A surprisingly satisfying end to the Smiley saga, that barely features Smiley himself. As always LeCarré manages to make old fashioned spycraft exciting without overdramatizing.

He’s not kind to the security and intelligence services, certainly not to the contemporary one inhabiting the “monstrous” fortress at Vauxhall, but he does humanize somewhat the cynical schemers of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

Smiley’s parting words also resonate. His summary to himself of what drove him through his career is a thinly veiled criticism of the vacuous and faux-patriotic xenophobia of Brexit UK (and perhaps an implicit vindication of his fictional cold warriors): “So it was all for England, then? ... England all alone, a citizen of nowhere? I’m a European, Peter. If I had a mission - if I was ever aware of one beyond our business with the enemy, it was to Europe. If I was heartless, I was heartless for Europe. If I had an unattainable ideal, it was of leading Europe out of darkness towards a new age of reason. I have it still.”