Having read the Spy Who Came in From the Cold recently, I kinda knew what to expect from this book, also by LeCarre. It was going to be a spy book, full of twists and turns and, if it's good enough, an ending like No Way Out. Knowing kinda, sorta what to expect, I read this book anyway, another on the ever-shrinking stack of Mom-selected books.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand, despite having read the previous LeCarre book, I didn't really like this one. I'm not really a fan of spy books, I guess. Yeah, the technology can be interesting, but the deception, use and abuse of others, and the violence-done-to-others parts of the spy way of life just does not appeal to me. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age (no, I have always been anti-violence, anti-abuse, anti-use people), but this type of story just does not appeal to me. I'm rather glad this is the last of the unread LeCarre books in my stack.

This book's plot revolves around a series of murders of Jewish people, and the infiltration of an Israeli intelligence group into a Palestinian militia group. Not that you get that from the first 30% of the book. Instead, it's all about an abused actress who is AMAZING apparently in her skills, and human enough to be susceptible to a dashing man's charm. Shock.

Eh, I finished the book. The last 1/4 was interesting. The first 3/4 I had to trog through. If you like spy books, this one will probably be interesting. If you don't, eh, don't read.

This book, The Way Into Chaos: Book One of The Great Way (Volume 1), is the first of a three book series. It was written by Harry Connolly, who wrote about the Twenty Palaces series, which I think was recommended by Jim Butcher, and which I really liked. I vaguely recall being a little thrown off by Connolly's writing style in the Twenty Palaces novels, but I had read them just after I had read a few Dresden books, and, well, anything is going to seem odd after reading them (because they are awesome).

Which is a slight lead-in to the fact that I struggled with this book. I really wanted to read this book for the sole reason it was written by Harry Connolly (given the number of Bosch books I read, I feel specifying Harry (ANOTHER HARRY!) and not Michael is important here). I enjoyed the Twenty Palaces books, I like Connolly's writing.

I couldn't stand the writing in this book.

I've experienced this before, where I couldn't stand the writing style of a book and kept reading. Eventually the style becomes okay and I can finish the book. Happened in this one, too. I finished the book, but man, I am not excited about it. I'll keep reading the series and see what happens. Until then, neither not recommended nor recommended.