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A Delicate Truth

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A Delicate Truth

By: John le Carré
Narrated by: John le Carré
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About this listen

A counter-terror operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted in Britain’s most precious colony, Gibraltar. Its purpose: to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms-buyer. Its authors: an ambitious Foreign Office Minister, and a private defence contractor who is also his close friend. So delicate is the operation that even the Minister’s Private Secretary, Toby Bell, is not cleared for it. Suspecting a disastrous conspiracy, Toby attempts to forestall it, but is promptly posted overseas.

Three years on, summoned by Sir Christopher Probyn, retired British diplomat, to his decaying Cornish manor house, and closely watched by Probyn’s daughter Emily, Toby must choose between his conscience and his duty to the Service. If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, how can he keep silent?

John le Carre was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For the last fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.

©2013 John le Carré (P)2013 Penguin Audio Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Fiction Scary Thought-Provoking Inspiring

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Critic reviews

"One of those writers who will be read a century from now" (Robert Harris)
All stars
Most relevant  

What did you like most about A Delicate Truth?

A gripping story that keeps you interested until the end.

What did you like best about this story?

Believable, yet interesting and up to date. Still political and communicating the trappings of Whitehall.to the uninitiated.

What about John le Carré’s performance did you like?

Understated with no over the top accents or impressions. Steady.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not emotional - just gripping.

Any additional comments?

If you like the Smiley stories, you'll like this. Unabridged is great as it keeps all the minute details and le Carre descriptions.

Classic le Carre

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Needs full concentration to appreciate. A battle between people moving events and events moving people. With the big question over whether you do what appears to be morally right or you do what is in your's and your family's best interests. Extremely well written and read.

Intriguing and full of moral implications.

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Any additional comments?

A superb thriller, read by the author who -despite a peculiar pronuncation of the word 'plaaaaaaastic' and his Welsh accent morphing into Pakistani from time to time - really adds gravitas to the tale.
It's my first Le Carre audiobook and I would like to thank him for making my morning 5 mile run seem easier while listening to The Delicate Truth. It's the sign of a gripping story and excellent narration when the audiobook makes me actually want to get out and run, just so I can listen to another 45 minutes or so. I can't recommend this highly enough.

Gripping, intelligent, thrilling...

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Would you listen to A Delicate Truth again? Why?

Yes, I like the detail and the back story with the usual dash at the end.I also worked and lived in Gib and Cornwall.

What did you like best about this story?

I am very in tune with the dislike on the privatising of HMG and in particular the armed forces. The vile politicians and senior civil servants treatment of the main protagonists is similar to my own experiences of the these groups. The naively of "Kit" and the integrity and bravery of "Toby" is encouraging, a few honest people will be the saviour of Great Britain in the end ( I hope) or am I being naive?

Have you listened to any of John le Carré’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Sometimes he carries of accents well sometimes not, I think (with respect) that Mr Square was over stretching it in this book! However, I do still like his reading of his stories.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, my experience is that with his style of writing, it is better to listen in 3 parts.

Any additional comments?

Always waiting for his next book, it strikes such a resonance with my own feelings and experiences of integrity or in some cases the complete lack of it by our masters and mistresses.

Another well timed book

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As expected this was a complicated story with a set of complex characters. The audio version is difficult to follow and perhaps better as a book to actually 'read'?

A Delicate Truth

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What made the experience of listening to A Delicate Truth the most enjoyable?

Great author, great narrator!

Who was your favorite character and why?

All the characters had a part to play in contributing to making the story compelling and very listenable. I think i'd pick Sir Christopher as my favourite character as he was touchingly naïve and very believable because of it.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Rewards and Regrets

Another Le Carre Winner

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John le Carré’s writing is always of the very highest quality, however I was a little disappointed in his last book, Our Kind of Traitor. In A Delicate Truth he returns to top form with an excellent plot, brilliant characterization and superb dialogue.
I have been listening to Le Carré reading his own work since the early days of audio cassettes and, although Michael Jayston’s readings perhaps remain my favourites, I have always thought Le Carré as good as any actor (not the case with many authors).
My only criticism of A Delicate Truth would be the somewhat abrupt and unsatisfactory ending. I expect to have to use my imagination and don’t require everything to be spelled out for me but would, nevertheless, have liked to have things a little more satisfactorily resolved. As with Our Kind of Traitor I did half wonder whether the author had not been under time-pressure.
Nevertheless I have now hesitation in awarding the book five stars, both for writing and narration.

Le Carré back on top form

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I was a little apprehensive when I downloaded this new book from John le Carre. I have enjoyed many of his previous novels on audio and one of the great delights is listening to Michael Jayston's performance. This book is narrated by the author and at first I thought this might get in the way of my enjoyment of the book. He is, however, an accomplished reader and delivered believable voices for all the characters.
The story is gripping from start to finish and the characters are believable and sympathetic. I thought this was one of his best for a while.

Gripping listen

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This intelligent, measured and thought-provoking novel was quietly powerful. It really made me think about morality, accountability and what is acceptable behaviour of the individual, and of a government. It was gripping and the ending perfect - and as a bonus, it seems that Mr le Carre has left a door ajar. Not only was it beautifully written, but the narration by John le Carre himself was a revelation. His depiction of the characters was distinct and his accents were excellent. It is a privilege to hear him read his own words. He is 81 years old - and right up there with the very best narrators.

Outstanding writing and narration

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Beware, this does not come close to an expert review. I have recently started to listening to audiobooks and i have to say this book did not allow room to multitask! La Carre's style require full attention which i am not skilled at. for this reason alone, in futute I will purchase the hard copy of Mr La Carres' books. In hindsight, I should have done this after watching Tinker Tailor Soilder. It is probably a very good story, I do not doubt its skillfully written, but I suspect I lost most of the detail.

Needs all concentration levels

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