Absolute Friends - John le Carre

The Cold War era le Carre is peerless stuff, so people got a bit excited when this return his classic mode was published a few years back. The first couple of hundred pages are indeed vintage stuff, a detailed and convincing description of a double-agent sting operation with convincing characters and a plausible storyline.

Sadly, the final third of the book brings us into the post 9/11 world and everything falls apart very badly. Like Richard Flanagan in The Unknown Terrorist, le carre allows his anger to overwhelm his duties as a teller of tales, and the tiresome editorialising spoils the book. It's extremely frustrating.