My Name is Michael Sibley by John Bingham – #1952CLUB

I read My Name is Michael Sibley for the 1952 Book Club hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings. The book had been on my shelves for 12 years and I am glad I finally read it.

This summary is from the back of the book:

Michael Sibley and John Prosset shared a history that dated back to their first years at boarding school, and so the news of Prosset's murder came as a great shock to his old friend – especially because Sibley had been staying only the day before at Prosset's country house, where the body was found.

When the police arrive to question him in connection with the murder, Sibley finds himself lying about his recent visit, and thus begins to reveal the true nature of a longstanding but volatile friendship, fraught with mutual deception and distrust. As he tells his version of the truth to the police – and to the reader – Sibley makes the first of many fateful mistakes and finds himself not only under suspicion, but a primary suspect in the investigation.

My Thoughts:

I was surprised to learn that this was John Bingham's first novel. It is a very compelling and well written story. His writing is quiet and restrained.

As the narrator, Michael Sibley, tells his story, we learn about his school days with Prosset and how he grew to hate him. He also reveals that he planned to kill him at one time, but stresses over and over that he did not follow through on that. The reader does not know what to believe.

The way the story is revealed gradually throughout the novel, interspersed with flashbacks to earlier times, is very effective. Towards the end, about the last 20 per cent, the story got very tense and I was speeding through to find out how it ends. 

The edition of My Name is Michael Sibley that I read has an Introduction by John le Carré. It was interesting and it confirmed that George Smiley, the central character in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and other related books, was based on John Bingham, who was a British intelligence officer who served in MI5 in various positions. Bingham and le Carré had a falling out due to Bingham's opinion of how le Carré portrayed the intelligence services. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Spy Fiction Authors

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is a Genre Freebie (pick any genre and build a list for that genre). 

I picked espionage fiction and I am listing my favorite authors in the genre. I limited the list to eight authors. The first two authors are my top two spy fiction authors but beyond that it is hard to decide and the order could change at any time. 

The number of books by the author's name is the number of books that I have read by them.

Charles McCarry (10 books)

I discovered the spy novels of Charles McCarry in 2009 and read them all in a few months (including the two political thrillers that are only peripherally related). Most of the novels written by Charles McCarry are about Paul Christopher, an intelligence agent for the CIA (called "the Outfit" in his books). Some of them go back and forth between events around the World War II years and the 1960's, exploring Christopher's youth and family history. Those nine books were written between 1971 and 2007. McCarry also published The Shanghai Factor in 2013 and The Mulberry Bush in 2015.

Len Deighton (16 books)

Deighton has written two spy fiction series. My favorite is the Bernard Samson series. I have read all nine books in that series, plus Winter, a historical novel which features characters from the Samson series. Deighton is probably best known for his Nameless Spy series (also known as the Harry Palmer series, because of the film adaptations). I have read four of those and I like them, but they are not my favorites of his books. And the great thing about him is I still have at least ten books of his to read.

Anthony Price (5 books)

Anthony Price only wrote 19 novels, all about David Audley, a British spy. I love this kind of spy fiction, which TV Tropes describes as the Stale Beer flavor: more realistic, not romanticizing the subject, grittier. The focus in these books is on characterization and intellect, not action, although there is some of that present. Most of the books in this series have historical events infused into a present day story. In Other Paths to Glory it is World War I and the battlefields of the Somme. In Colonel Butler's Wolf, the site of the story is Hadrian's Wall.

Mick Herron (9 books)

Mick Herron is best known for the Slough House series about MI5 spies who have been demoted due to some disgrace or screw up in their jobs, and are now working under Jackson Lamb. The first book was Slow Horses. I have read 7 books in that series, and the stories get better and better. I still have the last two books in that series to read, plus a stand alone book (set in the same universe as Slough House). And some novellas that are related to the series.

Olen Steinhauer (11 books)

Olen Steinhauer has written twelve full-length novels and I have read all but one of them. His first five novels were historical novels (the Yalta Boulevard series set in a fictional Eastern bloc country) and not strictly spy fiction but there were some espionage elements. After that he began the Milo Weaver series. Weaver is in the CIA; in the first book he is in the "Tourist" division, a group that does dirty work for the CIA. He also wrote a couple of very good standalone novels.

