Star rating – 8/10
I am not the sort of person who can have more than one book on the go at a time. But with longer car journeys to work impending, I decided to give audio books a try, and specifically this 1993 Radio 4 adaptation of John Le Carré’s ‘A Perfect Spy’, and so can listen to one book whilst reading another, ok - not quite simultaneously, safe driving would not allow it, but as near as I can get to it anyway.
I haven’t read the classic spy novel itself, but this adaptation has all the hall marks of Le Carré at his best. Magnus Pym (played as the quintessential Englishman by James Fox) mysteriously disappears after his father’s death, triggering a hunt for him by his increasingly desperate wife Mary (Harriet Walter), and his own spymasters, which ultimately reveals his secret past.
The story is told partly in flashback, with the wonderful Julian Rhind-Tutt as the younger Magnus, who is enlisted into the secret service as an impressionable and eager young man. Magnus ends up being a master of manipulation, in espionage and romance alike. Magnus also reveals much of the story whilst being holed up in a remote Devon hideaway with a devoted landlady, who is blissfully oblivious to his exploits. Le Carré cleverly explores the themes of betrayal and betrayer, and the action is transposed to audio/radio in this wonderful adaptation by Rene Basilico.
Audio books will never replace the real thing for me – you can’t beat the feel of paper in your hand as you greedily turn over the next page (Kindle lovers please note) but as a substitute they come a close second, and this classic in particular is bound to drive listeners to the real thing for the full Le Carré experience.
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