Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Coronet Books)
£3.89
I still believe the secret services are the only real expression of a nation s character. - Following in the tradition of Graham Greene, who wrote spy novels contemporaneous with his own, John LeCarre uses his experience in the foreign service and MI6 to add realism to his tales of espionage. Green, however, remained a friend of traitor Kim Philby and continued to send his novels to Philby after Philby defected to Russia. LeCarre was betrayed by Philby to Russian agents, and his career was ended. This betrayal gives added realism to his novels, which show real disillusionment with the system and, sometimes, with its agents and officials. Written in 1974, this novel draws on the real life of LeCarre (real name David Cornwell) and many of his associates who were unmasked by Philby and the Cambridge Five. Here LeCarre creates a vivid and morally probing story in which his hero, George Smiley, is called out of his enforced retirement to unmask a Soviet mole high in the British secret service, referred to as the circus. Five men (as in the real betrayal) have been suspected of aiding the Soviets. Drawing on his friendships with some of the agents who were dismissed when he was, Smiley investigates the security leaks which have led to humiliation for British intelligence and real danger for some of its agents. As he tries to identify the mole, he receives peripheral help from Sir Oliver Lacon of the British Foreign Office. Written in formal and polished prose, the novel is full of Cold War complexities. Karla, the legendary head of Soviet intelligence, continues to control a small group of Soviet defectors and disillusioned Communists, whom the British mistakenly regard as double agents providing them with secret information. At the same time, British Control (who is never identified by name) is trying to uncover the Soviet mole (nicknamed Gerald) within their own agency. Jim Prideaux, who appears in several Smiley novels, is working on this operation in Czechoslovakia when he is betrayed and almost killed, his entire operation shut down, and many of his agents executed by the Russians. Smiley s investigations are decidedly prosaic, not the exciting shoot- em-ups of James Bond novels. Slogging through mountains of paperwork, interviewing reluctant former agents, and doing his own legwork, Smiley works at unmasking Gerald the hard way. The complexity of his character (and of the other characters here) make up for the relative lack of dramatic action and highlight LeCarre s skill at creating intriguing characters who see the grays in an otherwise black-and-white world. His dialogue is quick-paced, often witty, and revelatory of subtle character traits, adding to the depth of the portraits and to the intricacies of the world of spy/counterspy. Mary Whipple
Excellent in places - There seems to be a great book trying to get out here but I thought there were too many over-long passages, particularly in the second half. While the characters themselves are generally excellent, the scenes are mostly not. In fact it s only in the shorter ones that the novel comes to life - Jim Prideaux at school, Haydon, Control going mad, the recalled scenes with Smiley s wife and in Czechoslovakia. Other parts are tiresomely long and often irrelevant. Having said all that, the atmosphere is well done, the story is well-written and the idea of a kind of detective story within the secret service is brilliant. Perhaps it is partly the changing times that make the idea of a mole betraying the country and his colleagues seem more despicable than it seems to to Smiley.
Masterpiece - This is probably the finest of Le Carre s novels. His great creation, George Smiley, is repsonsible for finding a Soviet mole in the heirarchy of British Intelligence which has done immeasureable damage for decades. George is the most unlikely hero - ponderous, old, shy, retiring, but posessed of enormous compassion and iron will. This who-dunnit story plays against a general background of betrayal - the betrayal of the mole against the British state, the betrayal of the agents run by the mole, the betrayal of Smiley s wife s infidelity, the general betrayal of idealism in the Circus to the mundane self-serving ends of its leaders. And then there is the setting - Britain in all its drab, mundane 1960 s/70 s glory. Drab colours, poor food, rain soaked days, steamed up car windows, snobbery and poverty. And the dialogue is second to none. So world weary, so wise. And the intelligence world rings true in this book too, it feels realistic, it feels about right. The moral ambiguity is embraced by Le Carre. Though there are heroes and villians in this book, the boundaries are fairly blurred.
Secret service turned inside out & back again.. - Reading this book fills you with melancholy about the good old days of the Cold War. Le Carre writes convincly about a stumbling British civil (albeit secret) service, including the ubiquitous pompous character(s). The plot, the characters the setting, the workings of the service are all very convincing. It is great to see a desperate service fall into a trap & come out of it again.More than a spy novel, it is a joy to read, because of its wording and its weary thoughts of some of its main characters. Also, no shoot-outs, no rockets, no submarines or deadly secret weapons: just a giant puzzle being slowly unraffled. Absolute masterpiece, utterly convincing through the human, all too human characters, their ambitions, their weaknesses.
Great reading spoilt by intrusive piano music - I much enjoy hearing John Le Carre read his own work. This is a great book, enhanced by Le Carre s rendition of the voices of his characters. I didn t like the sudden piano music at the end of each chapter. It would have been better if the producers had let Le Carre s voice stand alone.(This comment applies to the Hodder Headline Audiobooks cassette tapes)