I’m in Germany with an asylum seeker who has a traumatic past and a dangerous secret

John Le Carre’s best known works are set in Britain during the Cold War – they have long been favourites of mine and I have been rereading them recently (see reviews here and here). A Most Wanted Man, however, is set during the “War on Terror” after the destruction of the World Trade Centre and is set in Hamburg, although many of the characters are not German. Hamburg has some significance because several of the 9/11 perpetrators had lived there. I must have picked this copy up from a charity shop at some time, although I have no idea when that might have been.

The story centres on Issa. He is a young Muslim asylum seeker in Hamburg who has come from Chechnya where he has been part of their freedom movement and has been imprisoned as a terrorist. He has crossed Europe to Hamburg where he implants himself in the lives of a mother and son from Turkey. They help him gain a human rights lawyer, an idealistic young woman called Annabel. Annabel acts on his behalf and contacts the head of a small private bank where Issa’s father has left money for him. Issa wants to be a doctor and doesn’t want to touch the money which he considers to be tainted, but he needs it and is attracted to Annabel – he weaves stories about their shared future when Annabel will have converted and married him. Annabel wants what is best for her client and knows that the system will not see Issa as a victim but as a perpetrator and so she has to protect him – she finds herself with motherly feelings towards her young client. Tommy, the British banker living in Hamburg, resents the fact that his bank has acted as a money launderer but finds himself sympathetic to Issa and romantically attracted to Annabel. The situation is complicated until the various security forces become involved when it becomes very dangerous for everyone.

This is a sad but realistic novel, even if the money side of things is slightly convoluted. Issa is a victim and is used ruthlessly by everyone with whom he comes into contact. The German, British and American security services fight amongst themselves but are determined to seek out and destroy Islamic terrorism wherever it exists or wherever they think it exists. No one comes out of this story untouched and the events have life changing consequences for the main characters and also for many on the periphery.

This is a book about power and powerlessness. Innocence is no defence when people get in the way. There is no trust and promises are broken everywhere. It’s a brilliant study of people trapped in a situation not of their own making and who are working under assumptions which may, or may not, be true. It’s not a long read but it’s beautifully crafted and the ending is inevitable, albeit sad. I didn’t love it the way that I love some of this author’s other books but I thought that it was well written and engaging. Le Carre often uses Germany as a setting for parts of his novels but I do think that this book could have been set in any European country.

I’m not retaining Le Carre’s novels as I only have so many shelves so this copy, which is slightly tatty, is off to the Sainsbury’s book table to find a new home.

I find Le Carre a powerful writer and wonder if any of my readers think the same or can recommend similar books – drop a note in the comments below if you want to share anything.