Agnet Running in the Field

Much has been made about this novel--set in 2018--being John le Carré's Brexit and Trump novel, and the fury with which it was written. And, while that is true to a certain extent, and even plays a crucial role in the plot, it isn't a scathing polemic on the matter. What I believe will happen is left-leaning reviewers will praise it, and right-leaning reviewers will condemn it, solely on political grounds. What you won't be hearing in all the hubbub, though, is a lot of praise for its literary merit.

For the initiated, this is le Carré lite. Loyal readers noticed a change in style--and not just subject matter--after the Cold War ended. They also noticed a change in 2000 to a more political and social mantra. With his previous novel, A Legacy of Spies, there was another simplification of his narrative style. I originally thought it was because, it being a sequel to The Spy Who Came in from the Cold--which itself had a simple narrative style owing to le Carré's early days--he didn't want to bowl over readers who may not have kept up with his writing in the interim. (In addition, I also think he's trying to increase the exposure and "filmability" of the novel now that his sons are in the movie-making business and have sole rights to his catalog.) So I'd say this is the new le Carré for modern audiences. The man who had previously elevated the spy novel to Literature status and made it about the journey has now resorted to plot twists.

The narrative moves fast, if not the plot--not that his plots ever did. There is little time for exposition or building much in the way of credibility. Everything has to be taken at face value because it has been written down and is staring the reader in the face, so therefore we have no choice but to accept it. It is neither a slow nor a long read, so it won't consume much time or effort either way.

The title, and both the US and UK covers, seems misleading as well. There is no running in the novel. I believe someone mentions jogging, and they do play badminton, but nothing that breaks a sweat off of the badminton court. That leads me to believe the title has another meaning. It could be a punctuation issue, instead being Agent-Running, in the Field, but it isn't really a novel of espionage tradecraft. Rather, I believe it refers to the directionless, zig-zagging of someone crashing haphazardly through an unfamiliar space. In that regard, the title is very post-modern, because that also seems to be how le Carré wrote the novel.

Who should read it? People who like straight-forward page-turners with ups and downs and twists. Who should not read it? Anyone who admires and respects what he published between 1974 and 1989.