OUR KIND OF TRAITOR By John le Carre

our kind of traitor book
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+

12 thoughts on “OUR KIND OF TRAITOR By John le Carre

  1. Jeff Meyerson

    I’m afraid I have no interest in what Le Carre is writing these days. Give me back George Smiley!

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      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.

      Reply
  2. maggie

    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.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      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.

      Reply
  3. Jeff Meyerson

    New York Times reviewer Michiko Kakutani described it as “part vintage John le CarrĂ© 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.

    Reply
  4. Patti Abbott

    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.

    Reply

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