Call for the Dead

George Smiley #1

by John le Carré

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, published in Penguin Modern Classics.

After a routine security check by George Smiley, civil servant Samuel Fennan apparently kills himself. When Smiley finds Circus head Maston is trying to blame him for the man's death, he begins his own investigation, meeting with Fennan's widow to find out what could have led him to such desperation. But on the very day that Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man. Do the East Germans - and their agents - know more about this man's death than the Circus previously imagined? Le Carr's first book, Call for the Dead, introduced the tenacious and retiring George Smiley in a gripping tale of espionage and deceit.

John le Carr; was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For the last 50 years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.

If you enjoyed Call for the Dead, you might like le Carr's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

'Intelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard'

Sunday Telegraph

'Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense'

Observer

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Espionage, Crime, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

John le Carré, the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born 19 October 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England), was an English author of espionage novels. Le Carré had resided in St Buryan, Cornwall, Great Britain, for more than 40 years, where he owned a mile of cliff close to Land's End.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This first George Smiley novel—also the first for John le Carre—is not a spy novel really, but more like a murder mystery with spies in it.

You see, Smiley is ordered to conduct a routine security check on Samuel Fennan, and, since he sees no serious concerns in Fennan's past—just a little harmless wartime flirtation with communism—he reassures Fennan and they part in friendly fashion. But soon Fennan is pronounced a suicide, and Fennan's wife Elsa claims that, after his interview with Smiley, her husband was unusually despondent. The higher ups want to stick Smiley with the blame for a botched interview and move on, but Smiley, who is not convinced this is a sucide, becomes even less convinced when he answers the phone in Fennan's flat and receives a “reminder call” Fennan arranged with his service. It just doesn't make sense. Why would a person who intends to commit suicide one a specific night arrange for a reminder call for the morning after?

Since this is a first novel, it has its flaws. For example, Smiley and Police Inspector Mendel are both used as third-person viewpoint characters, but Mendel's first appearance as viewpoint is disorienting, since it is far enough into the novel that we have identified ourselves with Smiley completely, and le Carre has not used any of the novelistic tricks that would make such a transition less confusing and more effective. Also, although le Carre's acerbic descriptions of many of the streets of London are precise and entertaining, they are sometimes too long, and thus retard the action and dissipate the suspense.

Still, Smiley is an intriguing narrator, the characters of Elsa Fennan, Inspector Mendel, and the shady car dealer Adam Scarr are lifelike and convincing, and the final confrontation and chase, in a small London theatre and in the surrounding streets, is suspenseful and exciting.

[Candi · Rating 4 out of 5]

"He learnt what it was never to sleep, never to relax, to feel at any time of day or night the restless beating of his own heart, to know the extremes of solitude and self-pity, the sudden unreasoning desire for a woman, for drink, for exercise, for any drug to take away the tension of his life."

While this isn’t my first John le Carré novel (The Russia House holds that distinction), it is in fact my first George Smiley book. Call for the Dead is also the first in the series of the George Smiley novels and offers a very satisfying introduction to the surprisingly ordinary yet quite honorable little man. When I say ‘little’ I mean in stature. He’s no looker, that’s a fact. A James Bond type he is not. "Short, fat, and of a quiet disposition, he appeared to spend a lot of money on really bad clothes, which hung about his squat frame like skin on a shrunken toad." I have a great image in my head of Smiley now, and regardless of his looks, I loved this man! He’s not perfect (who is?), but he’s intelligent, he has a conscience, and he’s quite perceptive. In a nutshell, he is a British spy caught up in a case of intrigue involving the suicide of Samuel Fennan, an employee of the Foreign Office in London who also happens to have affiliations with the Communist party. But some things don’t appear to add up correctly according to Smiley’s calculations, and he takes it upon himself to corroborate whether this was in fact a suicide. Could there be something even more sinister going on here? He teams up with Inspector Mendel to uncover the truth.

