The Night Manager

A Novel

De: John le Carré

Narrado por: David Case

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • AMC Miniseries event April 19 Tues 10/9c

John le Carré, the legendary author of sophisticated spy thrillers, is at the top of his game in this classic novel of a world in chaos. With the Cold War over, a new era of espionage has begun. In the power vacuum left by the Soviet Union, arms dealers and drug smugglers have risen to immense influence and wealth. The sinister master of them all is Richard Onslow Roper, the charming, ruthless Englishman whose operation seems untouchable. Slipping into this maze of peril is Jonathan Pine, a former British soldier who’s currently the night manager of a posh hotel in Zurich. Having learned to hate and fear Roper more than any man on earth, Pine is willing to do whatever it takes to help the agents at Whitehall bring him down—and personal vengeance is only part of the reason why.

Praise for The Night Manager

“A splendidly exciting, finely told story . . . masterly in its conception.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Intrigue of the highest order.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“Richly detailed and rigorously researched . . . Le Carré’s gift for building tension through character has never been better realized.”—People

“Grimly fascinating, often nerve-wracking, and impossible to put down.”—Boston Herald

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A brilliant performance.”
–The New York Times Book Review

“Wonderful . . . beautifully done . . . compelling.”
–The Wall Street Journal

“A beautifully polished, utterly knowing, and palpitating book.”
–Time

“Intrigue of the highest order.”
–Chicago Sun-Times

Narration actually great

I was concerned the narration would be unbearable, and Michael Jayston is the great, but this version was actually excellent, and the book a wonderful isolated tale!

Stop it please.

Couldn’t handle the narration. English accents sounded like the scarlet pimpernel. Way overdone and wrong texture

leaves the miniseries in the dust

...especially due to an extraordinarily spot on performance by David Case. Deserving of an award.

weird narrator

narrator was annoying and couldn't do women's voices. or American accents. please get someone better as le Carres stories are good

Delivery

Having lived in England for 25 years and now away from there for 30 years, it was fascinating to hear the English language spoken again!

Good book. Get the Michael Jayston version instead

I enjoyed Le Carre's words, but personally found David Case's narration to be quite off-putting. Case puts on distinct voices for each of the book's characters but, to the audiobook's detriment, selects for the narrator (who speaks for the bulk of the time) a particularly smarmy British that sounds like the natural outcome of teaching a child to speak by exposing them exclusively and in equal parts to recordings of prohibition-era movie robbers saying "So long, coppers" and untraveled Americans imitating British accents by saying, " 'ello Gub'nah". What's more, there are a number of 2-3 second, mid-sentence pauses that undermine Le Carre's unique flair for language and long, intricate sentences. While I've not listened to Michael Jayston's version of The Night Manager, I can vouch for his work on other Le Carre titles, which was excellent. Before buying, do consider listening to Audible's samples of both versions and decide which you'd prefer.

The story itself is good.

If you're coming from the AMC miniseries, the plot differs meaningfully in a number of ways, generally in the direction of spending more time on the mind/tradecraft of a spy and less on the James Bond-esque explosions.

If you're coming from Le Carre's other novels, The Night Manager is an above-replacement-value entry, and, if it is not quite at the same level as Tinker Tailor or The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, it is certainly still a good read. While it is set in the Smiley universe, there is no required (or even helpful) context from the previous books, nor does the Night Manager give away the previous books' secrets. The characters are a mixture of great and reasonably good (Roper: great; Goodhew: grand; Eponymous Hotelier: meh, okay). The story is Le Carre's first real success in translating his style to a post-Berlin Wall world (Russia House's central Brits v. Russians conflict was dulled by perestroika and Secret Pilgrim was more a book of B-Sides from the good old days than a coherent story of its own).

Bottom Line: it's a good book, worth listening to. Maybe just buy the Jayston version...

Mediocre Plot, Over-eager Narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No - I would highly recommend the Film version of this story to a friend though.

If you’ve listened to books by John le Carré before, how does this one compare?

Characters and places in this book are not described as convincingly in other novels.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Horrible Narration - some of his exaggerated affectations were so ridiculous I had to stop listening. His presentation is distracting and annoying - more caricature than character.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I listened to this book because I enjoyed the film version, which truly is SO much better.

Any additional comments?

Authors: Otherwise good books are easily defiled by unprofessional narration. Choose wisely!

Narrator is awful. Ruins a truly great book.

Narrator is awful. Ruins a truly great book. It’s regrettable that Audible cannot get a better version.

Bad ending

The mini series ending was better. This left you hanging. Wish I had someone to answer questions.

So very fine

Cold War spy master le Carre proves he is equally, if not more, brilliant, deft & compelling when writing of the post-cold war era of international arms dealers, spy agencies seeking new relevancy but succumbing to deep corruption and competion and the good or lost ones caught in between. David Case's crisp, biting narration...even his slightly gravely, grating intonation--is spot on for this novel and delivers the characters perectly.