John le Carré (8 books)

I could not do a list like this and not include John le Carré. I don't know exactly how many novels he has written, somewhere between 25 and 30? I have only read 8 of his books, and most of the ones I read featured George Smiley, his best-known character. However, my favorite book by le Carré is A Perfect Spy, about a British spy assigned to an important post in Vienna who disappears after he gets a call that his father has died. It is around 600 pages long and I loved every page of it. John le Carré writes eloquently; he develops his characters bit by bit and pulls me into the story. 

Charles Cumming (5 books)

Charles Cumming has been publishing spy fiction novels since 2001 but his books are relatively new to me. I have only read five of the eleven books he has published. The books I have read and enjoyed are A Spy by Nature (Alec Milius #1 and his first novel), A Foreign Country (Thomas Kell #1), A Colder War (another Thomas Kell book), and Box 88, the beginning of a new series. Box 88 features Lachlan Kite, an agent for a covert spy agency. Kite is abducted, possibly by terrorists, after leaving the funeral of an old friend from boarding school. It turns out that the abduction is related to an event in the late 1980s when Lachlan was just out of boarding school, visiting his friend in France. At that time Lachlan began spying for the Box 88 group, and there are flashbacks to his introduction to the craft of spying. It was an excellent book.

Dan Fesperman (5 books)

I debated whether I should include Dan Fesperman or not. He has written thirteen books, but I am not sure how many of them are spy fiction. I have read several of his books which are combinations of spy fiction and adventure. Examples are The Small Boat of Great Sorrows (set in Bosnia, 1998) and The Arms Maker of Berlin (two time lines, one in 2009, the other in World War II). His most recent series is definitely spy fiction; both Safe Houses and The Cover Wife feature female CIA agents in Germany. And I was very favorable impressed by those books. 

 

These are not the only authors of espionage fiction that I enjoy, but for many of the authors I have only read one book or their focus is on other types of fiction.

I would love to hear from anyone who has opinions about these authors or suggestions for other authors I should try.

Bookshelf Traveling: More book purchases

Three weeks ago I did a Bookshelf Traveling post about newly purchased books. I did not want to do the same thing again, but this weekend we had the opportunity to go to a small Pre-Christmas sale put on by Planned Parenthood, and I could not resist featuring the books we purchased.

Planned Parenthood has held an annual book sale as a fund raiser for many years in Santa Barbara. The first sale was in 1974. We moved to Santa Barbara in 1980 and probably started going to the sale a few years later. Obviously the big sale could not be held this year, but they did hold a shorter, more limited version in October. We did not feel comfortable enough to go to that one, but when they announced this sale we decided to check it out. It was well done, not too crowded (masks required, and social distancing, and a limit on the number of people allowed in at one time). 

The selection was limited to gift-quality used books in the following categories: Cooking, Children's books, Currently Popular, and Coffee Table Books. But when we got there we found that there were books priced and available for sale outside of those areas. (No mysteries though, except for the ones in Currently Popular.)

Starting from the bottom, the books my husband bought were:

The Cecils of Hatfield House: A Portrait of an English Ruling Family by David Cecil

This sounds like an interesting history of Hatfield House and the Cecil family.

The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations by Brian Fagan

My husband has read and enjoyed two other books by this author: The Little Ice Age and The Long Summer.

Sea Room: An Island Life in the Hebrides by Adam Nicolson 

Nicolson writes about islands in the Outer Hebrides that were purchased by his father, then passed on to him. Published in 2001.

First three sentences: "For the last twenty years I have owned some islands. They are called the Shiants: one definite, softened syllable, ‘the Shant Isles’, like a sea shanty but with the ‘y’ trimmed away. The rest of the world thinks there is nothing much to them."

Sun After Dark by Pico Iyer 

Essays, book reviews, and more by the renowned travel writer. 

And then, the seven books that I purchased:

A Quiet Reckoning and Kingdom of the Blind  by Louise Penny

Books #12 and #14 in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. I have only read seven of the books in the series, but I have the next two books, so it won't be that long before I get to these books.

Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré

This is le Carré's most recent spy fiction novel. He takes on Trump and Brexit.

Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks 

Sixteen short stories by Tom Hanks. Each story features a typewriter in some way. 

