John LeCarré, Russia House

It did not surprise me that this novel has plot and kept me up late to finish it. Two things did surprise me. One, there is good prose and good character development. Two, the first chapter is very clever: first, the limited use of first-person viewpoint, and more interesting to me, the realization near the start of the next chapter that this character whose perspective introduces the story is really a bit player from whom we will barely hear again.