14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A compelling read but far from his best., February 27, 2000
After the utter disappointment of The Tailor of Panama, Le Carre's latest novel harks back to his crafty old ways. His writing is superb, particularly in the treatment of the father-son relationship and he knows the way around scenes of physical and psychological tension better than any other author I know. The opening chapters are brilliant and his ability to put together a seemingly complex puzzle is still in top form, albeit with somewhat less shine than in his early masterpieces set during the Cold War. However, this outing is deceptively timid by comparison. The plot, when revealed, is simple and contains no surprises. We know who's the crook from the start, don't we? The approach to the climax is indeed rushed and the big bang one hopes for fails to materialise. Despite these flaws, it's still a very good read and I'm glad to see Le Carre regaining some of the lustre that made him, in my opinion, the best and classiest espionage author of his generation.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Don Quixote de la City of London, April 2, 2000
If you read this book expecting one of Le Carre's spy novels, you will be disappointed because although there are connections to the spy world this is not a spy novel. If you keep an open mind about what will emerge in Single & Single, you will enjoy an interesting tale of good and evil drawn through the detective genre. At its best, Single & Single is as gripping as any Le Carre book -- especially in the first few chapters. The downside is that the tawdriness of almost all the characters make the book a bit of a downer. The Cold War stories in Le Carre's earlier books had the redeeming (and sometimes inspiring) quality of addressing more kinds of potential nobility. The hero in Single & Single is a rewardingly complex figure, righteous yet not always strong enough and conflicted . . . and more than a little idealistic, reminding one of Don Quixote. If you like heros like that, you will very much enjoy the book. If you find small-minded crooks pursuing their ends in petty, immoral ways relatively uninteresting, you will meet a lot of them here. I found myself mixing the crooks up in many cases because they seemed so similar in motivation and characterization. Perhaps the best part of the book is the subtle exploration of a son's feelings for a father, even when that father doesn't really add up to a lot. Although far from his best work (probably because of the subject rather than his writing skill), this Le Carre will satisfy all but the most demanding fans. Those who will be disappointed will include those who want a startling revelation at the end. That's not the way this story is constructed. It would be a mistake not to read it, however, if you are a Le Carre fan or just like a good story.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Humanity & loyalty in a setting of ruthless high finance., December 23, 2004
John le Carre has produced another masterful novel. The basic theme is individual decency, loyalty and helplessness. Unlike his Cold War novels, the backdrop is capitalist Russia and international finance, instead of espionage.
This is the story of Oliver Single, apprentice at his father Tiger's financial empire, messenger between Single & Single and a Georgian/Russian family, the Orlovs. He falls in love with the Orlov family and their daughter Goya, but betrays both his father and the Orlovs by walking to the government to tell all. Sent into hiding by the government, he comes out again four years later, in search of his father Tiger Single, who has disappeared after Single & Single's top lawyer is executed on a Turkish hilltop.
Tortured by his betrayal and by his conscience, Oliver is the heart of the novel.
This is also the story of Alix Hoban, a Westernized Russian crook. Married to Goya Orlov but faithful only to himself, Alix makes ambitious plans for selling his peoples' blood to the West, but failing that, runs a drug trafficking business on a massive scale, from Istanbul and Vienna. He tries to take over both the Orlov and the Single empires, but his ruthlessness does not pay off in the end.
This is also the story of Brock, fighting corruption in British law enforcement and running undercover operations for evidence against Single & Single. (This part I found untenable. Aren't ruthless bloodthirsty financialists the engine of Anglo-American growth and imperialism? Why should the British government run operations against its finest wealth-creators? But, okay, fiction is fiction.)
And this novel is a story of ruthlessness, and a vision of how the rich & powerful actually run this world of ours.
But despite the dark backdrop, "Single & Single" is lighter and more hopeful than many of Mr. le Carre's earlier novels.
There is the portrayal of Goya, crying for all the victims of white powder (heroin?) traded by her family. And Aggie, a girl working for Brock, with morals far higher than you would imagine from your knowledge of the English.
And of course there's Oliver, and the little Oliver-Aggie love story.
In its hope and humanity, and with its little love stories, "Single & Single" is a bit like le Carre's "Russia House." A reviewer of "Russia House" said: "Fans of the George Smiley books may find themselves disappointed, but I think fans of Le Carre as the storyteller and writer will be very satisfied." I can say the same of "Single & Single."
As in other le Carre books, you have to get well into the book before you piece together what the story is about. I guess this is not news to le Carre fans, and I hope new readers are not put off by it.
As in the author's other novels, you get a sense of the research that went into the book, and the meticulous connection with reality. Like in le Carre's "Our Game", you get a human picture of peripheral pieces of the Russian empire. How does le Carre know people from so many different places, so well? The Russian murderer rings as true as the Turkish small-town police & mayor, as does the flowing emotions of the Georgian women, and the selfish Polish lawyer.
I also appreciated the smell of Istanbul coming out in the descriptions, soooo real. As well as the descriptions of traveling across Europe, Zurich to Vienna to Istanbul, and the feeling of displacement with too much traveling. Le Carre knows the continent well. I can't testify about the Georgia/Russia descriptions; I haven't been there yet.
The novel begins with the description of an execution, on a Turkish hilltop, carried out ceremonially by a rather international assortment of criminals. This description is masterful, done from the point of view of the condemned.
Well worth the read, and then (like much of le Carre) also worth a second read because you won't get everything the first time around.
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