The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

Reading this makes me feel as if I am in the novel. I feel like I am the one attempting to digest and work out the ulterior motives at play.
HIs use of detachment from the ulterior motives of the ‘Circus' allows the reader to fully grasp the ‘left in the dark' attitude of the protagonist and Liz. The presentation of those on the other side as friendly and comrades presents the disenfranchised agent perfectly.

One of my favourites, Le Carré does it again.

DISCLAIMER: I listened to this on the Libby app through the Library, which listed this as an unabridged audiobook, however it was actually a three hour BBC radio adaptation miniseries. I'm still going to count this as read, haha.

This was well produced with several different voice actors, including Brian Cox in the lead role, giving great performances. It was a neat way to experience the story.

I thought it was a bit slow to start and I'm not sure I was following all the setup as well as I should have been, but once the story goes into full intrigue mode it had me hooked. Each new piece of information revealed keeps you changing your mind as to how things will resolve. The book also raises some broader political and moral questions, asking how far is too far for the greater good.

I'll probably try to read some more le Carré in the future, maybe even another BBC production!

This is a masterpiece of the mystery genre, pure and simple. Few books have captured my attention as this work did - without even trying, at that.
Written by le Carré at the height of his literary prowess, it details the story of a British spy - whose last mission is to plant himself in Soviet-occupied East Germany, to get the Russian spy division head assassinated.
Although the plot looked trite and banal in the beginning, I slowly realized that reading this work was like peeling the layers off an onion - there's so much more to it than meets the eye at first glance. And boy oh boy, it didn't disappoint one bit.
Right when you think that you've got the plot all figured out, it turns out you didn't. The best part is, that action is sidelined in favor of dialogue, which I'm actually in favor of - two of the best scenes in the book were simply long dialogue chains.
TL;DR - deserves space on every reading shelf (or device) - this is the tour de force of an unparalleled writer, and it (deservedly) holds its place amongst the classics. Must read.

Fantastic espionage book. The pace builds steadily, with a subtle suspense growing relentlessly in the background, and then all of a sudden it takes off like a shot. This book should be read on an express train, preferably one traveling through Germany or another country touched by the Iron Curtain. Highly recommend.

Not my usual taste, but encouraged to read it on a recommendation. Extremely tense, tight, and compelling; I quite honestly could not put it down. My only caveat is that the style of the writing itself is bleak and sparse. I must admit it suits the message and plot and characters well.

A particular favorite is the usage of appearance: Leamas’ actions and gestures are written in how they appear, without giving the obvious heavy-handed explanation that it is all for show. The reader wonders (well, I wondered) who was playing who.

I really liked Fiedler, unfortunately. The grim calculus of the final survivors was rather depressing, especially with the oft-recalled quote Fiedler made about tragedy.

3.5
Reading this book made two things very clear for me:
1. This is a landmark novel wherein LeCarre elevated what a spy thriller can be
2. No matter how brilliant a spy thriller is, they are just not my thing

I borrowed this from a friend because I mentioned a recent interest cold war history and wanted to read a classic cold war story, and when he offered this book, it seemed right on the mark. I recognized LeCarre's name, and reading the introduction, I learned that he was himself a British spy during the cold war, so it was definitely a good recommendation.
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say he's the Tolkien of spy thrillers. If you've ever seen an unusually good spy movie, chances are it was based on one of his books. This book is probably the best book of this kind that I've ever read. The twist at the end doesn't just surprise you (and because this style has been mimicked for 60 years, it might not surprise you at all) but it also makes you think. It makes a powerful statement about perspectives of good and evil, and questions the concepts of whether ends can justify means.
It was a great read and very cool.
Why am I rating it less than 4 Stars then? Because on a personal level, I just get uninterested in descriptions of espionage. Reading what's essentially transcripts of a fictional interrogation, interview and/or court proceeding never appealed to me as a reader. I find some of the games of guessing the whodunnit or the hidden scheme to be amusing, but I never feel engaged imaginatively or emotionally like I do with other genres.
It's an objective 5 Star book, and I really enjoyed it, but it's just not my style.

Pure nostalgie.

Vroeger thuis stond het verzamelde werk van John Le Carré (en Len Deighton en Ludlum en Ken Follett en Tom Clancy en alles en alles) in de bibliotheek, en ik heb ze allemaal gelezen.

En natuurlijk blijft The Spy Who Came in from the Cold overeind, zie dat van hier. Het speelt zich allemaal af in een wereld die ondertussen al zó ver weg en lang geleden is dat het even goed fantasy zou kunnen zijn of science fiction, maar behalve dat is er niet veel veranderd.

Er zijn goede mensen en er zijn slechte mensen, er is een enorm overgrote meerderheid mensen die noch goed noch slecht zijn maar gewoon min of meer hun werk doen. En er zijn mensen die door de wereld vermalen worden, pionnen in een spel dat ze niet controleren, en waar ze nauwelijks het bestaan van kunnen bevatten.

Spannend boek, dat wel. En aangeraden.

Book Review: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold: A George Smiley Novel - This is a classic spy novel. Written in 1963 by an author that was actually a spy at the time, it changed the way spy novels were written. It is a classic double (or is that triple) cross novel. Part of the same series that the movie Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy is from.

Click through for the longer review on my blog http://bookwi.se/the-spy/

I really do not have much to say about this spy thriller. It was exciting to see how the story fleshed itself out, but the relationship between Leamas and how it ultimately ended up really hit me in the heart.

// A British spy named Alex Leamas must go on one last mission during the height of the Cold War. //

This story has a lot going on. It has through line plots, counter-plots, back-stabbing, and political posturing to name just a few. For me, it was exciting to read how spy's question spy's who are undercover and cannot unveil who they really are or what they know. It was a cat and mouse game of words. I was expecting something like one of my favorite movies The Professional, but what I got was something more akin to My Dinner with Andre where they talk about counter intelligence other than anecdotes about life. That is not a bad thing, its just that some of the chapters felt like info-dumps and I would have liked a bit more buildup.

// “Intelligence work has one moral law—it is justified by results.” //

I feel like I should have read the first two books in the series. Maybe that is where I was missing some of the pertinent information pertaining to the spy network. But it was pretty good. I can definitely see why it's considered a classic. I'll work my way backwards with the series in the future.

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