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It's quite a few years since I last attempted a John le Carré novel. It had always seemed to me that he came up with some excellent stories and great characters ... but then sucked the life out of them with his presentation*. I thought (hoped) maybe he might have improved since I last tried.
Sadly, A Delicate Truth demonstrated only his ability to suck the life out of a story, and in this case I don't think there was a great story, or characters, in here to start with.
The story seemed clumsily told and the character of "Paul Anderson" (Kit) was inconsistent and not really credible in any of his roles. The character of Toby was a little better, but not a lot. Both Toby and Emily seem quite indistinct, not fully real/there in the story. The abrupt end, while not inappropriate, was predictable and left me feeling as if the work getting to the end was a waste of effort.
I normally like to find something positive to say, but at the moment I'm struggling. I gave it a 2/5 and feel like I might have been generous.
* To explain my comment on the what-are-you-reading thread, I tend to think of le Carré as best served in adaptation (film), where someone else as done the hard work of digging out the story and characters.
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