The Radleys by Matt Haig

This is a vampire novel. I did not know anything about the book when I bought it but I have heard of Matt Haig. I read the first few chapters – it has very brief chapters. It reads well; I think I will like it.

Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

I have been curious about these novels by Elizabeth Strout, so here is my chance to try them.

If you have thoughts on these books, or have read them, let me know.

Reading in January 2017

I read eight novels in January but not all of them were in the crime fiction genre.

Mildred Pierce is a novel by a crime fiction author, James M. Cain, but it is not a mystery. It is the story of a divorced mother of two girls who struggles to support herself and her daughters during the Great Depression. The novel was made into a movie with Joan Crawford in 1945 and a TV miniseries starring Kate Winslet in 2011, so probably most people know about this book and it needs no introduction.

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier is hard to categorize but it is somewhere in the fantasy / science fiction / apocalyptic story spectrum. From the book description: "The City is inhabited by those who have departed Earth but are still remembered by the living. They will reside in this afterlife until they are completely forgotten [by anyone left on Earth]."  A fine book that I am very glad I read.

The six crime fiction books I read were:

Smiley's People by John le Carré

The final book in the Karla Trilogy. In the books that make up the trilogy, Smiley is on a quest to uncover Karla, the Russian agent who was running the mole in MI6 who was uncovered in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin

The second book in the Inspector Rebus series, and the first book I read for the Read Scotland 2017 challenge.

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

The second book in the Philip Marlowe series. As I said in my review, "The picture of Los Angeles in 1940 was interesting, the characters were well defined, and the descriptions of the area and the characters were breath-taking."

Flowers for the Judge by Margery Allingham

This is the seventh book in a long series of novels featuring Albert Campion. I am rereading this series and I enjoyed reading this again hugely. It is a story about murder in a publishing house.

This is a Bust by Ed Lin

Published in 2007, this book is the first of three books featuring Robert Chow, a Chinese-American policeman in New York's Chinatown. It is set in 1976, and Chow is a Vietnam vet and an alcoholic. Sounds like it would be depressing, but overall, it is not.

The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie

A book in the Hercule Poirot series, published in 1936. Captain Hastings is visiting Poirot, back from his ranch in South America. Poirot receives a letter hinting that a crime will take place in Andover. Thus begins a series of murders, each set in a different city. The presence of Captain Hastings as narrator is a plus for me.

Plans for Reading in February

Richard Robinson at Tip the Wink suggested Short Story February, where we will focus on short stories during that month. On February 1st, I finished a book I started in January (Last Rights by Barbara Nadel) and I will be reading a book for the Crimes of the Century meme at Past Offences, but other than that I will focus on short stories this month.

I have now read seven stories in two anthologies, In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper and Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics. Both of these anthologies were edited by Lawrence Block. I also plan to read from Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi. I am sure I will find other sources for short stories during the month. I have a lot of  anthologies on my shelves.

Favorite Reads of 2016

Goodreads says that I have read 83 books in 2016, which means I will probably end with a total of 85 books read. I tried to cut my list of favorite books for 2016 down to less than ten, but that did not work, and for the third year I ended up with 11 books on the list.

Four of the books fall in the spy fiction sub-genre. Five of the books were published between 1939 and 1986. Six of the books were published between 2001 and 2016 and three of those were published in 2016.

The links go to my reviews / overviews.

Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout (1939)
As usual, the Nero Wolfe mysteries I read this year were among my top reads (and all were rereads). I chose just one book to represent this author.

Nero Wolfe is well known for his extreme distaste for leaving his home. Some Buried Caesar is one of two novels that I can remember where Wolfe and Archie are away from the brownstone from the beginning to the end of the book. Archie drives Wolfe to an exposition where he will display some of his prize orchids, so the story places Archie and Nero into an environment that they know little about. But my favorite thing about this book is that it introduces Lily Rowan.



She Shall Have Murder by Delano Ames (1948)
A Golden Age mystery, set in post-war London, with rationing, feeding the gasmeters, etc. At the beginning of this book, Jane Hamish is writing a mystery story and Dagobert, her lover, is giving her ideas for the plot. Dagobert is unemployed; Jane works in a lawyer's office. Although at first I found Dagobert very annoying, he grew on me as the book moved along and Jane Hamish and Dagobert Brown quickly became my favorite detecting couple in Golden Age fiction.