Those looking for a fast-paced espionage thriller will likely be a bit disappointed by this one. However, if you, like me, prefer a more literary-type spy novel with well-written and convincing characterizations, then this should appeal. That’s not to say there is no action here, because there are certainly some wonderful moments of tension as well as some more dramatic run-ins with the villains of the story. I found this to be smart and exciting enough to keep me completely immersed in the story throughout. I’m quite certain I could never pull off a double life, a life of secrets and treachery, even if for a ‘good cause’. George Smiley is definitely the kind of intelligence officer I could buy into. As I alluded to, he is not without flaws and often reflects on his position and resultant lifestyle. He mourns what life once was and perhaps could be if he had made another choice. "Always withdrawn, he now found himself shrinking from the temptations of friendship and human loyalty; he guarded himself warily from spontaneous reaction. By the strength of his intellect, he forced himself to observe humanity with clinical objectivity, and because he was neither immortal nor infallible he hated and feared the falseness of his life."

Since reading this first in the series, I jumped to the more renowned of the Smiley novels – The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (although Smiley himself is not prominent throughout - more on that later). It was excellent! I will definitely circle back and try to read the one in between which I missed. As a matter of fact, I plan to read them all. They’re that good! Recommended to those that don’t mind a more ‘old-fashioned’ and literary type spy novel.

[Brina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of James Bond, movies and books, but had never entered the world of George Smiley written by John Le Carre. When a few friends in the group reading for pleasure here on goodreads decided to read the Smiley books in order, I decided to join them. I enjoy reading mysteries or thrillers in between denser reads as a palette cleanser, and, having just read two Pulitzer winners back to back, a short spy novel seemed like just what I needed to clear my head. What ensued is Le Carre’s initial foray into Smiley’s world.

George Smiley is a member of England’s Foreign Office during the Cold War period. The nation has no relations with East Germany and their working relationship with the Soviet Union is tenuous at best. Smiley had been stationed as a literature professor in German universities before the war and saw firsthand the rise of fascism. At the time because it was en Vogue, Smiley dabbled in communism and reached out to students who he thought had potential as party members. One of these students was a German Jew by the name of Dieter Frey, who could have used the party as a means of escaping persecution. Yet, as Smiley fled Germany on the onset of war, Frey had all but disappeared.

Fast forwarding fifteen years, George Smiley is on the verge of retirement. His wife left him for a Spanish race car driver, and Smiley does not want to spend the rest of his life pushing papers for the British foreign service. It is in this context that he receives a call that Samuel Fennan has committed suicide, a Party member who had contact with Smiley in their Oxford days. It is up to Smiley to crack the case, which, of course, turns out to be murder rather than suicide. We meet his colleagues Inspector Mendel (same name as my so , made me chuckle) and Peter Guillam along with his boss Maston. All three characters appear as though they will be along for the entire series. Their dialogue is lighthearted as they attempt to crack whodunit, in a case laced with international espionage and the return of old acquaintances. It is up to Smiley to crack a potential international ring before more murders happen.

On the surface Call for the Dead appears as the type of thriller that I would enjoy, yet I wanted the action of James Bond and ended up with Hercule Poirot, especially toward the novel’s ending moments. As my buddy readers pointed out, Smiley is cerebral and more in the mold of an actual spy whereas Bond is all about action and many of his escapades might not occur in real life. When I am reading about espionage I prefer the fast paced action scenes of Bond, and that is what I was looking for in Smiley as well. In the end, Smiley gets his man and is offered a promotion. It appears that the stage is set for the cast of characters to return, and, as they enjoyed a productive working relationship, I am willing to give George Smiley a second try. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold gained Le Carre international fame so I will give this first installment the benefit of the doubt. At the end of the day, I am always up for a good spy thriller.

3.5 stars

[Jaline · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Call For the Dead” is the first of 8 books in John Le Carre’s series featuring George Smiley. Published in 1961, it is smart, the writing brisk and contained, and the story engaging. Espionage and counter-espionage – who is a spy? – who is being set up? This is a classic, and written by an author who knew the ins and outs of national Intelligence and Security first-hand. This book is a very impressive and intelligent initial offering from an author whose stories have been revered for years, and some of which made it onto the big screen as motion pictures. I’m not a big fan of spy books or movies . . . or, I wasn’t until I read John Le Carre. I think I will continue with the series to see what Mr. George Smiley gets mixed up in next!

