Author John le Carré
Unlike John le Carré's many espionage novels, this thriller is about an enterprise planned by a British MP and an American business magnate; a plan that goes terribly wrong and requires a cover-up.
*****
In 2008, a rising civil servant named Toby Bell is the private secretary to Fergus Quinn, an MP in the foreign office.
Bell has the usual secretarial duties: checking Quinn's diary; monitoring visitors; making phone calls; scheduling meetings; taking notes; writing letters; and so on.
Then Toby hears talk of someone called Jay Crispin traipsing through the halls of government, after which Quinn becomes VERY furtive. Quinn locks away his diary; has clandestine liaisons; schedules secret meetings; and keeps Toby at arm's length.
When Quinn orders that surveillance be shut down for certain visitors, Bell becomes EXTREMELY suspicious, and sets up a tape recorder to monitor the proceedings. Toby is very nervous about this since it's potentially treasonous.
The recording device captures a discussion about a secret mission called Operation Wildlife, which is being planned by Fergus Quinn and Jay Crispin. Crispin is an American right-wing zealot who heads a company that deploys mercenaries.
The goal of Operation Wildlife is to abduct an Arab arms-buyer and question him. Presumably, this will forestall terrorist attacks on Britain.
Toby is terribly alarmed about this sub-rosa plan, and consults his mentor, a high-level politician called Giles Oakley. Oakley tells Toby to forget about it, so Toby makes copies of the recording and hides them away.
Shortly afterwards, Operation Wildlife is launched in Gibraltar. A mid-level British civil servant, code-named Paul Anderson, is sent to monitor the activities and 'be the eyes and ears' of Fergus Quinn....who'll be watching from afar.
In the midst of Operation Wildlife, Jeb Owens, the military commander on the ground, senses something is wrong and wants to call if off.
However, Quinn - who's on the phone - STRONGLY suggests the operation continue.
So troops go in, there's a commotion, shots are fired, and the mission is called a success.
*****
Skip to 2011 and the British civil servant who was code-named Paul Anderson is revealed to be Sir Christopher (Kit) Probyn. After Operation Wildlife, Probyn was awarded a knighthood and a cushy job in the Caribbean. Now retired, Sir Kit and his wife Suki live in Cornwall, where they're popular members of the rural community.
During a town fair, Sir Kit is shocked to come across the former military commander Jeb Owens, who's now living in his van and selling leather goods. Jeb tells Sir Kit that Operation Wildlife was a failure; no arms dealer was caught; and an innocent Arab woman and her child were killed. Quinn and Crispin then engineered a cover-up.
Sir Kit refuses to believe it, but Jeb eventually convinces him. After this, the two men arrange to meet, write a detailed report, and present it to the Ministry of Defense. But Jeb never shows up for the meeting.
Concerned about Jeb, Sir Kit contacts Toby Bell, who at this point is unaware that Operation Wildlife was a spectacular failure.
Sir Kit fills Toby in, and Toby goes to search for Jeb. Sadly, it turns out Jeb came to a bad end in suspicious circumstances.
Sir Kit and Toby now decide that THEY will find proof and expose the murders of the Arab woman and her child. Sir Kit's daughter Emily, a doctor, takes an interest as well, and she and Toby join efforts along the way.
The organizers of Operation Wildlife, Fergus Quinn and Jay Crispin, are determined to keep their wrongdoing secret. To accomplish this, they'll do just about anything, from surveillance to murder.
This is the bare bones of the plot, which is complex, contains a wide array of characters, and has a thought-provoking conclusion.
John le Carré does an excellent job probing into government overreach; narcissistic politicians; money-grubbing business moguls; and the inevitable cover-up of unlawful activities.
If you decide to read this book, please note that the slow start is misleading. Once the story gets in gear, things zip right along
Rating: 4 stars
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