Agent Running in the Field
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- Create Date：2021-08-05 09:53:31
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：John le Carré
- ISBN：0241986540
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Summary
Set in London in 2018， Agent Running in the Field follows a twenty-six year old solitary figure who， in a desperate attempt to resist the political turbulence swirling around him， makes connections that will take him down a very dangerous path。 In his plot and characterisation le Carré is as thrilling as ever and in the way he writes about our times he proves himself， once again， to be the greatest chronicler of our age。
Reviews
David
，
Good story。 Intriguing flawed characters。 Nicely current。
Daniele Scaglione
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I guai portati dalla Brexit （e da Trump）Le Carré si congeda con un un forte atto d'accusa alla Brexit， al governo britannico che l'ha realizzata e al presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America。 Per quanto riguarda il contesto in cui ambienta la sua storia， John le Carré non s'inventa nulla， semmai aggiunge qualche commento che mette in bocca al narratore - il romanzo è scritto in prima persona - o a qualche suo interlocutore。 Il protagonista si trova ad affrontare una vicenda molto complessa （vabè， I guai portati dalla Brexit （e da Trump）Le Carré si congeda con un un forte atto d'accusa alla Brexit， al governo britannico che l'ha realizzata e al presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America。 Per quanto riguarda il contesto in cui ambienta la sua storia， John le Carré non s'inventa nulla， semmai aggiunge qualche commento che mette in bocca al narratore - il romanzo è scritto in prima persona - o a qualche suo interlocutore。 Il protagonista si trova ad affrontare una vicenda molto complessa （vabè， ovvio） resa ancor più difficile dai governi delle due potenze anglosassoni。 Insomma， l'ultimo libro del grande autore di spystory è intriso dell'amarezza provata per il declino del paese che le Carré stesso ha servito e del paese suo principale alleato。 Però c'è anche dell'altro， naturalmente， come una storia avvincente e dei personaggi appassionanti。 C'è anche un bel po' di badminton: fosse mai che non se ne sa nulla， meglio approfondire， prima di mettersi a leggere La spia corre sul campo。 。。。more
William Clay
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Great read！ Will have to look more into this le Carré lad。
Amy
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1。5 stars rounded down。For a book about spies and spy craft， this novel is devoid of any kind of action or interesting characters。 Maybe I'm just spoiled by the sexiness of James Bond movies， or the action and intrigue of a show like Burn Notice， but basically nothing interesting happens in this book， and the characters are too flat and poorly developed to care about what ultimately happens to them。Nat， our main spy， is apparently supposed to be 47 years old， but he comes across as stodgy， out o 1。5 stars rounded down。For a book about spies and spy craft， this novel is devoid of any kind of action or interesting characters。 Maybe I'm just spoiled by the sexiness of James Bond movies， or the action and intrigue of a show like Burn Notice， but basically nothing interesting happens in this book， and the characters are too flat and poorly developed to care about what ultimately happens to them。Nat， our main spy， is apparently supposed to be 47 years old， but he comes across as stodgy， out of touch， and several decades older。 He was essentially being decommissioned from service， but it was never entirely clear as to why。 The entire book is from his POV， but we don't get direct experiences， instead we get his recollections of what happened， and it's like reading a report， or a shopping list。 Dry dry dry。Ed Shannon， his 26 year old badminton opponent， is a gangly， highly opinionated service worker as well， who is too naïve and blinded by his own rage to realize he's tangled up with the wrong people。 He seems to blame the American president， Donald Trump， for Brexit， but le Carré seems to completely ignore that 1） Brexit was voted on by the Brits several months prior to Trump being elected， and 2） no mention of any of the Prime Ministers who were around at the time （David Cameron， Theresa May， or Boris Johnson - although Johnson probably wouldn't have been PM at the time this book was written/published， he was around rabble rousing about Brexit）。 There is also a lot of ranting about Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin， and a lot of non-committal grunting by Nat。 There were a bunch of other characters as well， who played various roles， including Florence who quit the service in a rage （which it was never clear if she was making a point or throwing a tantrum） and Nat's wife Prue who we were told was a do-good lawyer but we never saw her in action。 For plot convenience sake， both of these women were completely ignored by the spy services， because if the government had even half an eye on either of them， the end of this novel would have fallen apart。 And lets be clear here， when the government is spying on you， they are also spying on your spouse， so this was highly unrealistic。 Throw in a lot of random chatter about badminton， and too many code names to keep track of， and the book was kind of a hot mess， but also extremely slow and boring。 Since this was a book club pick I did get to discuss it with a large group， many of whom had read le Carré's previous novels， and it sounds like those are much better than this， his last novel before his passing。 （Many of the women like his previous works， but did not care for this one。） There was a lot of discussion about if this book was about what it means to be a patriot。 Or if le Carré was trying to make a point about patriotism vs。 nationalism。 Or if he just had an anti-Trump and anti-Putin agenda。 Personally， I think the book is too scattered to really say one way or the other。 。。。more
