but I didn’t get them in the right order to guess the outcome. I don’t expect you will either for Le Carré is the grand master of confusion. Originally published 2008.
The film version of A Most Wanted Man is released in UK cinemas on Friday 12 September 2014. Click below to view the trailer.
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 round 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. In pursuit of Issa's mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old scion of Brue Freres, a failing British bank based in Hamburg. A triangle of impossible loves is born. Meanwhile, scenting a sure kill in the so-called War on Terror, the spies of three nations converge upon the innocents. Poignant, compassionate, peopled with characters the reader never wants to let go, A MOST WANTED MAN is alive with humour, yet prickles with tension until the last heart-stopping page. It is also a work of deep humanity, and uncommon relevance to our times.
One of the most sophisticated fictional responses to the war on terror yet published. - Guardian
A cautionary tale, rich in humanity, from a master storyteller back at the peak of his powers. - Glasgow Herald
This is bleak, brilliant, hypnotic stuff and yet another reason to count le Carre among this country's very finest contemporary writers. Unhesitatingly recommended. - Independent on Sunday
Author
About John le Carré
John le Carré was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For the last fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall. His works include The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Smiley's People; The Little Drummer Girl; A Perfect Spy; The Russia House; and Absolute Friends.