From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (1957)

This is the fifth novel in the James Bond series, the fourth that I read this year, and it is by far my favorite so far. I have always loved the movie, and luckily in this case the movie and the book are very close.

The three previous Bond books I read were more like adventure stories. From Russia with Love sticks closer to the conventional type of spy story I prefer. Early chapters focus on SMERSH agents setting up a plot to assassinate James Bond and our hero doesn't show up until later in the story. The plot is complicated, there is a train trip on the Orient Express with a beautiful enemy agent, and plenty of exotic settings.

The Labyrinth Makers by Anthony Price (1970)
David Audley works for England's Ministry of Defence, but as a researcher, doing behind the scenes work. For his latest assignment he goes out in the field and he is not thrilled with this change. A WWII-era British cargo plane has been discovered at the bottom of a drained lake, complete with the dead pilot and not much else. His job is to figure out why the Soviets are so interested in the empty plane. The beginning of a spy series with eighteen more books, this is just the type of spy fiction I like: a quiet book, a lot of talking and thinking and not a lot of action.

A Perfect Spy by John le Carré (1986)
This is one of seven books I read this year by John le Carré and they were all excellent books. I picked just one of them to represent this author.

Magnus Pym, a British spy assigned to an important post in Vienna, has disappeared. After he gets a call that his father has died, he leaves for the funeral in London, but he doesn't return when expected. British intelligence agents mount a search for him. Being the gifted spy that he is, Pym easily eludes them for the majority of the book. A Perfect Spy revolves around Magnus Pym's relationship with his father, Rick, a con man who uses everyone in his life to achieve his own goals. The story is mostly autobiographical.

Pashazade by John Courtenay Grimwood (2001)
The first book in the Arabesk Trilogy. The story starts with the investigation of a murder, but the chapters skip back and forth in time, sometimes a few days, sometimes going back years in flashbacks. The setting in the present time is El Iskandryia, a North African metropolis in a world where "the United States brokered a deal that ended World War I and the Ottoman Empire never collapsed," as described on the back of the book. So this is an alternate history, sci-fi, coming of age thriller, and just my cup of tea. Pashazade has elements of a police procedural; the crime is investigated by Chief of Detectives Felix Abrinsky, formerly a policeman in Los Angeles, California, and high tech forensics are used .

Sleeping Dogs by Ed Gorman (2008)
The first in a series of five novels about Dev Conrad, a political consultant. In this novel he is working for an Illinois Senator who is running for reelection. The attitude towards politics in this novel is very cynical. Conrad truly wants his candidate to win because he believes he is the better choice of those available, but he does not see one side as bad and the other as good. No political party or ideology is demonized.

Dev Conrad is a great character. Human, not perfect, he cares about people and about his work. The people working on the campaign appear to be a close-knit group but not everyone is what they seem. The story's ending worked very well. It was logical and made sense but was a surprise to me.

An American Spy by Olen Steinhauer (2012)
Steinhauer is close to the top of my list of favorite spy fiction authors. An American Spy was the third book in his Tourist trilogy,  featuring Milo Weaver, CIA agent in the Department of Tourism. "Tourists" are undercover agents with no identity and no home. Milo is not the James Bond type, although there are plenty of thrilling escapades and violence. But we see the other side of this spy's life, the family he wishes he could spend more time with. I enjoyed picking up on Milo Weaver's adventures again. I like the depth of the characters and the exploration of the conflicts in their lives within this framework. The first book in the trilogy is The Tourist, the second is The Nearest Exit.

A Deadly Thaw by Sarah Ward (2016)
This is Sarah Ward's second novel featuring Detective Inspector Francis Sadler and his team. It is a good police procedural, focusing as much on some of the people related to the crime as on the investigative team.

The dead body of a man is found in an abandoned mortuary, located in an overgrown area outside of Bampton, Derbyshire. The deceased was supposedly murdered twelve years before. His wife, Lena, confessed to the crime and served a ten year prison sentence. Thus begins an unusual case which combines an investigation into who was killed years ago with an inquiry into whether the proper procedures were followed at that time. The plot is very complex but not at the expense of the reader's enjoyment.

