You will have deduced already that I am an unashamed 'bookaholic' so you will be delighted to know that yesterday, whilst I suffered several disappointments, I also won the jackpot! I had better explain.
I have always had a weakness for 'pulp fiction' but not, I hasten to make clear, without some discernment. It is a weakness I share with an old friend from way back who shops regularly in some sort of cut-price supermarket that also sells books as 'cheap as chips'! Every so often he boxes up the ones he has read and sends them to me - what a pal! Consequently, during the week an enormous box arrived stuffed full of books and at a glance I could see the names of several writers whose work I have enjoyed over the years decades!
So, with a sigh of pleasure I slumped into my armchair to read, for example, Jo Nesbo, Harlan Coben and some other 'Scandie' thriller writer I had never heard of before. First the 'SCHLOK', then the HORROR - I couldn't get on with any of them! In desperation I picked up the last one written by John le Carré. It is superb and, best of all, it harks back to the story line that made his name "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold". That book truly is the greatest spy yarn ever told! I can still remember, vividly, the moment when, right towards the end of the book, the penny eventually dropped in what passes for my mind as I realised who was the real 'dirty rat' in the story.
Anyway, in "A Legacy of Spies", le Carré describes how the current, er, 'management' of MI6 has decided, for reasons I have not yet learned, to mount an enquiry into the operation from decades before described in "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" which ended with the agent Alec Leamus and his unwitting girlfriend, Elizabeth Gold, shot dead on the Berlin wall. Peter Guillam (remember him?), a young officer in the first book, now retired, has been brought back to the 'Circus' for questioning on the whole operation. So, there they all are again, brought back from the dead, so to speak - 'C', Smiley, Oliver Lacon, Bill Hadyn, Estahase, Alleline et al! And now, the ashes are being well raked over!
Dammit, that John le Carré is a genius story-teller so I may be missing for a while!
You might like Michael Connolly too.
Posted by: Andra | Saturday, 29 February 2020 at 21:12
Trying to guess who the "real villain" is in a Le Carre book is like trying to explain celestial navigation to a wombat.
Posted by: AussieD | Saturday, 29 February 2020 at 22:30
Wot, no rumbles?
Posted by: Timbo | Sunday, 01 March 2020 at 11:35
I'm baaAAAck!
Thanks to y'all who've expressed concerns. Physically speaking I've been under no hazard well - except perhaps for a little daft dash back in when my local fire department failed to meet my expectations leaving me to think I was left to my own devices which, pretty much, turned out to be the case. The respiratory therapist might perhaps disagree.
I'll email you further David as I understand from Malcolm you've been especially despondent over not having me around to brighten your comment threads. I've just got back online and so my texting him about forty-seven hours and fifty-nine odd minutes ago I promised I'd be getting in touch with you "within 48 hours" looked dicey I figured a bog comment'd be quicker so as you can see ...
Posted by: JK | Sunday, 01 March 2020 at 23:07
By George and all the Saints, I'm sat down in Dorzet with the Gaffer and I just said "Any news from JK?" and we both hit the refresh button at the same time and heeeeerrrrreeeee's JK!
Good to hear your digital voice again JK!
SoD
Posted by: Loz | Monday, 02 March 2020 at 08:50