The unsubtle spy

The unsubtle spy
: Michiko Kakutani is pissed.

She suffers John le Carre’s Absolute Friends and then practically sputters:

And last and most disappointing, it is a clumsy, hectoring, conspiracy-minded message-novel meant to drive home the argument that American imperialism poses a grave danger to the new world order.

The plot has been constructed to illustrate this message, and it not only feels hastily jerry-built but ridiculously contrived as well. Whereas Mr. le Carr