Book Review: AGENT RUNNING IN THE FIELD by John le Carré. Penguin Random House LLC, 2019.
Read & reviewed by Jane Mack, August 2022.
This spy novel by the great John Le Carré (David Cornwell) is the last one published during his life. Born in 1931, Cornwell had a long writing career, with his first novel published in 1961. His third novel, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, is his most celebrated. He continued writing up until the end of his life. And another novel was published posthumously after his death in October 2021.
SPOILER ALERT! This book review contains spoilers/information about plot.
INTRODUCTION.
Nat, at age 47, finds himself back in England after many various postings abroad as a underling diplomat, from Moscow, to Vienna, to Tbilisi, to Tallinn. His role in espionage is to recruit and turn foreign officials into British agents. He runs them by giving them directions. And he works under cover of his official diplomatic duties.
Fearing that he will now be declared redundant and lose his job given his age, Nat waits for the hammer to drop. He enjoys a game of badminton at his clubhouse with another rival clubhouse champion. He meets Ed Shannon, a socially-awkward young man who has joined the Athleticus clubhouse for the pleasure of challenging Nat to a game.
AT WORK.
At work, Brynn Jordan and Dom Trench arrange for Nat’s transfer. Not to the Russia Department, where he’d like to go. He is, instead, placed under the chief of the London General, at the Haven, an outpost forgotten and forlorn. His new boss is Dom Trench, a man Nat dislikes for his talentless ambition. Nat preferred Dom’s first wife, whom Dom discarded for a rich, well-connected “peeress of the realm, power in the Tory party.” Higher up in the service is Brynn Jordan, head of the Russia department, away in Washington, D.C. but communicating back and forth on all important matters. Below Nat is his new, second-in-command, the brilliant Florence, who is “talented but needs to settle” in the agency’s view.
AT THE CLUB.
Nat and Ed engage nearly every week in games of badminton. Nat wins initially, through experience, but Ed evens the score with youth and talent. After each set, they share a beer and chat at their table, which Nat calls the “stammtisch” in honor of Ed’s absorption with German culture. Ed professes to have a German soul. He rants about politics and derides America under President Trump for its abandonment of Europe. “And us Brits, so desperate for free trade with America that we’ll be saying yes Donald, no Donald, kiss-your arse-please Donald all the way to Armageddon…Well, won’t we Nat?”
Nat for his part practices being agreeable. He lets Ed rant, never interrupting him, never challenging him. Nat does not disclose his work or his service to the country; nor does Ed’s work come up after the first vague discussions of research.
Nat likes Ed, and enjoys the time they spend together, despite their age difference, and Ed’s limited conversational topics.
AT HOME.
Nat is reconnecting with his wife, Prue Stoneway, a civil rights lawyer who went with him to Moscow as an agency asset, but left the service when she got pregnant. They have managed a long-distance relationship, with Nat occasionally going off course. Now he is unsure how to re-establish their connection and build their future together. Their home life is complicated by their 19-year-old daughter, Stefanie (Steff) heading off to university. Steff’s tolerance for her absent father waxes and wanes. Nat decides it is time to let her know that he isn’t a failed mid-level diplomat, but rather a spy. Steff does not react well, and cuts off communications with both Nat and Prue, to their consternation.
On the plus side, Nat feels reassured about Prue’s dedication to their marriage, and they fall back into patterns of love and understanding.
THE ESPIONAGE.
Florence spearheads a Haven proposal called Operation Rosebud, aimed at taking out a particular Ukrainian oligarch to get to his Moscow backers. Her work is exceptional. Nat accompanies her to a face-to-face meet with the higher ups. Afterwards, he congratulates her on a job well done. He fully expects a green light to continue with the plan for supported surveillance and a break-in. The service delays and denies the green light. Instead, it shunts the project aside without any explanation to Nat.
In the meantime, Florence has done more research, and comes to the conclusion that Dom Trench sunk the proposal with his wife’s money and influence. Dom’s rich wife is buying and selling to this Ukrainian oligarch and others and has her moneyed interests so tied up with them that any scandal or problems for them would cause her great distress.
Nat learns all this the hard-way, after Florence has resigned in moral outrage.
LOVE AND HATE.
