When the interpreter knows too much

The hero of The Mission Song by John Le Carre is Bruno Salvador, an interpreter from Congo who lives in London. Salvo is a man who has a profession, of which he is proud, a love for good clothes and a marriage which he is aware is coming to an end. When he is invited to do some interpreting for British Intelligence he discovers that arrangements are being made between British authorities and Congolese warlords to start a revolution and steal the mineral resources of the country. Salvo decides to challenge injustice. He is sure that if he can tell the right person about what is going on that he can thwart the plans but he doesn’t know who he can trust.

I listened to this book on audio where it was narrated by David Oyelowo and I think it is possible one of the best narrations I have ever heard. The narrator became Salvo to me and I felt all his emotions – pride, embarrassment, rage and frustration. Obviously the author had written the voice of Salvo in an engaging way but the narrator made it come to life – I was captivated by this book.

Salvo is an outsider in the country in which he lives and also in that in which he was born. As the story progresses he begins to realise how isolated he is and how the people he thought of as friends were just using him. He becomes aware that the pride he has in his professionalism may be misplaced and that to others he is just a tool. The only person he can trust is a young woman he only met the night before the important meetings but with whom he wants to spend the rest of his life.

The first part of this book is about the meetings and Salvo’s slow realisation of what is happening. The second part of the book is his attempt to stop the revolution and keep his evidence safe. I got a bit bogged down in the first part of the book but I was totally engaged by the second part and I was willing Salvo to stop trying to trust others with his secret when it was obvious that they were going to do nothing.

I really enjoyed this book, and especially the audio narration. I thought that the author and the narrator made Salvo very real and his experiences authentic. The plot draws you in and I was totally engaged and wanted Salvo to emerge from events unharmed – I thought that the author ended the book very satisfactorily.