Matthew B。
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It was ok。 The beginning was very difficult to get into。 It was almost like listening to someone gosip about people you don't know for 10 chapters then for the rest of the book it was more like a Jason Borne story。 It was ok。 The beginning was very difficult to get into。 It was almost like listening to someone gosip about people you don't know for 10 chapters then for the rest of the book it was more like a Jason Borne story。 。。。more
Kbrown5455
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Reliably excellent spy novel， this time featuring a badminton playing late-career spook with a less than storied track record
vitellan
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My first John le Carre book and a bit underwhelming。You could possibly argue that the tedious style of narration and self-absorption is just good characterization， but I was mostly confused about where the suspense and tension was supposed to be in the entire book。 Nat talks about this entire sequence of events in retrospect， so it's obvious that he survives them in some form。 He's supposed to have been this super charismatic stereotypical agent in his earlier years but the only instance where h My first John le Carre book and a bit underwhelming。You could possibly argue that the tedious style of narration and self-absorption is just good characterization， but I was mostly confused about where the suspense and tension was supposed to be in the entire book。 Nat talks about this entire sequence of events in retrospect， so it's obvious that he survives them in some form。 He's supposed to have been this super charismatic stereotypical agent in his earlier years but the only instance where his self-praise actually appears to have any substance is when some dude Arkady's son speaks of him as one of the few men respected by his dad。 I thought it would be interesting to read a very genre-specific kind of book that referenced contemporary political views， but that didn't offer any significant point of interest in the end。 There was way too much of the "oh I am chums with these folks and so let's talk about everything in pseudo-cryptic inside joke references that aren't very clever。" The only reason I struggled through this was because I fell into the sunk cost fallacy， as I often do with books。Also， "Ah Chan"？！ Is not a name。 I expected better of such a well-loved author on all counts。 。。。more
Bill Turner
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Interesting
Lara
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Smart and fun。
Steffen Schlachter
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I found it a bit hard to get into the story but once I had read of of it I didnt's want to stop。 Not wanting to spoil anything but I wonder if pleople liked the end。 I found it a bit hard to get into the story but once I had read of of it I didnt's want to stop。 Not wanting to spoil anything but I wonder if pleople liked the end。 。。。more
Sabrina
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This was a book club read and I dove into it without reading the blurb。 That being so I thought that the main character Nat was much older than he was and that the time period was also decades ago not 2019 until almost halfway into the book。The pacing was very slow and there wasn't much actually happening to keep you interested。 It was a very dry read with little detail and a plot that wasn't really always clear as different scenes came and went。 There is no "showing" of events in this book just This was a book club read and I dove into it without reading the blurb。 That being so I thought that the main character Nat was much older than he was and that the time period was also decades ago not 2019 until almost halfway into the book。The pacing was very slow and there wasn't much actually happening to keep you interested。 It was a very dry read with little detail and a plot that wasn't really always clear as different scenes came and went。 There is no "showing" of events in this book just "telling"。 This happened and then this happened and later this happened and then that happened and so on。 The timeline was also not what I thought it was。 I thought what was going on happened in a few short weeks but in reality， it was months， possibly closer to a year。Last， the swearing。。。for half the book the story plods along and the dialogue is flat and pretty boring than all of a sudden the characters are dropping F-bombs all over the place with a few other swear words thrown in for good measure and it was rather jarring and didn't fit with the outline of the character as you had come to know them for half the book and it just doesn't sit well。 It seemed rather gratuitous and unnecessary。 If you planned to put it in start at the beginning and not in the middle when you have already established the characters in the reader's mind。If you don't like political talk you won't like the back half of this book as well as it just drops off a cliff into a pit of hate and rage for almost no reason， and again it's completely out of character from the first half of the book。 If you wanted the political bit， start it at the beginning not dropping it like a bomb from the blue halfway through， then just sprinkling it in a bolster a weak plot point the author has to try and justify to make the end work， which when all is said and done didn't really work all that well。 。。。more
Steve
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le Carre was in his late 80s when this book was published。 He still wrote with great attention to detail and with a keen interest and sympathy for people facing current events like Brexit and the Trump presidency。 I found this book sad and disillusioning like his other books， but excellent as well。
Sky
