Quick - What do a low-rent English children’s magician, a group of Georgian gangsters and one of London's most prominent merchant bankers have in common? Now, I know you're thinking Why of course! That's ridiculously obvious! The truth, however, is far more complex than you might imagine.

What LeCarré does in this book is to present us with a few seemingly unrelated events, and then slowly reveal the connections between them, until eventually the reader sees the whole picture and says Oh! Now I get it! This is the cool thing about this book - As much of the entertainment value derives from the challenge of figuring out what's going on as from the story, which is an excellent one in itself. Without giving away too much of the plot, the story is a snapshot of the murky worlds of Eastern European organized crime and the banking industry, and the many shades of grey between right and wrong, legal and illegal. At the same time, though, it's a story about families, about fathers and sons and the choice between loyalty and morality.

Well, I know that was a short review, but you see this is the sort of book that gets spoiled by revealing the plot, which eliminated the synopsis that is normally used as filler in these sorts of things. The point is that, as books go, this is definitely one worth reading. If you don't want to shell out your hard-earned dough for a bunch of paper, use the Forrest Book Buying Technique: Buy it for your dad as a birthday present then read it yourself. Not only will you save the cost of an actual gifts, you'll score serious brownie points (Wow! You know how to read?)