Review of 'A Delicate Truth - 1st Edition/1st Impression' on Goodreads
4 stars
Three years after a joint American-British, public-private military operation on Gibraltar, a chance meeting between two participants raises questions and sets consciences ablaze.
I always look forward to a new le Carré novel. Few thriller writers are able to balance plot, character, language, and subject matter as well as he can. Most sacrifice too many necessities for cheap thrills. And few full-on novelists can match his mastery of narrative and dialog. Truly, le Carré is a stylist par excellence.
The bulk of his new novel is a discussion of whistle blowing--a sort of what not to do, and little bit of what to do--stemming from another discussion on private armies. What are the motives of government soldiers versus mercenaries? Where do their allegiances lie? What are the motives of those who control them? Who is accountable for their actions and errors? It also discusses the laws that are now in …
Three years after a joint American-British, public-private military operation on Gibraltar, a chance meeting between two participants raises questions and sets consciences ablaze.
I always look forward to a new le Carré novel. Few thriller writers are able to balance plot, character, language, and subject matter as well as he can. Most sacrifice too many necessities for cheap thrills. And few full-on novelists can match his mastery of narrative and dialog. Truly, le Carré is a stylist par excellence.
The bulk of his new novel is a discussion of whistle blowing--a sort of what not to do, and little bit of what to do--stemming from another discussion on private armies. What are the motives of government soldiers versus mercenaries? Where do their allegiances lie? What are the motives of those who control them? Who is accountable for their actions and errors? It also discusses the laws that are now in place, or soon will be in place, which restrict a citizen's basic rights whenever national security can be invoked. And, because of its setting--partially in the waning days of New Labour, partially after--it's a scathing criticism of the party and its actions surrounding the Iraq War.
On the whole, the novel works, mainly because of the narrative and dialog. The opening chapter is a bit of a punch for le Carré, who usually sticks to detailing past action scenes through characters interviewing each other. There were, however, a few minor issues that irritated me. The main characters all seemed to have a martyr-in-waiting attitude. Given their experience, they really shouldn't have been so naive. Also, the company which operates the mercenaries, as represented by an aging American heiress from the evangelical right, is not as ideologically believable as Karla was from the Smiley novels.
How does this novel stack up when compared to le Carré's oeuvre? He was at his peak from 1974 to 1989, no doubt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Le_Carre#Novels). Since 2000, most of his novels have been activist-themed. Of those, this one is much better than his other two forays into the War on Terror, namely Absolute Friends and A Most Wanted Man. However, it's a bit behind The Mission Song and Our Kind of Traitor. It's a good novel, nonetheless. I think most long-time fans will be pleased, and it's a good place for new readers to start.
Oh, and by the way, that wasn't rain that we had last week. That was a myriad of angels weeping at the beauty of le Carré's writing.
