The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Our Kind of Traitor and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

One of only a couple of John Le Carre novels not in my collection was his third and breakthrough book of 1963 "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". I had read it all those years ago, so I thought it was about time I had another look. It is a really good read, but being steeped as it is in post war communist Europe, a far cry from the present day, it is all about an era where the British Secret Service were immersed in a battle with their enemies in East Germany. So it is a little dated. Unlike his earlier second novel "A Murder of Quality" that is not, and which I preferred. "The Spy..." has a terrific plot and occasionally verges on nerve wracking excitement, unusual in any book in my experience. But again, I prefer character, and whilst Leamas, around whom the story is told, is a wonderful creation, ultimately plot wins through.

I actually read another couple of books before I started the latest from Le Carre. "Our Kind of Traitor" had received great reviews ("return of the master" was the headline in The Times), so I was really looking forward to reading it. So it was a little disappointing that we were back heavily to the secret service after the last few books had them on the periphery. The first third is absolutely brilliant, set as it is in Antigua as our two young lovers meet an awesome Russian and his incredible family. But too soon MI6 are involved. It is, however, a powerful story and the tension builds to a great climax. This time we do have a wealth of superb characters, good and bad. The Times review says that the author writes in "a sort of pluperfect (past perfect in English) conditional third person". Not sure about that, but he certainly writes in the third person, but from the pint of view of a number of characters. It is a masterly way of writing.

Why did I pick a huge book (546 pages) about Dejima, a man made island off the coast of Japan, set in the eighteenth century? Well it did have great reviews, and I had not read anything by the acclaimed author David Mitchell. And it seemed different from my usual fiction. And it certainly was. I found the writing turgid with very little story. The first part is far too full of facts about the structure and inhabitants of the mainly Dutch trading outpost. And there is no story, until a quarter way through it picks up dramatically, only for one third through on page 198, the main character, the Jacob of the title, DISAPPEARS. For the whole of the middle section, we are transported to the mainland for a completely different story. That is when I gave up. Whipping through the book, we are suddenly on board an English naval frigate. Eventually on page 426 Jacob reappears, and the final section is a gripping finale. So if the novel had been half the length it was, I might have been a lot more positive about my opinion. As it is I shall not be reading anything else by this writer.