Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: A George Smiley Novel (George Smiley Novels Book 5)

Like most of the best-selling works emanating from the unchallenged master of the intelligent spy thriller John LeCarre, this is in reality a fictional but absorbing treatise on the hidden and conflicted corners of the human heart, the many ways in which our own natures feed into and extend the darker impulse of a society bent on pursuing the secrets and treachery that ever lurks for the unsuspecting victim. Here, in the first of three best-selling novels tracing the pilgrim's progress of George Smiley, the intrepid and unlikely hero of the post-industrial Western world, LeCarre initiates his marvelously convoluted narrative tracing the continuing history of the Smiley chronicles, a spell-binding and endlessly intricate treatise detailing the perfidy, moral compromises, and treachery of the world of British intelligence.In "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", once-cashiered intelligence expert George Smiley is called unofficially out of retirement to vet the suspects of passing British intelligence to the Russians by way of a deep-rooted mole with the Circus, the trade-name for British Intelligence. Once engaged, Smiley's ministrations are thrust toward unraveling the morass of conflicting evidence and false leads into a tapestry of meaningful clues. Much of the upper hierarchy within the Circus constitute the list of most likely suspects, so George has to proceed carefully, cautiously, and yet deliberately toward the truth, whatever it may be.Given Smiley's past association and personal relationships with each of the protagonists, including one who cuckolded him by having a fling with George's now estranged wife, keeping the investigation on its deadly track is a delicate trick with many wild yet plausible and ingenious twists and turns. It is also the first of the several steps he must take to exact his revenge against the legendary Karla, the Chief of the Soviet Covert Espionage Bureau. So, as the he and his chosen covert investigation team begins to unravel the many points of light this careful sifting of signs through tradecraft, there is a number of levels of intelligence, motives, and intents all operating at once, and these LeCarre mines superbly in exploring the impulses rational and otherwise, that propel such urges.The plot, as usual, is ingenious, intricate, and horrific in its human toll, played out against a landscape of the far-flung persons and places across the European landscape, from London to Berne to Deep inside the former Soviet Union. Once again LeCarre takes us on a cautious yet beautifully choreographed adventure into the heart of darkness of ourselves, and we shouldn't be surprised to find some scar tissue and broken bones as we descend deeper into the tortuous caverns we keep hidden in our subconscious realms. LeCarre is nothing if not a superb chronicler of the ways in which our own natures become a battle ground for the struggle between good and evil, the good we can be for others, and the evil we do to them and ourselves by subscribing to ideologies, almost any ideology, that finally forces us to choose between our values and our duty. This is a marvelous book, an entertaining read, and a stunning example of the sophistication, complexity, and sheer intelligence of the author in detailing the subterranean world of international espionage. Enjoy!

How to find a double agent? This is probably my favorite and most entertaining Smiley & friends novel. Highly recommended, an I am gg to wings to watch the movie next.

Suspicion becomes a deadly threat within the "Circus" when a mole is suspected to have burrowed deep into the highest echelon of British Intelligence and George Smiley is asked to come out of retirement and uncover the supposed double agent.That's a straightforward account of LeCarre's amazingly constructed story that I hope you'd easily agree has earned spot at the very top of the espionage genre.Smiley, the former spy is asked to spy on four of his own, the likely suspects codenamed Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.Uncovering the double agent becomes a game of logic and leg work as Smiley interviews former colleagues, meticulously analyzes files for the slightest of clues and searches deep into the folds of his own memory to collect new information and connect details in a new way that will lead to a new reality and absolute truth.Following along making connections throughout is mind's work. As a reader, you need to face up to the idea that your enjoyment of the book depends on your commitment to pay very close attention in a world where nothing is necessarily what it seems and where what's observed is often covering for what's really important. For some, for me, that's a thoroughly enjoyable exercise.One of Le Carre's most vivid characters is Smiley's beautiful wife Ann, whom we never meet. Even so, hers is fully realized portrait of a woman of hauteur and lineage who shares her bed with a series of lovers including one of those inside the Circus suspected of being the mole. It's a tribute to Le Carre's skill in creating memorable characters that everything we know about Ann is what we hear from others.Smiley lives a deliberate, cerebral life of order and routine. To forestall the atrophy of retirement, Smiley has memorized the name of every shop on his bus route between his home and the British Museum, "just as he knew how many stairs there were to each flight of his own house and which way each of the twelve doors opened."This is not the world of James Bond and its flashy hardware and exotic locales. For Olen Steinhauer fans, Smiley is an older, slower moving, more plodding Milo Weaver of "The Tourist." Smiley thinks whereas Weaver usually acts, but both are in the same business pursuing the same shadows and in a different time and place Smiley would have been the perfect don and Weaver the eager acolyte.You've already heard that this is not the easiest book to read. What "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" offers is the satisfaction of story that's memorable and for me very rewarding in its precision and logic.

not quite as good as Smily’s People but much better than the Honourable Schoolboy but all Smiley books were his best writing and a pity he didnt write more

Increíble novela

classic book. the amzaon envelope was damaged, with holes and wrinkles but the book survived

Mandei buscar este livro para dar para meu neto que adora livros de espionagem

Dies ist einer der Romane von Le Carre, den ich im Lauf der Jahre immer wieder lese - weil meine alte Ausgabe so zerlesen war, hab ich mir diese neue gekauft (schön auch im Druck und gut in die Hand zu nehmen). Eine bis in die Einzelheiten faszinierend durchdachte Geschichte, mit abgerundeten, glaubhaften Charakteren, sehr spannend, definitiv unromantisch, fernab jeder James Bond - Glattheit, am Ende eher düster in der Auflösung, aber deswegen eher noch glaubhafter. Immer wieder absolut faszinierend !