'A work of rare brilliance' The Times Charmer fabulist & tailor to Panama's rich & powerful Harry Pendel loves to tell stories But when the British spy Andrew Osnard
- a man of large appetites for women information & above all money
- walks into his shop Harry's fantastical inventions take on a life of their own Soon he finds himself out of his depth in an international game he can never hope to win Le Carre's savage satire on the espionage trade is set in a corrupt universe without heroes or honour where the innocent are collateral damage & treachery plays out as tragic farce 'A tour de force in which almost every convention of the classic spy novel is violated' The New York Times Book Review