Framing the Dialogue

“You know the old saying:  Two people can keep a secret provided one of [them's] dead.”

I guess you could call this excerpt from The Night Manager a theme of this thriller by John Le Carre.  I feel a little odd reviewing a novel by an author who has been writing thrillers as long as he has.  I guess my angst comes from the fact that I felt this novel was lacking.  It was enjoyable, but it could have been so much more.

Le Carre spend a good third of the book developing the characters which I found scattered and confusing though I plowed through.  Who am I to criticize?  The author succeeded in grabbing me eventually and I was drawn into the main character, Pine, and his mission.  The book hit most of the items for a good thriller; drugs, weapons, spys, secret armies, South America, wealthy people, etc.  As the action started to peak as did my interest, things seemed to fall apart and slow down.  Where I expected action I got long passages describing political back-stabbing. 

I don’t feel that I need graphic descriptions of actions, but I seemed to have completely missed the peak of this book and was disappointed to read what I would call an extended prologue. 

This is one to skip.