Synopses & Reviews
The unrivaled master of spy fiction returns with a taut and suspenseful tale of dirty money and dirtier politics. For nearly half a century, John le Carré's limitless imagination has enthralled millions of readers and moviegoers around the globe. From the cold war to the bitter fruits of colonialism to unrest in the Middle East, he has reinvented the spy novel again and again. Now, le Carré makes his Viking debut with a stunning tour-de- force that only a craftsman of his caliber could pen. As menacing and flawlessly paced as The Little Drummer Girl and as morally complex as The Constant Gardener, Our Kind of Traitor is signature le Carré.
Perry and Gail are idealistic and very much in love when they splurge on a tennis vacation at a posh beach resort in Antigua. But the charm begins to pall when a big-time Russian money launderer enlists their help to defect. In exchange for amnesty, Dima is ready to rat out his vory (Russian criminal brotherhood) compatriots and expose corruption throughout the so-called legitimate financial and political worlds. Soon, the guileless couple find themselves pawns in a deadly endgame whose outcome will be determined by the victor of the British Secret Service's ruthless internecine battles.
Review
"The premier spy novelist of his time. Perhaps of all time."
Review
"A rattling good novel."
Review
"John le Carré is the great master of the spy story . . . the constant flow of emotion lifts him not only above all modern suspense novelists, but above most novelists now practicing."
Review
"Stunning."
Review
“The best spy story I have ever read.”
Review
“First-rate and tremendously exciting.”
Review
“Le Carré is one of the best novelists—of any kind—we have.”
Review
“Written . . . with a pitiless, elegant clarity, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a first-rate thriller and more.”
Review
"Le Carré is simply the world's greatest fictional spymaster." Newsweek
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"Beatifully intelligent, satiric, and witty." Observer (UK)
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"Vastly entertaining."
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"Vastly entertaining." Sunday Telegraph (UK)
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“Le Carré is one of our great writers of moral ambiguity, a tireless explorer of that darkly contradictory no-man’s land.” Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times
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“A subtle and acute story of counterespionage marked by restraint, indirection, and intelligence.”—The New York Times Book Review
Review
“Powerful . . . remarkable . . . a grand summation of all John le Carré’s themes.”
Review
“Le Carré . . . at the top of his form.”
Review
“Thrilling in every imaginable way.”
Review
“Thrilling in every imaginable way.”—
People “A plot of commanding suspense…The Russia House is both afire and thought-provoking, a thriller that demands a second reading.”—Time
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"Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense...excellent writing."—The Observer
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“Thrilling…makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard.”—Sunday Telegraph
Review
“The premier spy novelist of his time. Perhaps of all time.”—
Time “A rattling good novel.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“John le Carré is the great master of the spy story…the constant flow of emotion lifts him not only above all modern suspense novelists, but above most novelists now practicing.”—Financial Times
“Stunning.”—Wall Street Journal
Review
“Splendid, original…le Carré shows how endowed he is with the gift of storytelling.”—
The Times (UK)
“Comic and touching…this novel is brilliant and marvelously good reading.”—Book World
Review
“A work of enormous power and artistry; no mere ‘entertainment…but fiction on a grand scale.”—The Washington Post “An irresistible book…Charlie is the ultimate double agent.”—The New York Times
Review
“A delight to read, intricate, exciting, absorbing.”—
Chicago Tribune “An enormously skilled and satisfying work.”—Newsweek
“An achievement of subtlety and power of which few novelists would be capable.”—Financial Times
Review
“Le Carrés best book, and one of the finest English novels of the twentieth century.”—Philip Pullman
“The best English novel since the war.”—Philip Roth
“Brilliantly written.”—The Washington Post
“Le Carrés best book, one of the enduring peaks of imaginative literature in our time.”—Los Angeles Times
Review
“One of our great writers of moral ambiguity, a tireless explorer of that darkly contradictory no-mans land…
Our Kind of Traitor brims with deftly drawn characters navigating a treacherously uncertain landscape that seems ripped from yesterdays papers and re-created with an absolutely certain hand.”—Tim Rutten,
Los Angeles Times “Part vintage John le Carré and part Alfred Hitchcock…the suspense in Our Kind of Traitor is genuine and nerve-racking.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
“I would suggest immortality for John le Carré, who I believe one of the most intelligent and entertaining writers working today.”—The Chicago Tribune.