[Kushagri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh how I enjoyed this book!
This book introduces us to this tenacious, yet gentle spy with a heart, George Smiley. He is brilliant and clever, and his character is developed in a way that the readers immediately become attached to him. He starts of as a scholarly youth straight out of Oxford, interested in German literature who gets spotted and recruited by the Secret Service.

That part of Smiley which survived was as incongruous to his appearance as love, or a taste for unrecognized poets: it was his profession, which was that of intelligence officer. It was a profession he enjoyed, and which mercifully provided him with colleagues equally obscure in character and origin.
It also provided him with what he had once loved best in life: academic excursions into the mystery of human behaviour, disciplined by the practical application of his own deductions.

As for the plot, since it was a murder mystery talking about it will give the excitement away! It’s a murder mystery set in Cold War backdrop with espionage thrill sprinkled in. The book, particularly the first half was very fast paced and riveting. We also get lot of insight into what goes into leading a life of an intelligence officer, particularly a spy! We have other interesting characters like Mendel and Guillam who assist Smiley with the investigation.

'It's an old illness you suffer from, Mr Smiley,' she continued, taking a cigarette from the box; 'and I have seen many victims of it. The mind becomes separated from the body; it thinks without reality, rules a paper kingdom and devises with out emotion the ruin of its paper victims. But sometimes the division between your world and ours is incomplete; the files grow heads and arms and legs, and that's a terrible moment, isn't it? The names have families as well as records, and human motives to explain the sad little dossiers and their make-believe sins. When that happens I am sorry for you.’

After reading these books we can also note that a lot of modern espionage TV series, books and movies take their inspiration from Le Carré.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not only John le Carre's first novel, it is also the novel which introduces George Smiley, the British Secret Service Agent who would become famous as le Carre continued to produce more and more books in this series. We learn about his recruitment, his failed marriage, his schooling and his early work in Germany. This first novel isn't about espionage; it's a murder mystery and a darn good one at that.

I loved meeting George Smiley at the very beginning of his career. It's a little like looking for the first time at the pictures of your 60 year husband's or wife's high school or college graduation pictures. S/he is recognizable with all the same features but much younger and not the seasoned adult you know so well.

Highly recommended for Smiley fans.

[Kevin Lopez (on sabbatical) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s an odd illness you suffer from, Mr. Smiley,’ she continued, taking a cigarette from the box; ‘and I have seen many victims of it. The mind becomes separated from the body; it thinks without reality, rules a paper kingdom and devises without emotion the ruin of its paper victims. But sometimes the division between your world and ours is incomplete; the files grow heads and arms and legs, and that’s a terrible moment, isn’t it? The names have families as well as records, and human motives to explain the sad little dossiers and their make-believe sins. When that happens I am sorry for you.’”


Call for the Dead was, astonishingly, John Le Carré’s first published novel, as well as the first to feature the man who would become his most famous creation: the short, pudgy, unspectacular, rather forgettable (and hence utterly un-Bond-like) George Smiley—fusty old scholar of obscure 18th century German poetry . . . but also a wily, jaded, Janus-faced spymaster nonpareil.

It’s a phenomenal book: darkly atmospheric, stark and poetic, imbued with a noirish existentialism as gray and inescapable as the ubiquitous London fog (and just as opaque). Gray also happens to be the only color in Le Carré’s moral universe, which utterly lacks anything as simple as black or white, as easy as moral absolutism, or as comforting as righteousness. This is a world of casual betrayal, no-hard-feelings murder, and relentless deception; where everyone either believes, or convinces themselves, that they are the ones acting for the higher good; where every manner and degree of moral atrocity is permitted, and then laid at the altar of patriotism or political belief—with a means-versus-ends calculus that never seems to quite add up.

I loved this book. Loved it just as much as I loved its far more famous successor, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (the third in the Smiley series, in which Smiley himself plays only a peripheral role). I honestly don’t know which is more extraordinary—that a work of such moral and philosophical subtlety could be the very first novel of a young, unknown writer like Le Carré was in 1961, when Call for the Dead was first published—or that such an author could be capable of writing at such a high level, with such consistent quality, for fifty years thereafter.

