Critics wondered what spy novelists like John le Carre would do once the Cold War ended. They underestimated the amount of Evil in the world, and the need for espionage and covert action. In The Night Manager le Carre painted a vivid picture of international gun-running. You can read my reviews of The Night Manager book here, and the TV mini-series here.
Our Kind of Traitor (2010), like The Night Manager, features an innocent–teacher Perry Makepiece–who finds himself involved with a Russian mobster, Dima, on the island of Antigua. Little by little, Perry is drawn into a world-wide money-laundering operation. The Russian mafia, the British Secret Service, and Dima play an intricate game with billions of dollars. Next week, the movie version of Our Kind of Traitor opens in the U.S. I’ll be reviewing the movie version, too. GRADE: C+
I stopped reading Le Carre years ago. Just lost interest.
Bill, the last few le Carre novels have left me cold. But the movies based on them are pretty good.
I’m afraid I have no interest in what Le Carre is writing these days. Give me back George Smiley!
Jeff, you’re right about those George Smiley spy novels!
I agree with you about THE NIGHT MANAGER making a terrific miniseries.
Jeff, there are a lot of echoes of THE NIGHT MANAGER in OUR KIND OF TRAITOR. I plan to see the movie version of OUR KIND OF TRAITOR next week.
I watched and enjoyed the night manager series, but felt like I missed one episode (I hadn’t). Maybe I just wasn’t paying close enough attention.
Maggie, THE NIGHT MANAGER mini-series followed the book closely. The only difference is the min9-series was more chronological. Le Carre likes flashbacks in his novels.
New York Times reviewer Michiko Kakutani described it as “part vintage John le Carré and part Alfred Hitchcock” calling it the author’s most thrilling thriller in years.
Further proof that the NY Times reviewers and I are out of sync.
Jeff, I’m with you and not the NYT reviewer.
We never watched the last episode of THE NIGHT MANAGER. Just didn’t care by then. Maybe if we binged it would have seemed more cohesive.
Patti, I felt like THE NIGHT MANAGER could have been tighter. The final episode left the door open to a sequel.