Review
“Not a page of this book is without intelligence and grace.”—
The New York Times
“Energy, compassion, rich and overwhelming sweep of character and action…one of the finest English novels of the seventies.”—The Times (UK)
“All the good things are there: the Balkan complexities of plot; the Dickensian profusion of idiosyncratic characters; and above all, le Carrés glistening social observation.”—Time
Review
“The best spy story I have ever read.”—Graham Greene
“First-rate and tremendously exciting.”—Daphne du Maurier
“Le Carré is one of the best novelists—of any kind—we have.”—Vanity Fair
“Written…with a pitiless, elegant clarity. The Spy who Came in from the Cold is a first-rate thriller and more.”—Time
Review
"A bitter, bleak, superlatively written novel."
—Publishers Weekly "A book of rare and great power."—Financial Times
Review
“Exciting, compulsively readable, and brilliantly plotted.”—The New York Times “Brilliant, unforgettable…a masterpiece.”—New Statesman (UK)
Review
“Powerful . . . remarkable . . . a grand summation of all John le Carrés themes.”—
The New York Times
“Le Carré…at the top of his form.”—Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
From the
New York Times bestselling author of
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy;
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; and
The Night Manager, now a television series starring Tom Hiddleston.
John le Carre s memoir,
The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life, will be available from Viking in September 2016.
"Go back to Whitehall and look for more spies on your drawing boards."George Smiley is no one's idea of a spy which is perhaps why he's such a natural. But Smiley apparently made a mistake. After a routine security interview, he concluded that the affable Samuel Fennan had nothing to hide. Why, then, did the man from the Foreign Office shoot himself in the head only hours later? Or did he?
The heart-stopping tale of intrigue that launched both novelist and spy, Call for the Deadis an essential introduction to le Carre's chillingly amoral universe.
"
Synopsis
From the New York Times bestselling author of A Legacy of Spies. John le Carr 's new novel, Agent Running in the Field, is coming October 2019. Go back to Whitehall and look for more spies on your drawing boards.
George Smiley is no one's idea of a spy--which is perhaps why he's such a natural. But Smiley apparently made a mistake. After a routine security interview, he concluded that the affable Samuel Fennan had nothing to hide. Why, then, did the man from the Foreign Office shoot himself in the head only hours later? Or did he?
The heart-stopping tale of intrigue that launched both novelist and spy, Call for the Dead is an essential introduction to le Carr 's chillingly amoral universe.
Synopsis
From the New York Times bestselling author of A Legacy of Spies.
Go back to Whitehall and look for more spies on your drawing boards.George Smiley is no one's idea of a spy--which is perhaps why he's such a natural. But Smiley apparently made a mistake. After a routine security interview, he concluded that the affable Samuel Fennan had nothing to hide. Why, then, did the man from the Foreign Office shoot himself in the head only hours later? Or did he?
The heart-stopping tale of intrigue that launched both novelist and spy, Call for the Dead is an essential introduction to le Carr 's chillingly amoral universe.
Synopsis
The first of his peerless novels of Cold War espionage and international intrigue, Call for the Dead is also the debut of John le Carr 's masterful creation George Smiley. Go back to Whitehall and look for more spies on your drawing boards.
George Smiley is no one's idea of a spy--which is perhaps why he's such a natural. But Smiley apparently made a mistake. After a routine security interview, he concluded that the affable Samuel Fennan had nothing to hide. Why, then, did the man from the Foreign Office shoot himself in the head only hours later? Or did he?
The heart-stopping tale of intrigue that launched both novelist and spy, Call for the Dead is an essential introduction to le Carr 's chillingly amoral universe.
Synopsis
The unrivaled master of spy fiction returns with a taut and suspenseful tale of dirty money and dirtier politics.
For nearly half a century, John le Carré's limitless imagination has enthralled millions of readers and moviegoers around the globe. From the cold war to the bitter fruits of colonialism to unrest in the Middle East, he has reinvented the spy novel again and again. Now, le Carré makes his Viking debut with a stunning tour-de- force that only a craftsman of his caliber could pen. As menacing and flawlessly paced as The Little Drummer Girl and as morally complex as The Constant Gardener, Our Kind of Traitor is signature le Carré.
Perry and Gail are idealistic and very much in love when they splurge on a tennis vacation at a posh beach resort in Antigua. But the charm begins to pall when a big-time Russian money launderer enlists their help to defect. In exchange for amnesty, Dima is ready to rat out his vory (Russian criminal brotherhood) compatriots and expose corruption throughout the so-called legitimate financial and political worlds. Soon, the guileless couple find themselves pawns in a deadly endgame whose outcome will be determined by the victor of the British Secret Service's ruthless internecine battles. Watch a Video
Synopsis
Unabridged, 7 CDs, 9 hours Read by TBA
The unrivaled master of spy fiction returns with a taut and suspenseful tale of dirty money and dirtier politics.
