THE NIGHT MANAGER: JOHN LE CARRE

I am not sure how many of Le Carre's spy novels I have read, perhaps six or seven over the past 40 years. This story takes all kinds of left turns, starting with Jonathan Pine, the night manager of a hotel first in Cairo, then Switzerland.  Pine gets mixed up with a couple of arms dealers and their girl friends, a bad idea and gets recruited by the British Intelligence Agency, some what aligned with the Cousins, the US. Pine's goal is  to go after the big dog, arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper. Pine eventually worms his way into Roper's graces until the higher ups, the politics both in England and the US, blow his cover. Much of the novel is taken up with the squabbling within Whitehall in England, as various players vie for power, sacrificing their pawn, Pine.  Not my favorite, a bit windy with lots of confusion as the British and Americans try to sort out there goals, both political and personal.  If this is the way our Secret Services work, god help us.