Agent Running in the Field, LeCarre - B+

                                                   He maintains his mastery of the language as he approaches age 90. He turns a phrase and sets up a plot as well as he has for sixty years.  He refers to the City as a 'laundromat' in reference to an oligarch's investments there. Here, a late-40's twenty-five year handler is ready to be sent off, when he is offered a low level job keeping an eye on the endless number of Russian illegals in London. Simultaneously, he begins a regular round of badminton at his club with a foul-mouthed younger fellow, whom he apparently tolerates only for his badminton skill. He manages to uncover a nefarious Moscow Centre plot with a player whose relationship with him causes the Office to have its doubts. There are plenty of twists and turns and an opportunity for Cornwall to speak his mind. He thoroughly enjoys bashing our leaders who have forgotten about who the enemy was in the Cold War. Bravo.