See Also Deception by Larry D. Sweazy (2016)
This is the second book in a series featuring Marjorie Trumaine, set on a farm in rural North Dakota in 1964. Marjorie is an indexer, creating indexes for non-fiction books. She does this work freelance to make money that she and her husband, Hank, badly need. The area is affected by a drought, with a severe impact on the crops and livestock on the farm. Hank is an invalid due to an accident on the farm and Marjorie shoulders the responsibility for running the farm.

In this book, Marjorie's best friend in the area, a librarian, commits suicide. She begins to suspect that the suicide was faked but the police will not discuss the case with her. In addition to providing an intriguing mystery, the story gives us a vivid picture of what it was like to be a woman at this time, and how difficult it was to be heard in a man's world.

Shot in Detroit by Patricia Abbott (2016)
A novel of psychological suspense, set in 2007 Detroit. It does not paint a pretty picture of that area or the struggle to survive financially in that environment. The story centers on a female photographer who is working on a project to photograph black men who have died much too young. The subject matter is sometimes unsettling and the story is dark.

Violet Hart is the center of this story. She has family issues; her father deserted her family and her sister died when she was young. She has trouble making ends meet and wants very much to succeed in artistic photography. She is not a very likable person, willing to use people to get what she wants, always pushing her agenda first.

The Honourable Schoolboy: John le Carré

The Honourable Schoolboy is the middle  book in the Karla Trilogy. After unmasking the mole in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Smiley is now after his opponent in the KGB, Karla. John le Carre's website gives this description of the book:

George Smiley has become chief of the battered British Secret Service. The betrayals of a Soviet double agent have riddled the spy network. Smiley wants revenge. He chooses his weapon: Jerry Westerby, ‘The Honourable Schoolboy’, a passionate lover and a seasoned, reckless secret agent. Westerby is pointed east, to Hong Kong. So begins the terrifying game…..

Another very long book by John le Carré. I have yet to read a book by this author that I did not enjoy, so the length is not an issue. But this one did go more slowly for me. I love the characterization in his novels and he writes so beautifully. I did get involved with the characters and I wanted everything to turn out well; of course it doesn't. At least in this story, some of the characters appear to be make choices about their futures.

I liked the focus on Jerry Westerby in this book. He is an interesting character, a spy called on to do Smiley's bidding. He had been put "out to grass" because he was no longer useful, with the possibility that his identity had been blown by the mole.

There was just enough of Smiley in this novel for me. Smiley seems to be more ruthless than he was in earlier novels, which seems realistic, if he wants to achieve his goal. Along the way I began to feel that Smiley and those working for him were being set up for failure. Spying is dirty work (like politics). Of course, knowing that this is part 2 of a trilogy gave me some hope that things will work out in the end, although it is unusual for a novel by le Carré to have a feel good ending.

I loved reading the reviews of this book. So many people panned this novel as a bore and not up to the rest of le Carré's work and just about the same number said it is one of their favorites by le Carré. Some say it is a slog; others say it is exciting. Maybe it is all up to whether one enjoys the scenes in Southeast Asia, which do tend to go on. I fall in the middle. I did enjoy it, I would have no problem rereading it because I know I would understand more the second time around. But it did have less of an impact than Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and it was more depressing in the end. I can't speak for Smiley's People, as I haven't read that one yet.

List of  'Smiley' Novels (with links to my reviews)

1. Call for the Dead (1961)
2. A Murder of Quality (1962)
3. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)
4. The Looking Glass War (1965)
5. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974)
6. The Honourable Schoolboy (1977)
7. Smiley's People (1979)
8. The Secret Pilgrim (1990)

Other resources:

• See this post at Existential Ennui. With a look at the first edition with lovely map end papers.
• At To Bed With a Trollope, all three books in the trilogy are discussed.

-----------------------------

Publisher:   Penguin Books, 2011. (Orig. pub. 1977)
Length:       606 pages
Format:      Trade Paperback
Series:       Karla Trilogy, #2
Setting:      UK, Cambodia, Hong Kong
Genre:        Espionage fiction
Source:      I purchased this book.

