A Delicate Truth

3.83 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 13,286 ratings, 1,393 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
A Delicate Truth by John le Carré centres on a covert operation in Gibraltar aimed at capturing a terrorist arms-buyer. Three years later, a civil servant discovers a shocking truth about the mission, leading to a tense unraveling of lies and moral dilemmas as he confronts the implications of what really happened. The story is a gripping exploration of integrity and deception set against the backdrop of international espionage.
Read More
Format: Hardback
$3400
Elsewhere:
$3700
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate intricate espionage tales combined with moral and political dilemmas. This gripping novel offers a compelling mix of suspense, government intrigue, and a finely woven plot that will keep you questioning the line between duty and conscience. If you enjoy stories that challenge ethical boundaries and explore the shadowy world of intelligence operations, this might be the perfect read for you.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A Delicate Truth

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

John le Carré takes on counter-terrorism in this furiously paced story of moral dilemma, bold action and unexpected love, now in the giftable hardback series.

A counter-terror operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted in Britain's most precious colony, Gibraltar. Its purpose is to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms buyer. Its authors are an ambitious Foreign Office Minister and a private defence contractor who is also his close friend. So delicate is the operation that even the Minister's Private Secretary, Toby Bell, is not cleared for it.

Suspecting a disastrous conspiracy, Toby attempts to forestall it, but is promptly posted overseas. Three years on, summoned by Sir Christopher Probyn, retired British diplomat, to his decaying Cornish manor house, and closely watched by Probyn's daughter Emily, Toby must choose between his conscience and his duty to the Service.

If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, how can he keep silent?

A Delicate Truth explores a masterfully plotted narrative of espionage, idealism, and the shadowy world of counter-terrorism.

Series: The Penguin John le Carré Hardback Collection

View all

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241396360

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 28 July 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 26.0mm

Width: 127.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 332g

Pages: 336

About the Author

John le Carre was born in 1931. For six decades, he wrote novels that came to define our age. The son of a confidence trickster, he spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld. At sixteen he found refuge at the University of Bern, then later at Oxford. A spell of teaching at Eton led him to a short career in British Intelligence (MI5 & 6). He published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961 while still a secret servant. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, secured him a worldwide reputation, which was consolidated by the acclaim for his trilogy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. At the end of the Cold War, le Carre widened his scope to explore an international landscape including the arms trade and the War on Terror. His memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, was published in 2016 and the last George Smiley novel, A Legacy of Spies, appeared in 2017. He died on 12 December 2020. His posthumous novel, Silverview, was published in 2021.

Also by John le Carré

View all

More from General Fiction

View all

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 80,000 books and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.