A Most Wanted Man

By: John le Carré

Narrated by: Roger Rees

Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

A half-starved young Russian man in a long black overcoat is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse around his neck. He is a devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is Issa.

Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from deportation. Soon her client's survival becomes more important to her than her own career -- or safety. In pursuit of Issa's mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in Hamburg.

Annabel, Issa and Brue form an unlikely alliance -- and a triangle of impossible loves is born. Meanwhile, scenting a sure kill in the "War on Terror," the rival spies of Germany, England and America converge upon the innocents.

Thrilling, compassionate, peopled with characters the reader never wants to let go, A Most Wanted Man is a work of deep humanity and uncommon relevance to our times.

©2008 John le Carre (P)2008 Simon & Schuster

Too complicated for ears only

Would you try another book from John le Carre and/or Roger Rees?

No

Has A Most Wanted Man turned you off from other books in this genre?

I'll read LeCarre and perhaps listen to a LeCarre read book, but no time soon.

Which scene was your favorite?

The final scene with the American agents.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I was happy to be done with it.

A Dull, Pedantic Time-Waster

If you take out all of the "Muslims are our peaceful happy friends - Americans are evil torturing SOBs that deserve the violence they bring onto themselves" endless preachy sermonizing, this book would be about three pages long. There was zero action, zero suspense, and only 5 percent actual plot - and that 5 percent was predictable and beyond dull. Le Carre used to be able to write a semi-decent spy thriller. This one was truly an apalling waste of time.

"A Most Wanted Man" is definitely my last le Carre novel - period. Life is too short.

Disappointing

The plot is a little contrived, which is tolerable. However, the nature of the story takes on a decided change towards the end. It's like the author was moving along at a reasonable pace with the story, then there was a phone call from the Publisher, who said "Jerk, you'd better get this finished in the next week". So the last part of the story shifts gears from "Forward Slowly" to "Breakneck". Now, maybe you argue that's the way it happens in these things, but the care taken in developing the characters and the story was not continued through the ending.

A Waste of Time

I use to wait for a new Le Carre novel with anticipation of an enjoyable spy thriller, but his last couple of books seem like he is running out of steam. There is no character development in this one, and what little information the author provides makes me dislike almost everyone in the book. This is a senseless boring book that only serves to vent his wrath at the CIA and, after leading the reader through a boring and almost plotless story you are slammed into the wall with a totally unsatisfactory ending. Thank God there was a "Audible hopes you enjoyed this book" at the end or I would have sworn that I had only heard the first part and the story would continue.
Instead I was left saying "is that all there is?"

Bring back Smiley

For some time the "new" view of the war against terrorism was very well described in terms of interdepartmental hastling by incompitent bureaucrats from various agencies. I will leave it to the listener to conclude that in his waning years, the author has taken his political views too far in this editorual piece.

.Don't bother.Sorry I bought it.

Convoluted, complicated, boring. I couldn't bring myself to care what happened to the "terrorist", he was such a whiny, ungrateful, creature, who couldn't make up his mind about anything other than imposing his will on everyone else, including his lawyer. A horrible, weak portrayal of a woman falling in love with her client, not worthy of her devotion. Skip it.

Poor Ending

When the Audible message came on at the end of the book, I couldn't believe it. The book ended too abruptly, leaving too many unanswered details. I actually went to the book store to confirm how it ended it was so poor. Up until then, I enjoyed it.

Hard work

Hard work....never really held my attention.

Extreme Disappointment

What did you like about this audiobook?

Absolutely nothing.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

I enjoy the genre, so a poor story and plot will not decrease my interest.

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

The whole book should have been binned, The storyline was so drawn out that it was difficult to be interested, and the author failed to hold my attention.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

I don't think the narrator can be blamed for a story / plot that has little guts

Do you have any additional comments?

This was my first John Le Carre book and with its recent adaption as a film, and good reviews I expected an interesting and gripping read. I was very disappointed, the plot was thin, dragged out. I can think of no reason why I would revisit Le Carre.
After reading the Publishers Summary I can't think he and I read the same book.

Highly disappointing

The storyline was surprisingly thin. Being an avid spy fiction reader, I cannot think of a less intricate plot from anything else I've read.