A half-starved young Russian man in a long black overcoat is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse round his neck. He is a devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is Issa.

Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from deportation. Soon her client’s survival becomes more important to her than her own career. In pursuit of Issa’s mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in Hamburg.

A triangle of impossible loves is born.

Meanwhile, scenting a sure kill in the so-called War on Terror, the spies of three nations converge upon the innocents.

Poignant, compassionate, peopled with characters the reader never wants to let go, A Most Wanted Man is alive with humour, yet prickles with tension until the last heart-stopping page. It is also a work of deep humanity, and uncommon relevance to our times.

Reviews

'One of the most sophisticated fictional responses to the war on terror yet published, a humane novel which takes on the world’s latest binarism and exposes troubling shades of grey.’

Guardian, Hari Kunzru

'A wry, warm, compassionate and ultimately deeply cynical and disillusioned story of the state of human relationships and power politics in the first decade of the 21st century.'

The Times, Peter Millar

'A MOST WANTED MAN is a first-class novel about the most pressing moral and political concerns of our time, not least the scandal of extraordinary rendition. Few writers, and certainly none with le Carré’s profile, are tackling these issues with any like the same thoroughness and vigour.’

Telegraph, Charles Cumming

‘Where literary novelists so often fear to tread, John le Carré has plunged deep using traditional thriller territory to examine the shadowy side of power, as his latest novel does deftly. From its intriguing opening to its pointed conclusion, this should easily maintain le Carré’s high standing among his fans.’

Metro, Robert Murphy

‘A gripping read'

Daily Mail, Stella Rimington

'Once again le Carré proves he’s so much more than a thriller writer, but tackling very urgent themes with rare insight and clarity.'

Daily Mirror, Henry Sutton

‘le Carré is back on form in a cracking terror plot’

Daily Express, Barry Forshaw

‘This is a cautionary tale, rich in humanity, from a master storyteller back at the peak of his powers.’

The Glasgow Herald, Allan Laing

'The spy novel is well suited to treating larger themes of paranoia, perfidy and loss of innocence, and here A MOST WANTED MAN is particularly successful. Hamburg, beneath the prosperous surface, is a cauldron of suspicion and betrayal... The state itself is a malevolent parent, betraying its children's trust for dark reasons only dimly understood... the drawing of the humane and intelligent Annabel and the decent and honourable Brue into a world of political brutalism, blackmail and lies moves John le Carre's novel out of the playground of the adventure story and into the grown-up realm of tragedy.'

Times Literary Supplement, T.O. Treadwell

‘John le Carré’s powerful new novel proves that his narrative power and abiding humanity remain intact.’

Sunday Times Culture, Stephen Amidon

'A MOST WANTED MAN is le Carré's 21st book, and another winner. This is a book about political and private corruption, and its plot revolves around the most ferociously debated policies in terror-frightened Europe. le Carré handles his material with a rare lightness of touch that's absent from most contemporary portraits of counter-terrorism: This is black, brilliant, hypnotic stuff and yet another reason to count le Carré among this country's very finest contemporary writers. Unhesitatingly recommended.’

Independent on Sunday, Tim Martin