Call for the Dead is a must-read—not only for fans of Le Carré, but for fans of authors like Graham Greene, Raymond Chandler, James M. Caine, and other less-obvious relations ranging from Kafka and Camus to Cormac McCarthy, as well as the very few others who occupy that rarefied stratum of novelists who are able to lift moral ambiguity and an almost nihilistic cynicism into the realm of high art.

[Beata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I know how it all began .. Terrific narration by Michael Jayston!

[Flo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The anti-Bond spy novel the world surprisingly needs right now. The bureaucracy of spying is fascinating in itself, but the fact that it was written during the Cold War and in the aftermath of the horrors of WWII makes it perfect for our times of populism and online conflict.

[Woman Reading (is away exploring) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ☆

After reading Agent Running in the Field, which was my first book by John le Carré, I decided to try his George Smiley series from the beginning. Call for the Dead was published in 1961, and I was transported back in time to London, circa late 1950s, complete with shillings, typewriters, and telephone exchanges. It was still a time of political and social adjustment as post-WWII Europe settled into Cold War tensions.

Call for the Dead has the feel of some of Alfred Hitchcock's early espionage films with little injections of Golden Age detective fictions. Le Carré's debut novel introduced George Smiley, whose appearance didn't seem to destine him for a leading man's role.

Short, fat, and of a quiet disposition, he appeared to spend a lot of money on really bad clothes, which hung about his squat frame like skin on a shrunken toad. Sawley, in fact, declared at [Smiley's] wedding that "[Ann] Sercomb was mated to a bullfrog in a sou’wester." And Smiley, unaware of this description, had waddled down the aisle in search of the kiss that would turn him into a Prince.

It dawned on [Smiley] gradually that he had entered middle-age without ever being young, and that he was, in the nicest possible way, "on the shelf".

Employed in the Secret Service, Smiley was assigned to interrogate Samuel Fennan, who worked in the Foreign Office, as to whether he retained his Communist sympathies from his university days. A day later, Fennan was found in his home shot dead at the temple and with a typed suicide note on the floor. Eager to keep Fennan's death a suicide and thus out of the news, Maston sent his subordinate Smiley to speak with the newly widowed Mrs. Fennan. She reported that Fennan had been quite agitated since his interview with Smiley, contrary to Smiley's assessment of their meeting. And Smiley was struck further by oddities at the scene.

"We seem to be at cross-purposes," [Maston] said. "I send you down to discover why Fennan shot himself. You come back and say he didn’t. We’re not policemen, Smiley."
No. I sometimes wonder what we are.

Smiley was officially an intelligence officer. He pieced together facts with conjectures. After Fennan's death, Smiley met Scotland Yard Inspector Mendel. Like Smiley, Mendel was also on the shelf, which was why he'd been given the perfunctory investigation for a likely suicide.

He knew how intelligent men could be broken by the stupidity of their superiors, how weeks of patient work night and day could be cast aside by such a man.

But Mendel listened to Smiley's disquiet over the Fennan interviews, especially as danger began to stalk Smiley. Mendel provided the solid detective work to test the evidence. Overall, Call of the Dead was an entertaining, but far from stellar, murder mystery police procedural and a solid debut novel.

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

never a fun author but always a deep one, John le Carré. a pensive, carefully controlled writer and a deceptively placid novel: the perfect ingredients for the start of what will become a classic series. one that will take the thrill out of 'spy thriller' and which will explore previously unmined depths within the genre. we meet George Smiley and gradually become impressed by this seemingly dull, lumpish, rather vague man. we appreciate his dry insights, his dislike of the pompous and the showy, his sardonic outlook on the systems around him, that almost control him. almost, but not quite, not fully; and not fully means he is, at heart, unable to be controlled. his empathy slowly becomes clear: an empathy that defines him, that is key to what makes him strong, and that is also his greatest weakness. this is not only a novel of spies and espionage, it is also a murder mystery. sadly for George, empathy is perhaps not the most helpful attribute when it comes to solving a murder.

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 5 out of 5]

There has been a lot of blah-di-blah about who the literary successor for Jane Austin should be. Well, it's too late; it's John Le Carre. Just because he happens to write Cold-War thrillers doesn't mean that every word isn't infused with the same sense of humor, the same love of the ordinary, the same lovely tendency to linger with friends, whether they be seemingly-mundane characters or sentences themselves.

