November Reads

Still happily dissolved in le Carre's Smiley series!!

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John le Carre.  From 1974, Smiley is brought back from retirement to ferret out a Soviet mole in the British Intelligence Service.  With many twists and turns, Smiley uncovers the duplicity that has been in place under his, and all the other Circus top dogs, very noses.  Had to make a list of characters and who they were as I got started on this one!  Haven't done that since reading complicated Russian novels.  But as spies go by various names and keep their personal descriptors to a minimum, it was helpful as this one played out

The Honourable School Boy - John le Carre. From 1977, with the complete breakdown of the British Secret Service after the ousting of the double agent, Smiley is tasked with putting the Circus back together.  In the midst of all the crazy that is the Vietnam conflict Smiley traces a lead that may end in the demise of Karla, the Soviet officer and mastermind behind the treachery of the British mole.  Field agent and sometime journalist Jerry Westerby follows the trail of a Russian/Chinese plot through Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia - unfurling a tale of blackmail, drug trafficking, defection, loyalty, political intrigue, power, greed and the ultimate question of who, exactly, are the good guys?

Smiley's People - John le Carre.  From 1979, the story ranges from a sturdy Russian emigree in Paris to double crosses and murder on Hampstead Heath.  Smiley is recruited from yet another "retirement" to deal with the twists and turns that eventually lead him to his nemesis - Karla.

A Legacy of Spies - John le Carre.  From 2017, Peter Guillam, Smiley's longtime protégé, is called in as the new powers-that-be at the Circus investigate the events that led to the death of Alec Leamas and his lover, Liz Gold, at the Berlin Wall years prior.  Told by Peter, the events before and after that fateful night are explained and wrestled with given their effects on the lives left behind.  Not my fav as neither Peter nor Alec are characters that I particularly care for, but even when le Carre's story focuses on characters that I do not particularly appreciate, he still weaves an entrancing tale.

Happy reading! - les