John le Carré - The Russia House

The Russia House feels unusual for a le Carré novel, not because of the plot or the characters, but because it takes place as the Soviet Union is on its last legs. But much else about the novel will feel familiar. It is main characters are ordinary people drawn into complex, dangerous and unusual circumstances - two of them figure - workers in the publishing industry who both visit Moscow to take part in the annual gravy train of publishing conferences and drinking sessions, and try and sell their books (or import Russian ones). On one visit Niki Landau receives a package from a woman called Katya with instructions to get it to "Barley" Blair, a British publisher and heavy drinker. 

Landau realises that this is no ordinary manuscript but is a document containing details of Russia's nuclear weapons systems. It's important info, and British intelligence encourage and train Blair to return to Russia to verify the information and make contact with its source - the designer Yakov. Blair and Yakov have history - they'd discussed peace and the post-Soviet world. But British intelligence is skeptical that the source is genuine and worries they are being played. So do the Americans. 

While making several trips to Russia Blair grows fond of Katya. The endgame of it all won't be ruined here, but involves Blair making a series of complex decisions that require the reader to follow the text carefully.

But as with most of le Carré's novels the genius is in the interactions between people. In particular the way that the intelligence services treat Blair, and to a lesser extent Landau. How they manipulate, coerce and dig into people's brains is fanatastic, and Blair's interactions with the US intelligence services are particularly entertaining and well written. As with all of le Carré's books this is a book about people caught up in the twists of history. It's excellent, but you might need to read the ending a couple of times.

Related Reviews

le Carré - The Looking Glass War
le Carré - A Murder of Quality
le Carré - A Legacy of Spies
le Carré - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
le Carré - Call for the Dead
le Carré - A Small Town in Germany