Our Game

At forty-eight, Tim Cranmer is a retired secret servant living in rural England, enjoying his manor house, vineyard, and young mistress, Emma. However, his past looms large, embodied in Larry Pettifer, a bored radical don and Tim's former double agent during the Cold War. Their rivalry, rooted in their shared boyhood, resurfaces when both Larry and Emma mysteriously vanish. Tim is left to wonder if they have run off together or if Larry has ensnared Emma in a dangerous game. As he embarks on a search for them, Tim finds himself pursued by his former masters, turning the tables on his role as the hunter. He delves into his past, following Larry and Emma through the perilous terrain of their new alliance. As he navigates the moral complexities of post-Cold War Europe—through the remnants of England after Thatcher and the chaotic landscapes of Moscow and Southern Russia—Tim faces a profound dilemma. Stripped of his past and future, he grapples with his humanity as the values he once fought for begin to erode, and the specter of a reinvigorated Russian empire haunts the remnants of the Soviet dream. This narrative showcases John le Carré at his finest.