Finally, Prue and Nat hear from their daughter Steff, who is in love. She brings her man to the house before the young couple set off to Panama to do zoological research. Nat is comfortable with the pair, hoping for the best.
At the Athleticus Club, Nat agrees to a foursome with Ed and his sister, who is developmentally disabled. He already lined up Florence to join as his partner, and she comes on the day she quits at the Haven. When Nat tries to secretly convey a cover story to her in case there are any questions about how she was invited and how she knows him, she explodes. “I don’t feel like fucking lying any more….Not to him or anybody else. Got that?” Nat feels waves of anger and hate from Florence, and is unsure what is going on.
While the foursome agrees to have dinner after the badminton, Nat is suddenly called away by one of his agents sending an urgent message. Nat leaves Ed and Florence to dine with the sister and without him. Ed and Florence suffer love at first sight.
CONFUSION, BETRAYAL.
Nat’s double-agent is a Moscow Central sleeper. This means the service considers him useless and out of action. Most of the spies still assigned to the Haven are inactive. But the agent now informs Nat that he’s being awakened by Moscow Central, having received a message about what he’s supposed to do. The agent who contacted the sleeper is called Annette. The sleeper agent says he knew her previously as Anastasia. From the description, Nat also recognizes her as a very powerful Russian agent he knew as Valentina. Nat follows up, treading on toes, and takes a week off to travel to Europe and do some of his own investigation. He returns with his analysis and “evidence-based” back-up for his theories. Nat is convinced that the sleeper has been contacted by Valentina, a well-known and high-placed Russian agent. Nat is convinced that something very real and important is going down. Russia has recruited a British spy with access to highly-sensitive information.
The Haven is alive again, and London General and the Russia Department want in on the operation. They plan another surveillance operation with the sleeper agent. All are watching, and all goes according to plan. The sleeper agent makes contact with the British traitor. To Nat’s utter disbelief, the traitor is Ed Shannon.
CLARITY.
Nat informs the service about his acquaintance with Ed. The service questions him, putting pressure on him, treating him as derelict in his duty for not recognizing the situation or being prepared for it. When Nat cannot account for Ed’s betrayal, cannot offer any motive or suggest any plausible reason, the service terminates Nat’s employment with them.
Nat is now free to consider everything again. All he has to unlock the unknown is the codename Jericho. This is the hyper-sensitive project that Ed was going to transmit, but Nat doesn’t know what it’s about. Nothing he knows about Ed would suggest Ed would become a Russian asset.
Nat finally sorts it out. Valentina duped Ed into believing he’d be meeting with a German agent. He connects with a former associate from the German embassy, a one-time lover, and receives the confirmation he expects. Nat also does them the favor of letting them know that their means of communication had been infiltrated. Moscow Central had surreptitiously intercepted their internal discussion of Ed’s attempts to deal with the German embassy.
CLIMAX.
Back at the Athleticus Club, Ed is unaware that he’s been rumbled. He tells Nat that he and Florence are getting married and asks Nat and his wife Prue to stand as witnesses (best man and matron of honor) at the wedding. Nat agrees.
And only a spy with a lifetime of experience at deception could carry out the final episodes in the novel.
CONCLUSION.
Nat proves he’s a decent man.
THOUGHTS AND ANALYSIS.
Le Carré writes in first-person narrative. There is plenty of foreshadowing, but the events unfold in a smooth and meticulous way that makes everything fresh and exciting. Neither Nat nor Florence are ever given last names—and this is a metaphor for their secret lives and identities as spies.
Le Carré writes with a deft hand, not only for writing but for understanding characters. There is character revelation and universal knowledge about relationships and what is important, how they work, and what makes them great. Nat shows patience in waiting for his daughter Steff to respond. He carries his lessons from home into his relationship at work waiting for Florence to express herself, without his questioning or demands or inquiries if everything is okay or what is wrong. There’s a maturity in all of his relationships that comes through, with both some back-story and reflection that indicates age and wisdom. There is ultimately satisfaction at the undermining of Dom Trench.
On the political front, the story is ambiguous. There is no hard and fast, black and white about what politics should prevail (on Brexit, on Trump, on European Union, on Russia). Nat is loyal to his country without doubt; and he is also caring and loyal to his family and friends. He is working as a decent man, doing what he can to help in an indecent world.