Synopsis
Featuring George Smiley, this New York Times bestseller is the first installment in John le Carrés acclaimed Karla Trilogy. From the author of A Delicate Truth and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. The man he knew as "Control" is dead, and the young Turks who forced him out now run the Circus. But George Smiley isn't quite ready for retirementespecially when a pretty, would-be defector surfaces with a shocking accusation: a Soviet mole has penetrated the highest level of British Intelligence. Relying only on his wits and a small, loyal cadre, Smiley recognizes the hand of Karlahis Moscow Centre nemesisand sets a trap to catch the traitor.
The Oscar-nominated feature film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) and features Gary Oldman as Smiley, Academy Award winner Colin Firth (The King's Speech), and Tom Hardy (Inception).
With an introduction by the author.
Synopsis
A #1 New York Times bestseller for 34 weeks and the book that launched John le Carré's career worldwide
In the shadow of the newly erected Berlin Wall, Alec Leamas watches as his last agent is shot dead by East German sentries. For Leamas, the head of Berlin Station, the Cold War is over. As he faces the prospect of retirement or worse—a desk job—Control offers him a unique opportunity for revenge. Assuming the guise of an embittered and dissolute ex-agent, Leamas is set up to trap Mundt, the deputy director of the East German Intelligence Service—with himself as the bait. In the background is George Smiley, ready to make the game play out just as Control wants.
Setting a standard that has never been surpassed, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a devastating tale of duplicity and espionage.
Synopsis
From the New York Times bestselling author of A Delicate Truth and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
"Go back to Whitehall and look for more spies on your drawing boards."
George Smiley is no one's idea of a spywhich is perhaps why he's such a natural. But Smiley apparently made a mistake. After a routine security interview, he concluded that the affable Samuel Fennan had nothing to hide. Why, then, did the man from the Foreign Office shoot himself in the head only hours later? Or did he?
The heart-stopping tale of intrigue that launched both novelist and spy, Call for the Dead is an essential introduction to le Carré's chillingly amoral universe.
Synopsis
Theres a price to pay, and the price does tend to be oneself.” To the young trainees at Sarratt, George Smiley is A Legend of the Service.” To Ned, however, he is something even more. Decades earlierbefore a mole nearly destroyed the Circus and well before the Cold War yielded to glasnostSmiley rescued Ned from disgrace and gently mentored him through a long and respectable career. Now, as he listens to Smiley address a new generation of spies, Ned ponders his own clandestine life, the unruly passions and personalities hes encounteredand the doubts hes kept locked away. Brilliantly charting the collision between global politics and individual frailties, The Secret Pilgrim is quintessential John le Carréthoughtful, prescient, and wholly unforgettable.
Synopsis
“The Soviet knight is dying inside his armour.” “Glasnost” is on everyone’s lips, but the rules of the game haven’t changed for either side. When a beautiful Russian woman foists off a manuscript on an unwitting bystander at the Moscow Book Fair, it’s a miracle that she flies under the Soviets’ radar. Or does she? The woman’s source (codename: Bluebird) will trust only Barley Blair, a whiskey-soaked gentleman publisher with a poet’s heart. Coerced by British and American Intelligence, Blair journeys to Moscow to determine whether Bluebird’s manuscript contains the truth—or the darkest of fictions.
At once poignant and suspenseful, John le Carré’s The Russia House is a captivating saga of lives caught in the crosshairs of history.
Synopsis
Featuring George Smiley, this New York Times bestseller is the third and final installment in the Karla Trilogy, from the author of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Tell Max that it concerns the Sandman
A very junior agent answers Vladimirs call, but it could have been the Chief of the Circus himself. No one at the British Secret Service considers the old spy to be anything except a senile has-been who cant give up the gameuntil hes shot in the face at point-blank range. Although George Smiley (code name: Max) is officially retired, hes summoned to identify the body now bearing Moscow Centres bloody imprimatur. As he works to unearth his friends fatal secrets, Smiley heads inexorably toward one final reckoning with Karlahis dark grail.” In
Smileys People, master storyteller and
New York Times bestselling author of
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and
Our Kind of Traitor John le Carré brings his acclaimed Karla Trilogy, to its unforgettable, spellbinding conclusion.
With an introduction by the author.
Synopsis
Featuring George Smiley, The Honourable Schoolboy is the second installment in the renowned Karla Trilogy, the follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which was the inspiration for the Oscar-nominated film starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, and Tom Hardy.
As the fall of Saigon looms, master spy George Smiley must outmaneuver his Soviet counterpart on a battlefield that neither can afford to lose.
