A MOST WANTED MAN shares many qualities with other le Carre novels. These include a brisk and involving narrative, sly humor, and a plot shaded with lots of bureaucratic menace and heavy handedness. Furthermore, it features characters who, yet again, push back against the intelligence community. This time, they are Annanbel, an idealistic young lawyer, and Gunther, a wily mid-level intelligence veteran. Within character, each is trying to make the intelligence systems of Germany, England, and America act honorably and effectively as they address the situation of Issa, a hapless and stateless Chechen who big shots view as a terrorist. As is common in so many le Carre novels, Annabel and Gunther also operate on a level where they can't counter the actions of the big players, who achieve a ruthless and surprising denouement. AMWM is more high-caliber work from le Carre. Still, I deduct one star for the clouds of infatuation enveloping Annabel and the banker Tommy Brue. These seemed unnecessary and didn't ring true. Otherwise, AMWM is a very fast and entertaining read.