ABSOLUTE FRIENDS

Le Carré brings his superb reading talents--sonorous, cultured voice; gift for accents; deft expressiveness--to the story of Ted Mundy, a fumbling, well-meaning Brit; a ’60s radical who stumbles into Cold War spying with German friend Sascha; a defector to the East who hates his Stasi masters. Years later, Sascha involves Ted in an idealistic scheme leading to a world more shadowy yet, where both “good guys” and “bad” are startlingly evil. As le Carré moves from ironic sympathy to scorn and outrage, he exploits his story to express a desperately cynical worldview that some will call skewed, if not delusional. But his knowledge, intelligence, and passion demand a hearing, and his performance--he is simply one of the best author readers there is--makes that hearing a pleasure, however bitter the material. W.M. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 04]