"When Lady Ann Sercomb married George Smiley towards the end of the war she described him to her astonished Mayfair friends as breathtakingly ordinary. When she left him two years later in favour of a Cuban motor racing driver, she announced enigmatically that if she hadn't left him then, she never could have done; and Viscount Sawley madde a special journey to his club to observe the cat was out of the bag."

Tell me that this couldn't have been the start to a lost Jane Austen novel. Just try.

An absolute gem.

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Introducing Smiley to the world, this is more of a detective story than a spy story, except that the characters are spies. There are two diversions from what I remember about le Carre's other novels, at the beginning and the end, amounting in each case to explanations of things (telling) that could have been much more effective if included in the narrative (showing). But who am I to criticize le Carre? In between, the story was excellent.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook for this re-read which perhaps made the clumsy sections more obvious. It's not just that the plot is markedly simpler than the more experienced later books, but Smiley is also slightly different: he gets beaten up and is in hospital, he chases an East German spy through the streets, he sobs like a child. The more emotionally austere Smiley is yet to come.

It's also notable that there is a long monologue where Smiley recalls his early career in Nazi Germany, and then gives a report at the end to summarize his actions throughout the book, in case we haven't kept up. Again, later books set high expectations for their readers and don't pander in this way which is also repetitive.

It's worth experiencing this early Smiley as context for what he becomes as the books grow in technical expertise and moral stature, but this isn't a favourite of mine.

--------Original review -----
This is the book in which le Carré introduces George Smiley - though, admittedly, it is as much murder mystery as it is spy story (as is the second Smiley book, I recall, A Murder of Quality). Having made Smiley's acquaintance in the later books, notably the Karla trilogy, I enjoyed this glance back at how he came to be what he is later.

This definitely feels simpler than the later complex, convoluted plots but le Carré gives an excellent feel for the times: the Cold War with memories of WW2 still active. His portrayal of Jewish characters is especially empathetic, still reeling from the Holocaust, with a Jewish police inspector in London furious with the seemingly easy rehabilitation of Germany as a western power.

It's nice to see characters already appearing here who will take on deeper roles later: Peter Guillam who weaves in and out of the Smiley books, and the chilling Mundt who reappears in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

While the writing is elegant, the ending reminded me of Poirot as Smiley writes a report retelling the whole story we've just read while taking us through his thought processes and unravelling all the clues.

So shorter and simpler than the later 'classic' books but well worth a read to get a handle on Smiley and as an introduction to the increasingly ambiguous world in which he operates.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first George Smiley novel and introduces us to the characters which, as a reader, you will come to love. It is fair to say that Le Carre's spy novels are more Harry Palmer than 007; he aims for realism and not fantasy, which I find much more intriguing. Smiley is not attractive, or dashing. His ex wife, the beautiful Lady Ann Seacomb, caused surprise and gossip when they married - she nicknamed him 'Toad' and, unlike a Bond character, who always gets the girl, she leaves him for a Cuban motor racing driving.

Despite Smiley's squat and unprepossing looks though, he has something far more attractive - intelligence in abundance, as well as great humanity and sensitivity to others. When asked to interview Samuel Fennan, at the Foreign Office, who has been anonymously accused of being a communist sympathiser, Smiley conducts the meeting with tact. He even goes so far as to tell Fennan not to worry, which is why he is so suprised when Fennan supposedly returns home devastated and later commits suicide. Something does not add up and Smiley sets out to find out what really happened. This is a world of real danger, where Smiley is almost killed and others murdered, where people are really hurt and suffer the consequences of their actions. A really intelligent novel and a great introduction to the Smiley books.

[Kon R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This thing read like a Agatha Christie novel minus the twists and turns. It was a pretty straightforward and short "who done it?" murder mystery. Nothing outstanding, but it made for a decent introduction to the George Smiley character.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the most elegant spy genre books I've ever read!