A Perfect Spy: John le Carré

This is a very long book. The edition I read was a mass market paperback, 517 pages of very small print. I loved reading every page and I did not want it to end. I am very thankful to Mathew Paust at Crime Time who offered to send me the copy he had read. Otherwise, who knows when I would have gotten around to reading this book.

Magnus Pym, a British spy assigned to an important post in Vienna, has disappeared. After he gets a call that his father has died, he leaves for the funeral in London, but he doesn't return when expected. His wife is worried but his fellow agents are even more concerned and mount a search for him. Being the gifted spy that he is, Pym easily eludes them for the majority of the book.

A Perfect Spy by John le Carré revolves around Magnus Pym's relationship with his father, Rick, a con man who uses everyone in his life to achieve his own goals. Pym's mother died when he was young, so Rick has been the major influence in his life.

Pym's wife and son also feature prominently, as do various people in the espionage and diplomatic community who want him located as soon as possible. Le Carré keeps the reader guessing throughout. Where has Pym disappeared to and why? My sympathies were with the young Magnus, mostly ignored by his father but occasionally useful to him, and with Mary and Tom, his wife and son.

The tale is told in alternating chapters. One chapter is Magnus writing the story of his life for his son, the next puts the focus on a family member or a colleague who is attempting to track him down. More than one reviewer talked about being initially put off by this structure, but this is exactly the type of book I love. And the alternating chapters serve a purpose. The story Magnus tells us is complex and illuminating but can also be a bit overwhelming; the switch to the pursuit of the missing spy gives a needed change of pace.

Some reviewers say that A Perfect Spy is not espionage fiction so much as it is the story of a man's life (and his relationship with his father). However, there is plenty of spycraft going on in this book, enough to keep me happy.

This story is mostly autobiographical. John le Carré's mother died when he was very young and his father was a con man who spent some time in prison.

 -----------------------------

Publisher:  Bantam, 1987. Orig. pub. 1986.
Length:     517 pages
Format:     Paperback
Setting:     UK, Vienna
Genre:      Espionage fiction
Source:     A gift.

Reading in June 2016

In June, I read six books, all of them crime fiction.

• The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré
• The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie
• Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout
• A Perfect Spy by John le Carré
• Murder Among Friends by Elizabeth Ferrars
• An American Spy by Olen Steinhauer

There is no way I could pick a favorite book this month. I read three books that I regarded as excellent books: A Perfect Spy, Some Buried Caesar, and An American Spy. The authors of those books, John le Carré, Rex Stout, and Olen Steinhauer respectively, are among my favorite authors. The other three books were also very enjoyable reads. I rarely consider a book I have read to be a clunker, but sometimes there are books that just are not my thing. Not this month. A wonderful month of reading.

I continue to read mostly spy fiction. The Honourable Schoolboy by le Carré is one of the Smiley novels. A Perfect Spy and The American Spy are both obviously spy novels, and The Seven Dials Mystery is a lighter version of the espionage fiction genre.

An American Spy is the third book in a trilogy by Olen Steinhauer, and I waited nearly two years to finish this series. Milo Weaver works for the CIA, in the Department of Tourism. "Tourists" are described as undercover agents with no identity and no home. Milo is not the James Bond type, although there are plenty of thrilling escapades and violence. But we see the other side of this spy's life, the family he wishes he could spend more time with. I did enjoy picking up on Milo Weaver's adventures again. The first book in the trilogy is The Tourist, the second is The Nearest Exit.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: John le Carré

I have nothing but good things to say about this book. I would put Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy among the best novels I have ever read. I just hope I can explain why I like it so much.

At the opening of the novel, George Smiley has been retired (forcibly) from MI6 (called the Circus in le Carré's world) for about a year. His boss, Control, trying to prove that there was a mole in the Circus, had sent Jim Prideaux on a mission to Czechoslovakia. That operation, named Testify, went terribly bad, Prideaux was captured and interrogated, and many agents he had put in place were exposed. Control and Smiley were sacked from the Circus, and the group of four men that Control did not trust are now in power. Ricki Tarr turns up with information that indicates that Control was right and there is a mole.

From that point on, the story alternates between segments which relate events leading up to Prideaux's botched mission and long conversations with various agents gathering information needed to determine who is the mole.

