"Superb writing, precise portraiture, clever tricks of tradecraft–all Mr. le Carré's hallmarks are present in this swift, surprising, bittersweet story."
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The Wall Street Journal "So topical it arrives with the beeping urgency of a news alert."
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The Washington Post "A word about le Carré's prose: Not only does it hold the coiled energy of a much younger writer, it fits the bitter, angry narrator's voice exceptionally well."
–NPR.org
"Le Carré is one of the best novelists–of any kind–we have."
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Vanity Fair "Le Carré remains a master at showing us what spies do, wily spiders to the unsuspecting flies they entrap."
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Booklist (starred)
"Deeply pleasurable."
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Vogue "A tragicomic salute to both the recuperative powers of its has-been hero and the remarkable career of its nonpareil author."
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Kirkus "John le Carré is the great master of the spy story. . . . The constant flow of emotion lifts him not only above all modern suspense novelists, but above most novelists now practicing."
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Financial Times "One of our great writers of moral ambiguity, a tireless explorer of that darkly contradictory no-man's land."
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Los Angeles Times
"No other writer has charted–pitilessly for politicians but thrillingly for readers–the public and secret histories of his times."
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The Guardian (UK)