[Geevee · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first le Carré, which for some reason his books I have not chosen to read, despite watching many film adaptations. As such, I was buying a couple of Penguin Modern Classics Crime & Espionage series (lovely paperback with green spines), and decided I'd include Call for the Dead. It was a good choice.

For a first novel, it is clear that the author is finding his feet and I suspect keeping page numbers down to make the book accessible and interesting to both publisher and reader. In this book, then, the character of, the now famous, George Smiley, is introduced and we learn about his background in intelligence during WWII and then into the Cold War. We also meet Smiley in his domestic environment and how he lives and his marital status.

The book itself is a enjoyable tale, and to quote the Penguin Modern Classics' blurb on the back cover it is one of "An apparent suicide; A deepening mystery; A letter from a dead man" that throws Smiley into an adventure that will test him physically and mentally.

Overall, as I note some other reviewers have mentioned, it reads more like a crime novel with spies/spying attached, but that said, the book provides a good atmospheric description of a dark, foggy/smoggy* and wet London in the late 1950s-early 1960 period. For me, this was one of the aspects I enjoyed as we have le Carré writing contemporaneously to this period, which is now some sixty years past, of a London that has said goodbye to WWII bombsites, working docklands, steam trains and sadly (most) repertory theatre.

A good book to read whilst outside a month's rain falls in a day.

* Smog is a portmanteau of Smoke and Fog.

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Thought alone was valueless. You must act for thought to become effective.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead



John le Carré's first novel, is the first in his series of George Smiley novels. It is a subtle story of marriage, friendship, espionage, guilt, and tradecraft. Le Carré is one of those great genre writers who I believe will be read and studied 300 years from now, if we haven’t all gone the way of unfaithful wives and the DoDo bird.

This short novel foreshadows many of the themes and moral ambiguities of later le Carré espionage novels. George Smiley, one of the great characters of 20th Century fiction, is born (b. 1961). The anti-James Bond. The everyman. The great moral center.

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Le Carré's first Smiley book and it is a pleasure to read. We find ourselves drawn to this small but brilliant older man, George Smiley, and sympathize with his struggles with bureaucracy in his branch of the UK Secret Service. His friend from Scotland Yard, Mendel, is a great character as well. The intrigue around East German spies is dated, but still grabs the reader's attention. As this is the first one, I know that the writing will improve as the author hits his groove in the famous trilogy two books away in The Honorable Schoolboy, but I enjoyed reading this origin story which paints a great picture of one of the great spies in English literature.

[Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Call for the Dead is the first in le Carré’s George Smiley series and the first novel that he had published. It probably should be classified as a novella rather than a novel; my edition was only 128 pages. I thought it was a wonderful introduction to the character George Smiley and an excellent first effort for the author. For those readers who enjoy the Smiley character, this novel is most valuable; the first chapter is titled A Brief History of George Smiley; it provides a great background on Smiley. This information and what Smiley provides in a monologue in Chapter 11, The Unrespectable Club, are a great aid to understanding the character. I know that as I proceed with my reread of these novels, I will return regularly to this material.

Anyone who thinks of le Carré’s Smiley novels as spy novels and the character George Smiley as a spy is missing what has made le Carré and George Smiley unique. Smiley is so far distant from James Bond and from standard spy fiction that this series should not be considered in the same genre. In the Smiley novels the action takes place in the heads of George Smiley, of his associates and of his opposition. It is an intricate game of which we see only snatches, in physical actions and in dialogue. There is nothing dashing or even charismatic about George Smiley; in fact, we find ourselves feeling sorry for him in every respect but in how he conducts his work. As a result of his work and the vicissitudes of his personal life, Smiley is but a shell of a man, but a shell that comes alive when his mind is provided with a new challenge.