The title refers to a nursery rhyme that supplied code names for the men who are under suspicion of being a mole. Percy Alleline, Control’s successor as Chief of the Circus, is "Tinker." Bill Haydon is "Tailor." Roy Bland is “Soldier,” Toby Esterhase is “Poorman.”

Leading up to this book, I had read all of the Smiley novels that preceded it. Each features George Smiley to some extent. All of them were well-written, entertaining books, although some were grittier and darker than others. I was really looking forward to reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. It did not disappoint.

The story is about more than the espionage community;  it explores themes like betrayal and loss of love. Espionage novels are often about relationships and not knowing who you can trust. Even thought it moves slowly, I was totally immersed in the story and enjoyed every minute.

There are so many great characters: Smiley, Jim Prideaux, Peter Guillam, Ricki Tarr, Connie Sachs. One of my favorite elements of the story is the relationship that develops between Jim Prideaux, now working for a boarding school, and a student at the school. Another excellent section features Connie Sachs, a very competent researcher at the Circus who was edged out because she got too close to discovering information that could expose the mole.

A lot of the book is one-on-one conversations between Smiley and his sources of information. The story is heavily dependent on dialog, which I usually dislike. But le Carré handles it very well and it worked for me. The conversation with Toby Esterhase, as Smiley gets closer to uncovering the mole, is especially masterful.

For the best experience of the Smiley books, I would recommend reading the books leading up to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy first. However, many readers have started with this one or The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and been perfectly happy. The books (up to this point) are not really a cohesive series, but they build on each other. This book and The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People make up the Karla trilogy, where Smiley is on a quest to uncover Karla, the Russian agent who was running the mole.

The book has been adapted as a BBC mini-series (1979) and as a film (2011). After finishing the book, I first viewed the mini-series. We had watched it at least two times previously, once when it aired on the television in the US, and later on DVD. The previous viewings were so long ago that I didn't remember much about it, except that Alec Guinness was amazing. It was enjoyable, although I don't know how a viewer who had not read the book would be able to follow it. Then we watched the film version from 2011 with Gary Oldman as Smiley. That one I did not go for so much. I will follow up in a later post with more comments on the adaptations.


List of  'Smiley' Novels (with links to my reviews)

1. Call for the Dead (1961)
2. A Murder of Quality (1962)
3. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)
4. The Looking Glass War (1965)
5. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974)
6. The Honourable Schoolboy (1977)
7. Smiley's People (1979)
8. The Secret Pilgrim (1990)

Other resources:

• See this post at Existential Ennui, which also talks about the mini-series.
• At the author's website, excerpts from a Salon.com article. It refers to the 2011 film but is at least as useful for reading the book.

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Publisher:   Pocket Books, 2000. (Orig. pub. 1974)
Length:      418 pages
Format:      Paperback
Series:       Karla Trilogy, #1
Setting:      UK
Genre:       Espionage fiction
Source:      Purchased at the Planned Parenthood book sale, 2007.

The Looking Glass War: John le Carré

Summary from the author's website:

The Department has faded since the war, effectively mothballed, without agents or resources. But now, with intelligence of a possible missile threat, it again has a mission. This is a chance to prove its influence to those at the Circus, like George Smiley, who think the Department’s time has passed. The opportunity to reclaim former glory cannot be missed – even though it means putting men’s lives at desperate risk, on foreign soil. 

The Looking Glass War is a gripping story of the amorality of espionage – unflinching in its depiction of the men involved, who are as much full of vanity and fear as of selflessness and courage.

I read this as a part of my project to read all the Smiley books. This is probably the first book where Smiley is actually working for the Circus, under the head of that group, Control . In the others, he is retired or has been called out of retirement. Smiley plays a very small part in this one, although he shows up more than in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

This book focuses on employees of the Department, a group in the British intelligence service that has seen better days. The area the Department handles is related to military intelligence, whereas the Circus deals with political affairs. The Circus's fortunes have improved; those in the Department are looking for a way back to their former glory. They come upon some military intelligence that could be important and they seek to finance an excursion into East Germany to investigate. Smiley is a liaison between the Department and the Circus. It is an interesting part of Smiley's story, but it is not really about him.

I would not have missed this book, but it is pretty much of a downer. It does not glamorize the world of espionage at all. The main characters are all interesting, portrayed with depth, and le Carré tells a compelling story.

