by John le Carré, audiobook narrated by Toby Jones (Compact Disc Le Carre)
When spy/thriller specialist John le Carré passed away in 2020, after a stellar writing career that included such masterpieces as The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Smiley’s People, A Perfect Spy, The Night Manager, The Tailor of Panama and The Constant Gardener (among many more), he left one short unpublished work — Silverview.
The libraries’ Just Desserts
mystery fiction discussion group had not used le Carré as an assigned reading
for discussion in our 16 years of group meetings, so we decided to use le
Carré’s posthumously-published final novel, Silverview, for our June 2022 gathering. I’m sorry
to say that I’d never read any le Carré previously, despite enjoying the TV
mini-series adaptations of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley’s People (starring Alec Guinness).
I decided to try Silverview as an audiobook, read by British actor
Toby Jones. And I’m glad I chose the audiobook, as Jones really brought the
extended cast of characters to life, with distinctly different voices for each
and every one. On the other hand, I’m not sure I would necessarily have enjoyed
the book if I’d been reading it in traditional print format. I would describe
Silverview as a very small slice-of-life exploration of the world of modern day
spycraft, peeking into the dark corners of how the intelligence community can
heartlessly train, use up, and discard some of the “best and brightest” in
service to shifting political goals.
Sadly, the majority of our mystery
group’s attitudes seemed to be that they either didn’t care for Silverview outright, or found it to be not up to
the usual standards for a le Carré thriller. Personally, I really enjoyed it.
It didn’t feel like an actual thriller, but more just a look at the impact of a
life spent in the spy business. And Jones is an absolutely brilliant narrator.
So…if you’re a longtime le Carré
reader, you might find Silverview a bit lacking. If you’ve never read a
le Carré before, perhaps this isn’t the one to start with. But if you’re
looking for a quick, uncomplicated look at the machinations and manipulations
of those working in the spy “tradecraft” in the 2020s, I recommend this
audiobook.
(If you enjoy this, you may also
wish to check out the many titles I’ve got hotlinked in the text of my review,
for more typical examples of le Carré at his best!)
( Wikipedia entry on John Le
Carre ) | ( official John Le Carre web site )
See
the John le Carré handout prepared for the Just
Desserts mystery fiction discussion group in June 2022!
Recommended
by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service
Have you read or listened to
this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?
New reviews appear every month on the Staff
Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that
page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog
individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the
reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!
If you're a mystery fan, join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting tonight, August 25th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each month, January through October. This month's books up for discussion are "Camino Island" and "Camino Winds" by John Grisham -- you only have to read one of the two.
Even if you haven't read this specific book, you can still participate, and learn about great new mysteries to try! For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts
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