The mole has been eliminated, but the damage wrought has brought the British Secret Service to its knees. Given the charge of the gravely compromised Circus, George Smiley embarks on a campaign to uncover what Moscow Centre most wants to hide. When the trail goes cold at a Hong Kong gold seam, Smiley dispatches Gerald Westerby to shake the money tree. A part-time operative with cover as a philandering journalist, Westerby insinuates himself into a war-torn world where allegiancesand livesare bought and sold.
With an introduction by the author.
Synopsis
A New York Times bestseller and the inspiration for the Oscar-nominated major motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth, from the author of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Our Kind of Traitor The first novel in John le Carré's celebrated and
New York Times bestselling Karla trilogy featuring George Smiley,
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a heart-stopping tale of international intrigue.
The man he knew as "Control" is dead, and the young Turks who forced him out now run the Circus. But George Smiley isn't quite ready for retirement-especially when a pretty, would-be defector surfaces with a shocking accusation: a Soviet mole has penetrated the highest level of British Intelligence. Relying only on his wits and a small, loyal cadre, Smiley recognizes the hand of Karla—his Moscow Centre nemesis—and sets a trap to catch the traitor.
The Oscar-nominated feature film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) and features a cast that includes Gary Oldman as Smiley, Academy Award winner Colin Firth (The King's Speech), and Tom Hardy (Inception).
With an introduction by the author.
Synopsis
A #1 New York Times bestseller for 34 weeks and the book that launched John le Carrés career worldwide
In the shadow of the newly erected Berlin Wall, Alec Leamas watches as his last agent is shot dead by East German sentries. For Leamas, the head of Berlin Station, the Cold War is over. As he faces the prospect of retirement or worsea desk jobControl offers him a unique opportunity for revenge. Assuming the guise of an embittered and dissolute ex-agent, Leamas is set up to trap Mundt, the deputy director of the East German Intelligence Servicewith himself as the bait. In the background is George Smiley, ready to make the game play out just as Control wants.
Setting a standard that has never been surpassed, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a devastating tale of duplicity and espionage.
Synopsis
Unabridged, 7 CDs, 9 hours
Chosen as a Best Book of the Year by the The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews
In this exquisitely told novel, John le Carré shows us once again his acute understanding of the world we live in and where power really lies.
In the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and with Britain on the brink of economic ruin, a young English couple takes a vacation in Antigua. There they meet Dima, a Russian who styles himself the worlds Number One money-launderer and who wants, among other things, a game of tennis. Back in London, the couple is subjected to an interrogation by the British Secret service who also need their help. Their acquiescence will lead them on a precarious journey through Paris to a safe house in Switzerland, helpless pawns in a game of nations that reveals the unholy alliances between the Russian mafia, the City of London, the government and the competing factions of the British Secret Service.
Synopsis
"You are either good or bad, and both are dangerous."
It would have been an easy job for the Circus: a can of film couriered from Helsinki to London. In the past the Circus handled all things political, while the Department dealt with matters military. But the Department has been moribund since the War, its resources siphoned away. Now, one of their agents is dead, and vital evidence verifying the presence of Soviet missiles near the West German border is gone. John Avery is the Department's younger member and its last hope. Charged with handling Fred Leiser, a German-speaking Pole left over from the War, Avery must infiltrate the East and restore his masters' former glory.
John le Carre's The Looking Glass War is a scorching portrayal of misplaced loyalties and innocence lost.
With an introduction by the author.
Synopsis
"Haven't you realized that only appearances matter?"
The British Embassy in Bonn is up in arms. Her Majesty's financially troubled government is seeking admission to Europe's Common Market just as anti-British factions are rising to power in Germany. Rioters are demanding reunification, and the last thing the Crown can afford is a scandal. Then Leo Hartingan embassy nobodygoes missing with a case full of confidential files. London sends Alan Turner to control the damage, but he soon realizes that neither side really wants Leo foundalive.
Set against the threat of a German-Soviet alliance, John le Carré's A Small Town in Germany is a superb chronicle of Cold War paranoia and political compromise.
About the Author
John le Carré, the pseudonym for David Cornwell, was a member of the British Foreign Service from 1959 to 1964. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, became a worldwide bestseller. He has written twenty-one novels, which have been published in thirty-six languages. Many of his books have been made into films, including The Constant Gardener; The Russia House; The Little Drummer Girl; and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Michael Jayston is a highly-regarded British actor, having appeared in numerous films, among them Cromwell, A Mid-summer Night’s Dream, Zulu Dawn, and Nicholas and Alexandra. His many television credits include The Royal, Doctors, Emmerdale, Murder in Suburbia, and Only Fools and Horses, while on stage he has been seen in Henry V and Hamlet, as well as Private Lives and The Rivals.