In comparison to The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Looking Glass War did very poorly, especially in Britain. In le Carré's introduction to this book, written in 1991, he discusses the reception of this book and what he was trying to achieve when he wrote it.

After the success of The Spy I felt I had earned the right to experiment with the more fragile possibilities of the spy story than those I had explored till now. For the truth was, that the realities of spying as I had known them on the ground had been far removed from the fiendishly clever conspiracy that had entrapped my hero and heroine in The Spy. I was eager to find a way of illustrating the muddle and futility that were so much closer to life. Indeed, I felt I had to: for while The Spy had been heralded as the book that ripped the mask off the spy business, my private view was that it had glamorised the spy business to Kingdom Come.
...
So this time, I thought, I'll tell it the hard way. This time, cost what it will, I'll describe a Secret Service that is really not very good at all; that is eking out its wartime glory; that is feeding itself on Little England  fantasies; is isolated, directionless, over-protected and destined ultimately to destroy itself.

One reviewer at Goodreads said this was the bleakest book he had ever read. It is not the bleakest book I have read ... that book for me was The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips. But still, I found The Looking Glass War to be very grim and depressing. I am always looking for some touch of a happy ending and this book had nothing of that for me.

List of  'Smiley' Novels (with links to my reviews)

1. Call for the Dead (1961)
2. A Murder of Quality (1962)
3. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)
4. The Looking Glass War (1965)
5. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974)
6. The Honourable Schoolboy (1977)
7. Smiley's People (1979)
8. The Secret Pilgrim (1990)


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Publisher:   Pocket Books, 2002 (orig. pub. 1965) 
Length:       271 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Series:       George Smiley novel
Setting:      East Germany, UK
Genre:        Spy thriller
Source:      I purchased this book.

Call for the Dead: John le Carré

Early Wednesday morning, Smiley is summoned to the Cambridge Circus because a civil servant, Samuel Fennan is dead, a suicide. Smiley had interviewed him on the previous Monday to investigate an anonymous tip that he was a member of the Communist Party at Oxford. The interview had gone well and Smiley had told the man that he would be cleared of any suspicion. However, Fennan claimed in his suicide note that Smiley had ruined his career. Maston, head of the Circus, requests that Smiley follow up by interviewing Fennan's wife.

The title refers to a wake up call for the dead man that is received the morning after he died. This call comes to his home, and Smiley answers the phone. This convinces Smiley that the man did not commit suicide, even though all of the evidence points towards suicide. He insists on investigating further, against the wishes of Maston. This book introduces us to Peter Guillam and Inspector Mendel, who work with Smiley on the case; both have roles in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. It also has the first appearance of Mundt, who features prominently in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

I first read this book in 2007. In January of this year, I finally started reading the remainder of the Smiley novels. When I got around to reviewing The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Sergio of Tipping My Fedora noted the connection to Call for the Dead, which I had forgotten entirely. Now, after going back and re-reading it, I do see that this book is a good introduction to the later books.

However, it did take me another nine years to come back to le Carré's after reading Call for the Dead the first time. I did not dislike the book on the first read, but I don't think I was terribly impressed. Now, after reading several other of the Smiley books, I had an entirely different reaction.

This time I found Call for the Dead clever and compelling, a very short novel with a lot of depth for its length. It is primarily a detective story, and Smiley's ability to analyze and evaluate facts is highlighted. But it is also set within the framework of MI6 operations and its bureaucracy.

Having now read the first five books featuring Smiley, I find myself confused at the time line of the books overall, and from what I have read at other blogs, I am not the only one. It doesn't really matter for the enjoyment of the books,  but I have a mind that likes to organize things, so I keep trying to figure it out. Are all the books told in the order of Smiley's career? It seems like every book I have read mentions Smiley coming back out of retirement. The first chapter in the book is devoted to an overview of Smiley's career, and you would think this would straighten out the time line but it did not help.

Also see these posts:

• Sergio's review at Tipping My Fedora
• Tanner's review at Double O Section
• Margot's In the Spotlight at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist...

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Publisher:   Pocket Books, 2002 (orig. pub. 1961) 
Length:       144 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Series:       George Smiley novel
Setting:      UK
Genre:        Spy thriller
Source:      I purchased this book.