
Agent Running in the Field
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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John le Carré
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By:
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John le Carré
"[Le Carré’s] novels are so brilliant because they’re emotionally and psychologically absolutely true, but of course they’re novels." (New York Times Book Review)
A thrilling tale for our times from the undisputed master of the spy genre.
Nat, a 47 year-old veteran of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, believes his years as an agent runner are over. He is back in London with his wife, the long-suffering Prue. But with the growing threat from Moscow Centre, the office has one more job for him. Nat is to take over The Haven, a defunct substation of London General with a rag-tag band of spies. The only bright light on the team is young Florence, who has her eye on Russia Department and a Ukrainian oligarch with a finger in the Russia pie.
Nat is not only a spy, he is a passionate badminton player. His regular Monday evening opponent is half his age: the introspective and solitary Ed. Ed hates Brexit, hates Trump, and hates his job at some soulless media agency. And it is Ed, of all unlikely people, who will take Prue, Florence, and Nat himself down the path of political anger that will ensnare them all.
Agent Running in the Field is a chilling portrait of our time, now heartbreaking, now darkly humorous, told to us with unflagging tension by the greatest chronicler of our age.
©2019 John le Carré (P)2019 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"John le Carré, as author and narrator of this stand-alone spy thriller, serves up a wholly engaging audio experience.... It's a privilege to listen to this master author deliver his work." (AudioFile Magazine)
“Superb writing, precise portraiture, clever tricks of tradecraft - all Mr. le Carré’s hallmarks are present in this swift, surprising, bittersweet story.” (The Wall Street Journal)
“So topical it arrives with the beeping urgency of a news alert.” (The Washington Post)
“A word about le Carré's prose: Not only does it hold the coiled energy of a much younger writer, it fits the bitter, angry narrator's voice exceptionally well.” (NPR.org)
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I highly recommend this book for anyone who is politically aware, interested in modern history, or lovers of mystery
Brilliant in every way
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Couldn't turn it off.
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The Russians are Back; Thank the Lord
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"Glistening hotels, bathhouses, casinos and jewellery shops with blazing windows float sedately past on either side. Between them flows a river crossed by a noble footbridge. Twenty years back, when I came here to meet a Chechen agent who was enjoying a well-earned holiday with his mistress, the town was still ridding itself of the drab grey paint of Soviet Communism. The grandest hotel was the Moskva and the only luxury to be found was in secluded former rest homes where a few years previously the Party's chosen and their nymphs had disported themselves safe from the proletarian gaze."
It took me a minute to get used to le Carré as a narrator. He's 88 years old, reading a protagonist who's 47, and that's somewhat jarring. He also reads rather slowly, but I love being able to hear the characters as they sound to him, and especially enjoy the way he drops into various accents, particularly that of Ed, so after the first hour or so I embraced and came to love his narration.
Last but not least I love the relationship between the narrator, Nat, and his wife, Prue. Also I love picking up British slang like "doddle" and "tot."
Brisk, Intriguing, Timely, and Satisfying
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Le Carré still has the chops
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smart and captivating
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Loved it! Le Carre as narrator is brilliant
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The churn of the narrative and the consistency of the characterizations are plenty satisfying, but Le Carré offers three more satisfactions:
1. Narration by the author. Pitch perfect, you-are-there, voicing.
2. A love story between Nat and his family
3. A surprise ending that is a relief, for a change, instead of Le Carré's more typical soul-crushing "resolution".
If David Cornwall has gone "soft" we have been well-treated, not cheated.
Another Le Carré Masterwork... and Satisfying
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Carre narrating his own--a real treat.
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Brilliant all the way around
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