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I was introduced to le Carre with Tinker， Tailor， Soldier， Spy， and though I enjoyed that a lot， I had trouble getting into the sequels， and I'd read basically none of his other novels until this one caught my eye。 The main narrative of this book is presented as an explanation or self-justification for the protagonist's unfortunate connection with a young man he befriends。 This makes the novel into a funny sort of mystery。 Instead of the classic spy novel setup where there's a double agent or so I was introduced to le Carre with Tinker， Tailor， Soldier， Spy， and though I enjoyed that a lot， I had trouble getting into the sequels， and I'd read basically none of his other novels until this one caught my eye。 The main narrative of this book is presented as an explanation or self-justification for the protagonist's unfortunate connection with a young man he befriends。 This makes the novel into a funny sort of mystery。 Instead of the classic spy novel setup where there's a double agent or some nefarious plot， instead there's an implied bureaucratic clusterfuck down the line， and you've got to sort out how exactly our hero got dragged into a position where'd he be sat down to explain how he met his badminton partner， with his career depending on his answers。In general， this novel is very little about the foreign threats to Britain and how its intelligence services react to them， and very much about how the people within those services deal with the demands placed upon them。 Bright， ambitious young people join up and are expected to lie to， blackmail， bribe， compromise， and otherwise manipulate strangers。 They are expected to do all these morally reprehensible things without qualms in service of their country's interests， even when those national interests can change radically from year to year depending on who's in charge。 。。。more
Ron Milligan
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The typical Le Carre spy story。 Gripping， somewhat convoluted， but with a feel-good ending。Probably not his best， but nonetheless a great read。 I recommend it highly。 I read it within 2 days of purchase。
Beatriz Miranda Da Cruz
，
Achei um humor inglês！ Sem graça！！！ Talvez seja até atual porque menciona Brexit e volta à velha história da guerra fria Russos contra o Oeste e a Inglaterra tendo um grande papel。。。 será？？？？？
Searight
，
I liked this book and really it is more of a 3 1/2 star because the ending was a bit abrupt。 But a lesser LeCarre book is better than most any day of the week。
John Young
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When I first read a book by John Le Carré， I struggled with the slow beginning to the story。 In other words， the tale was almost too intricate in its foundations。 However， as time goes on I realise that a master spy story-teller needs to be intricate， because it is a fiendishly intricate world he is writing about。 But， like a spy， or even a an agent-runner， the reader needs to be patient。 If one is patient， and lets the tale unfold， the result can be as thrilling as this very excellent "thriller When I first read a book by John Le Carré， I struggled with the slow beginning to the story。 In other words， the tale was almost too intricate in its foundations。 However， as time goes on I realise that a master spy story-teller needs to be intricate， because it is a fiendishly intricate world he is writing about。 But， like a spy， or even a an agent-runner， the reader needs to be patient。 If one is patient， and lets the tale unfold， the result can be as thrilling as this very excellent "thriller" by this master storyteller。 。。。more
A
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Not up to Le Carre's usual standard。 Gave up after page 70 Not up to Le Carre's usual standard。 Gave up after page 70 。。。more
Anca
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I enjoyed this novel but it is not in the same class as many of my favorites。 I’m not sure exactly why。 Perhaps I found Nat， the protagonist， a little smug compared to Smiley and some of his other spymasters。 Perhaps also the novel touches only on the cynicism of the British versus Putin and the American Putin wannabe。 Is it possible that he couldn’t really find， or delve into， the complexities of the current political chaos in the US？ Was he too close in time to the events？ Or too disappointed？ I enjoyed this novel but it is not in the same class as many of my favorites。 I’m not sure exactly why。 Perhaps I found Nat， the protagonist， a little smug compared to Smiley and some of his other spymasters。 Perhaps also the novel touches only on the cynicism of the British versus Putin and the American Putin wannabe。 Is it possible that he couldn’t really find， or delve into， the complexities of the current political chaos in the US？ Was he too close in time to the events？ Or too disappointed？ At any rate， it was easy to sympathize with the earnest and naive Ed， and the much more sophisticated and deeper Florence。 It’s unfortunate that he did not center the book more around Florence。 Someone earlier mentioned that this might be a good introduction to Le Carre’s more intricate novels。 Had I started with this one， I’m pretty sure I would not have continued: nothing special here， move on。 If you have limited time and wish to choose， you could safely skip this one。 I do very much wonder if he had been ten years younger， how he would have treated these same events/characters。 。。。more
Karen
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Ludicrous but entertaining。
Mark
