From Publishers Weekly
The master of the spy novel has discovered perestroika , and the genre may never be the same again . Le Carre's latest is both brilliantly up-to-date and cheeringly hopeful in a way readers of the Smiley books could never have anticipated. Barley Blair is a down-at-heels, jazz-loving London publisher who impresses a dissident Soviet physicist during a drunken evening at a Moscow Book Fair. When the physicist attempts to have Barley publish his insider's study of the chaotic state of Soviet defense, British intelligence steps in. Barley, after extensive vetting by both MI5 and the CIA, is made the go-between for further invaluable information, and in the process becomes involved with the physicist's former lover, Katya. The portraits of American and British intelligence agents are, as always, wonderfully acute, and the plot is a dazzling creation. Le Carre's Russia is funny and touching by turns but always convincing, and the love affair between Barley and Katya, subtly understated, is by far the warmest the author has created. But the singing quality of The Russia House , written at the height of le Carre's powers, is its pervading sense of the increasing waste and irrelevance of ongoing cold-war machinations: "That is . . the tragedy of great nations. So much talent bursting to be used, so much goodness longing to come out. Yet all so miserably spoken for that sometimes we could scarcely believe it was America speaking to us at all." 350,000 first printing; BOMC main selection. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
A mysterious manuscript purporting to prove the Soviet defense system is unworkable is smuggled out of Moscow. It was intended for a flaky English publisher, a womanizing saxophone-playing boozer, but the smuggler has turned it over to British intelligence. In order to prove its authenticity, they recruit the publisher as an amateur spy and send him to Moscow to reestablish contact with the author. But the "truth" Barley Blair finds there is love and a purpose for his shambles of a life. As always with le Carre, this is a compelling spy story, a marvelous entertainment that is also as intelligent, witty, and brooding as many more self-consciously and less satisfying literary novels. It may not be the equal of The Quest for Karla trilogy or of a A Perfect Spy but it bears all the marks of a master, of the man who has both redefined and reanimated the espionage genre. BOMC main selection.- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Newsweek Le Carré is simply the world?s greatest fictional spymaster.
The New York Times Book Review An exciting spy story...A well-informed political parable, incisive and instructive...rich...poignant...fascinating.
Time A plot of commanding suspense...The Russia House is both afire and thought provoking, a thriller that demands a second reading.
Review
Newsweek A remarkable and surprising thriller...The Russia House is faster and leaner than anything Le Carré has done in years -- a taut spy story embracing a fine romance....His tone is light though his themes are as serious as ever.
Review
Time A plot of commanding suspense...The Russia House is both afire and thought provoking, a thriller that demands a second reading.
Book Description
John le Carré's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him unprecedented worldwide acclaim. At a small British trade fair in Moscow, a message of global importance is made up of three very fragile human links: a Soviet physicist (code name Bluebird) burdened with a secret knowledge; a beautiful young Russian woman to whom the papers are entrusted; and Barley Blair, a bewildered English publisher pressed into service by British Intelligence to ferret out the source of the document. A magnificent story of love, betrayal, and courage, The Russia House catches history in the act.
From the Publisher
10 1.5-hour cassettes
Russia House FROM THE PUBLISHER
From premier spy novelist John le Carre, a magnificent thriller, a love story and an ethical puzzle for our time.
We are in the third year of perestroika and glasnost. The place is Moscow. The man is Barley; a derelict, English publisher with a passion for jazz and a penchant for booze, who visits the Moscow Book Fair.
The woman is Katya: a beautiful Russian with a mission to mankind and access to some of the hottest defense intelligence to come out of the Soviet Union in years. It source: a disillusioned and desperate Russian physicist who wants Barley to publish the secrets . . but the British Secret Service and the CIA have other ideas.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
A dissident Soviet physicist asks a down-at-the-heels, jazz-loving London publisher to issue his insider's study of the chaotic state of Soviet defense. ``The master of the spy novel has discovered perestroika , and the genre may never be the same again,'' observed PW . (July)
Library Journal
A mysterious manuscript purporting to prove the Soviet defense system is unworkable is smuggled out of Moscow. It was intended for a flaky English publisher, a womanizing saxophone-playing boozer, but the smuggler has turned it over to British intelligence. In order to prove its authenticity, they recruit the publisher as an amateur spy and send him to Moscow to reestablish contact with the author. But the ``truth'' Barley Blair finds there is love and a purpose for his shambles of a life. As always with le Carre, this is a compelling spy story, a marvelous entertainment that is also as intelligent, witty, and brooding as many more self-consciously and less satisfying literary novels. It may not be the equal of The Quest for Karla trilogy or of a A Perfect Spy but it bears all the marks of a master, of the man who has both redefined and reanimated the espionage genre. BOMC main selection.-- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
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