A Delicate Truth, The Lie and An Officer and a Spy

The first two thirds of A Delicate Truth is John Le Carre at his best. However we are in deep thriller territory and the story is so constructed as to make for an exciting movie. But the writing is first class and the characters well drawn. There is a sense of menace that pervades every page. It is all about the cover up of a covert operation that goes wrong, the Foreign Office is deeply implicated. Our two main protagonists, though innocent of any wrongdoing, are, unknown to one another, separately implicated and only become aware of each other's role later in the book as they both seek the truth. But what to do with it when then know is the big question. Disappointingly, I found the climax a little unsatisfactory and contrived. But I guess any ending to this sorry affair would be so.

After my struggle with "One Hundred Years Of Solitude", it was a real pleasure to read one of our best modern writers. I had thought twice about The Lie, a story of a soldier's return from the first world war, especially after finding "Birdsong" hard going. But Helen Dunmore brings a delicate touch to Daniel's devastating experiences in France. We are in Cornwall in 1920. Daniel is living on the land of a sick elderly lady near the coastal town that was his home. And so begins the lie. He has visions of his "close" friend Frederick whose death has so effected him. The fact that the war is seen in hindsight and that this part of the story regularly alternates with Daniel's present means it does not dwell too long on the horrors of the trenches. Dunmore is such an accomplished writer that it was a delight to pick up where I left off even though the subject matter was no fun. Excellent.

A mix of two genres that I normally try to avoid, thrillers and historical fiction. But An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris had such good reviews and the story sounded quite interesting. It was certainly a page turner, 600 pages in ten days is fast reading for me. I just might have been wanting to get to the end. But it is all plot, too much happens and there are just so many characters. Yes, the suspense is cranked up as our narrator falls deeper and deeper into trouble. I guess that of it's type this is a superior novel, just not the sort of book I like.