John le Carre is back to his best with this novel with its background of the 'war on terror'. It's set in Hamburg today and features a 60-year-old English private banker, a young illegal immigrant set to inherit a fortune but wanting to disown it because of his confused Moslem scruples, and his attractive young female lawyer - and the various intelligence agencies who are all trying to get in on the act with much conniving and lying.
It's a real page-turner but at the same time gives us convincing portraits of various people trying to hope for and do the best under pressure.
An easy but satisfying read.
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