Paperback, 400 pages
English language
Published Sept. 11, 2011 by Penguin Books.
The man he knew as “Control” is dead, and the young Turks who forced him out now run the Circus. But George Smiley isn’t quite ready for retirement—especially when a pretty, would-be defector surfaces with a shocking accusation: a Soviet mole has penetrated the highest level of British Intelligence. Relying only on his wits and a small, loyal cadre, Smiley recognizes the hand of Karla—his Moscow Centre nemesis—and sets a trap to catch the traitor.
(source: Penguin Random House)
This is a great spy thriller, unconventional in many ways. The world-building is extremely convincing, so much so that some of the invented slang for spycraft seeped into the actual world. The writing is engaging and elegant, and, as befits a thriller, once started it's tricky to stop!
Took me longer than I’d like. Le Carré’s writing can be painfully obtuse sometimes and require a reread. This book seethes Britishness; its prose, how people talk, how people act, etc. Theres almost no actual action and yet it is a thriller. And much like Cormac is to westerns, le Carré is not just writing a spy novel. He's asking the big questions while doing it.
