The spy who came in from the cold

256 pages

English language

Published Jan. 1, 1964 by Coward-McCann.

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4 stars (1 review)

A veteran spy wants to "come in from the cold" to retirement. He undertakes one last assignment in which he pretends defection and provides the enemy with sufficient evidence to label their leader a double agent.

52 editions

le Carré's writing is great

4 stars

I don't have enough experience of spy novels to know if this is, in fact, "one of the greatest spy novels of all time". It's good, and an enjoyable read. Full of plots and counter-plots.

The good thing about these novels is that they're not especially long. This one clocks in at around 240 pages, which makes it easily digestible and nothing drags on. le Carré's writing is good; he seems (to me) to reserve the right amount of space to talk about anything, knowing when to elaborate and build metaphors, and when to throw something else into sudden and sharp focus.

Anyway... Looking Glass War next!

Subjects

  • Smiley, George (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
  • Intelligence officers -- Fiction
  • Cold War -- Fiction
  • Berlin (Germany) -- Fiction