When John le Carré died he bequeathed an archive of unpublished material. In it was one complete, full-length novel called “Silverview”
As with those two other late-career works, the bulk of the book plays out in le Carré’s native land. It introduces Julian Lawndsley, who has recently escaped from the rat-race in the City to run a bookshop in a small seaside town. One evening, just before closing time, he receives a final customer who shows a curious interest in the shop’s basement. Edward Avon claims to be an old school friend of Julian’s late father, describing himself as “one of life’s odd-job men”.
Le Carré opens up a separate narrative strand. When a tiny technical blip turns into a full-scale security breach, spy boss and “chief sniffer-dog” Stewart Proctor is asked to hunt down the source of the leak. His investigations involve dredging up retired spies and trawling through old case histories, including a botched operation in communist Poland and a tragedy in war-ravaged Bosnia.
“Silverview” takes at least 50 pages to gather momentum. “But what on earth was the endgame?” wonders Julian of Edward’s intentions—a question some readers may ask about the novel as a whole in its early stages. When the plot takes shape, though, and motives come into focus, the story comes to life and acquires depth, pace and tension.
This book is by no means vintage le Carré. But nor is it the half-baked posthumous cash-in it might have been. Rather it is a worthy coda, a commanding farewell from a much-missed master. This article appeared in the Books & arts section of the print edition under the headline "Against the tide"
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