However, Andy has his own agenda and, after he discovers Harry's past, sees the perfect opportunity to recruit a new agent and embezzle money from the British government.

Concocting a fictitious network of revolutionaries, known as the Silent Opposition, Harry, through Andy, manages to attract the interest of the British secret services and even the US government.

[3] Le Carré likens the tale to a "Casablanca without heroes," stating that he, "was drawn by the obvious corruption of Panama and the wonderful collection of characters you meet there.

"[4] In response to observations that the novel was a more light-hearted affair than his previous books, le Carré replied that, "I think I'm in the same mood as ever, but in some ways more mature.

[6] The New York Times stated that, "What he has done is to venture fiercely into satire, producing a tour de force in which almost every convention of the classic spy novel is violated.

[9][10][11] Guardian columnist Mark Lawson claimed the two authors appeared to be 'settling old scores', stating that: "The Collected Guardian Correspondence of Salman Rushdie and John Le Carré is in the great tradition of literary poison pen letters: both in their inventive viciousness and in the low personal revenges which may lie behind the high rhetoric".