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For Nat and Prue read George and Ann， for Percy Price read Peter Guillam， and although much more contemporary than Tinker Tailor， this novel reads like a last hurrah with double agents， safe houses， lamplighters， couriers， dead letter boxes ， ‘top floor mandarins’ ， Moscow Centre， and the usual Le Carre trappings。 Nothing in life or a Le Carre novel is without its consequences， and Ed Shannon is too noisy and too passionate with his anti-Establishment politics to avoid detection， while dear Prue For Nat and Prue read George and Ann， for Percy Price read Peter Guillam， and although much more contemporary than Tinker Tailor， this novel reads like a last hurrah with double agents， safe houses， lamplighters， couriers， dead letter boxes ， ‘top floor mandarins’ ， Moscow Centre， and the usual Le Carre trappings。 Nothing in life or a Le Carre novel is without its consequences， and Ed Shannon is too noisy and too passionate with his anti-Establishment politics to avoid detection， while dear Prue （as with dear Ann） both long suffering spouses， who have long ago consigned any marital infidelities to an unrecoverable past。This novel is not the usual broad canvas of Le Carre and takes a while to get going but once the scene is set it moves from the crawler to the fast lane。 Here is the swan song from a brilliant writer who has certainly delivered many more tortuously conceived plots than this one， but Le Carre was determined to sign off with his views on Brexit， Trump and the ‘clubby’ bureaucrats of Whitehall ringing in our ears。 。。。more
Vincent Eaton
，
Recently ceased to exist， picked up his last （or next to last） novel， and gave it a read。 Have enjoyed， mostly， other books of his， without having the urge to run out and purchase another and swallow it whole。 Perhaps it's that the sky genre never had a huge hold over me。 Or that many of his books， though well plotted and densely laid with spycraft and terminology and departments and plots， cause myself to get a bit lost in - who's this again， what does Delta department do again？ - and also， oft Recently ceased to exist， picked up his last （or next to last） novel， and gave it a read。 Have enjoyed， mostly， other books of his， without having the urge to run out and purchase another and swallow it whole。 Perhaps it's that the sky genre never had a huge hold over me。 Or that many of his books， though well plotted and densely laid with spycraft and terminology and departments and plots， cause myself to get a bit lost in - who's this again， what does Delta department do again？ - and also， often， while curious about main characters， I rarely feel much that is hugely urgent is involved。 le Carré's knowledge and laying out the lines of conflict， and endless mutating politics， office and otherwise， snaking around， fill me with enough info to last me a few years until another of his novels is purchased and explored。 Mostly I like， as many others before have pointed out， his writing is not slapdash or commercial hollering or red-faced insistence on rightness， but nuanced， subtle and intelligent。 。。。more
J。A。Cochrane
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Brilliant book from the masterLoved this book。 One of my favourite JLC books。 Great story， and easy to read。 Up there with his best works。 Highly recommended。
Øyvind
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Interesting， but a bit too detailed。
Jamie Berger
，
A suspenseful， moving， bittersweet end to a brilliant career。 I went back and forth between reading and listening， torn all the while， because each was a great experience in and of itself。 Le Carre himself did the audio version， and he's absolutely spot-on。 I clearly have nothing but the blandest of raves to offer here， so i'll just stop right now。 Tremendously satisfying。 A suspenseful， moving， bittersweet end to a brilliant career。 I went back and forth between reading and listening， torn all the while， because each was a great experience in and of itself。 Le Carre himself did the audio version， and he's absolutely spot-on。 I clearly have nothing but the blandest of raves to offer here， so i'll just stop right now。 Tremendously satisfying。 。。。more
Oliver
，
A solid John LeCarré book。 The ending is maybe a bit to tidy and neat， but other than that， it is a good book。 Written in the classic John LeCarré style， it is another top class espionage book， from the "master of the spy genre" （the Gardien）。 Overall， thoroughly enjoyable， and another praise worthy book from John LeCarré， a surprising feat for an author who was 88 at the time of writing， and has been at the tip of his game since he started writing all those years ago。 A solid John LeCarré book。 The ending is maybe a bit to tidy and neat， but other than that， it is a good book。 Written in the classic John LeCarré style， it is another top class espionage book， from the "master of the spy genre" （the Gardien）。 Overall， thoroughly enjoyable， and another praise worthy book from John LeCarré， a surprising feat for an author who was 88 at the time of writing， and has been at the tip of his game since he started writing all those years ago。 。。。more
Steve Cunningham
，
Somewhat slight compared to much of le Carré's earlier work， but in compensation it moves much more quickly。 The protagonist， Nat， is something of an "everyspy"， very similar in many respects to the similarly named Ned from The Secret Pilgrim。 There is a simmering anger here at the state of the Trump/Putin/Brexit infested world， but also a deep sense of plus ca change at the untangleable webs of influence responsible for the formulation of British policy that harks back to the author's earliest Somewhat slight compared to much of le Carré's earlier work， but in compensation it moves much more quickly。 The protagonist， Nat， is something of an "everyspy"， very similar in many respects to the similarly named Ned from The Secret Pilgrim。 There is a simmering anger here at the state of the Trump/Putin/Brexit infested world， but also a deep sense of plus ca change at the untangleable webs of influence responsible for the formulation of British policy that harks back to the author's earliest work。 A fine epilogue to a writing career， but overall not in the pantheon of his finest works。 。。。more
Tammy
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3 1/2 stars
Henrik Heien
，
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 En helt grei historie i en kort og lettlest bok。 Den er ikke veldig spennende， men har et interessant plot likevel。 Slutten var litt brå etter min smak， men det fungerer。
Jane Ann
，