The Night Manager

 espionage, mystery, thriller



from Amazon

Enter the new world of espionage, where the skills forged by generations of spies during the darkest days of the Cold War are put to even more terrifying use. Penetrate the secret world of ruthless arms dealers and drug smugglers who have risen to unthinkable power and wealth. The sinister master of them all is an untouchable Englishman named Roper, the charming, unstoppable ruler of a corrupt world all his own.

Slipping into this maze of peril is a former British soldier, Jonathan Pine, who knows Roper well enough to hate him more than he hates any other man on earth. Now personal vengeance is only part of the reason Pine is willing to help the men at Whitehall bring Roper down.

This is one of Le Carré's books that failed to get my attention in the early 1990s until a week ago when I watched on Amazon streaming the pilot episode of the TV series adaptation (it stars Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine and Hugh Laurie as the worst man in the world, Roper.)

I love this book and is now one of my top favorites by this author, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy being the first and second favorites. IMHO, Le Carré is the best spy fiction writer ever. He can introduce a million characters in the first 2 chapters and I'm able to distinguish them from one another and  remember them whenever they appear throughout the novel. That's how good they are written by Le Carré. They all have very distinct voices and personalities. And I get to laugh often at Le Carré's ironic/sarcastic humor.

Jonathan, as most of Le Carré's main protagonists and unlike the movie James Bond character, is flawed like any normal human. Jonathan is a former soldier for the British army, a former cook, and currently a night manager in luxury hotels. His actions as a MI6 spy are surprising (both for the reader and his handlers) and dangerous but he does it for his own redemption, for avenging Sophie's death, and for saving the girl he loves from the clutches of Roper.

Highly recommended.