(Drivebycuriosity) - John Banville belongs to my favorite authors. I enjoyed his novels Snow (my review driveby ) and Kepler (my review ). I also like the books he wrote under his pen name Benjamin Black: Wolf on a String (my review ) and his Quirke series, a row of crime mysteries set in Ireland in the 1950.
So I tried his novel "The Untouchable" (amazon ). A man in his 70s recalls his past for a young writer. He had been a spy over many years, but did not get arrested even though he got exposed (this is a spoiler free blog).
Apparently the novel is inspired by the "Cambridge Five", a group of British citizen who gave classified material to the Soviets ( wikipedia). Unfortunately I found Banville`s tale unconvincing & unbelievable.
Contrary to the real "Cambridge Spies" the protagonist, apparently an expert in art, did not have any special valuable knowledge or held import professional positions which would have given him access to material which could have been of interest for the Soviets. The main character is boasting about his travels and contacts, but does not tell much about what kind of material he gave to the enemy.
I did not like the protagonist, even less the other characters. The book has still some strengths, including Banville`s analytical style, his choice of words and his - sometimes funny - descriptions of situations and environments.
Banville writes amazing crime mysteries and historical novels, but he ain´t a John le Carré.
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