Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John le Carre (4.0)
John Le Carre is one of the few writers who can get away
with telling as opposed to showing. His erudite spy novels tend to be
discussions of what has happened yet can still be riveting. In this, the first
‘Karla’ novel (yes, I found that quite fun), Smiley comes out of retirement in
order to root out a possible Russian spy in his organization. He works back to
his first encounter with the Russian intelligence chief, Karla, where he failed
to turn the Russian and may have started a vendetta. What I like most about Le
Carre’s stories is that they are believable. His experience in British
intelligence lends credence to his plots and characters. It becomes easy to
believe the intricacies. In this case, my only complaint has to do with the complexity
of the story. I got lost a few times in the details. I don’t recommend reading
Le Carre quickly or lightly – too many twists and turns with a lot of
characters make it a tough plot to follow.
