Our Kind Of Traitor, By John le Carré

Still the emperor of espionage in a world of new wars, Le Carrré both sticks to his guns and moves with the times. This latest plunge into the rotten entrails of the secret state begins on a Caribbean tennis court.

Perry, an upright English academic, finds an unlikely partner, and friend, in the bulky, unfathomable form of a Russian tycoon with his fractious family in tow. Dima has an underworld backstory that attracts the keen attention of the Service in London. Will the rather leftish Perry work on their behalf, and with what end in view?

As events gallop from London to Paris and a Swiss showdown, post-Soviet mafiosi and post-Cold War spooks come grippingly together - with some viciously angry snapshots of upscale villainy in the mix.