For fans of John le Carré this will be a must read, the author’s final completed novel. Others, stumbling across the book may wonder what all the fuss is about. Neither should really be a measure of the worth and value of this book in my mind. Sure those who were drawn to this remarkable writer through his early works at the heart of the Cold War will forget George Smiley and The Circus. Dramatised so well on our TV screens and later in motion pictures. Bringing spies into focus and then revealing that the good ones we don’t even see them in our field of vision. For those who have read le Carré before it will be returning to the familiar and spending time with an old friend. In his canon of work it is an important addition and a worthy conclusion in his breadth of work. Bringing the dark world of spies into modern Britain which has lost its way and perhaps questions its direction and ambition. All beautifully played out in characters seemingly out of step and not in time with reality. I loved the human element here; the sense of duty and lack retirement from the Service. The secrets one must keep and the smokescreen that prevents normality in relationships with partners and children. Can a spy have doubts; can one lose one’s way and value people before state and country? Told through the interactions of the players on this great stage of espionage we learn about people but seldom take who they are and what they say on face value. The characters don’t reveal whether they are actors or bystanders in this production. Yet with great storytelling we are drawn into an account where people and relationships matter, where tradecraft is a way of life but as readers we see the consequences and loss that life in this world of agents and spies brings. We are presented with a range of emotions but are never asked to judge and perhaps like Julian find we have our own mind and sense of values about what counts in life. Full of intrigue and character driven. Less action based but full of human drama and what good writing creates, a story we invest in completely. Hopefully, the new reader will be drawn further into this author’s unique world of double agents and moles and returning fans will concur that this book resonates with all we have found in le Carré’s writing and is a fitting curtain call on his tremendous body of work.