The Night Manager by John Le Carré: Book #32 for 2016
Thriller about the character Jonathan Pine, who has to go undercover working to pass on information to authorities about illegal arms dealer Richard Roper. Near the start we learn of how Sophie, a woman who Jonathan tried to protect and was in love with, was killed, and he seems to be haunted by her memory throughout most of the book.
I noticed that it took almost half the book before Pine and Roper first met. Pine gains Roper's trust by rescuing his son from a staged kidnapping. I found the book to be quite difficult, almost cryptic in places, mostly because of the number of flashbacks, and it wasn't always obvious immediately that they were flashbacks. I noticed that the narrative flashed between past and present tense a lot, although the present tense was usually used during the flashback sequences.
I did quite enjoy this, though, and found it quite compelling, mostly because of the way the characters were written, although the scenes with Pine and Roper were easily the most enjoyable.
I mainly read this book because I saw the BBC adaptation starring Tom Hiddlestone and Hugh Laurie, which vastly changed the ending, so I was taken by surprise a little with this book.
[Spoiler (click to open)]The TV adaptation ended with Roper being kidnapped by his angry clients, while the book ended with Pine barely escaping from torturers and Roper escaping.
The ending does leave the reader wanting a sequel, and there are rumours of one, as well as a further TV series.