When I read the Smiley novels many years ago, they were widely spaced out over a period of years. I am hopeful this time to identify recurring characters, other than Smiley, and to better understand recurring storylines, such as George’s relationship with Ann and with some of his opposition. Perhaps there are more of these recurring bits than I remember, but if not, I am already certain I will thoroughly enjoy the reread of these novels.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it doesn’t reach the astounding depths of le Carré’s masterpiece The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, this novel, his first, nonetheless displays his gifts for giving us a subtle, mesmerizing, disturbing glimpse into the murky, cold-blooded world of espionage. And it introduces to the world the peculiar, brilliant, bespectacled spy George Smiley. I look forward to continuing to read his exploits, and I’m grateful that there are many more of them that le Carré wrote.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

audiobook. Whilst listening I was always struggling to keep up with this well crafted espionage story. Thankfully this is not a high octaine thriller, but instead it’s all about brain power. Decent introduction to the intriguing George Smiley.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

"take your hands off me! Do you think I'm yours because I don't belong to them? Go away! Go away and kill Freitag and Dieter, keep the game alive, Mr Smiley. But don't think I'm on your side, d'you hear? Because I'm the wandering Jewess, the no-man's land, the battlefield for your toy soldiers. You can kick me and trample on me, see, but never, never touch me, never tell me you're sorry, d'you hear? Now get out! Go away and kill"

The first novel by John le Carré is also the 1st novel with the iconic character George Smiley.
le Carré described George Smiley in “Call for the Dead” (1961) this way:

“Short, fat and of a quiet disposition, he appeared to spend a lot of money on really bad clothes, which hung about his squat frame like skin on a shrunken toad.”

So a few years before the Ian Fleming creation graced the big screen for the first time his totally opposite started his life in this not so thick novel in a murder mystery & spy mystery. The by then already old employee George Smiley is send out to check out a civil servant after receiving an anonymus letter in which Samuel Arthur Fennan's communist history is told. However Smiley sees nothing but a youthful mistake and even lets the man know he should not be concerned.
Of course Smiley is rather unpleasantly surprised when he is told that the man has killed himself and somewhat implicates Smiley in the reason why.
When Smiley is send by his service to check out their possible involvement things do not seem to add up. And things get worse quickly including resignation and more murders.

I have read Le Carré before, never this particular book, and found him interesting but far too intellectual for my taste. His books lacked the physical action that I found enjoyable in the Fleming novels. Now that I am older I find that I enjoy the human and intelligent style of writing by this particular writer a lot more. Le Carré gives a lot more real insight into the every day spy business than most writers will ever do probably because the man worked in the business himself. When he released this book he still worked for MI6 and they permitted him to release this novel as long as he did change his name to his well known pen-name, and the man responsible in MI6 for vetting the book loved it as well.
A great little story that is well constructed and leaves the reader guessing until the end.

The nice part about this particular edition of the book is the 10 pages in which John le Carré himself introduces the book himself, a nice bonus if I may add.

[Jaksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I wanted to read 'some le Carre' so I went to the beginning, the first George Smiley book. Glad I did. I've been looking for a replacement for good old Reggie Wexford, the police inspector from Ruth Rendell's wonderful series, and here he is, sort of. Both George and Reggie are kind of old, grumpy, overweight men - and geniuses at their profession. Reggie does police investigations; George does spies. They both go after the bad guys and they always get'em.

In this book Smiley interviews a fairly low-level clerk working in intelligence because an anonymous letter accuses the man of (possibly) being a double agent, of selling secrets, of trading information and what-have-you. Smiley clears the fellow; the fellow ends up committing suicide. Or does he? Now some reviewers have claimed this story is nothing more than a mystery with a few spies in it, but no, I so disagree! We have an East German operative who has a history with Smiley; there's also the dead man's wife, who's an odd duck if nothing else; there's a business in a warehouse which is KNOWN to harbor spies and which the authorities are keeping a close watch on. It's a short novel, but complex in its own right.

I enjoyed Smiley's trucking about - I can see him plodding up the fogbound streets being ignored by everyone who passes by, with none realizing what a brain is under that old, hoary head - and figuring out what's going on and why. Most of his information is gathered the old-fashioned way: talk, talk, talk to someone until that someone lets drop a hint, or forgets a previous lie, or tells Smiley 'what happened' in a subtly different way. He notices things; he's a man of detail, which I rather enjoy. So overall, a very interesting and satisfying read.

(One thing, I didn't get the idea of a 'phone exchange' even though I come from the era of dial phones, party lines, crossed lines and dialing 'O' for operator. My family's first phone number had FOUR digits. But I figured out what the 'exchange' was doing eventually.)

Anyhow, I'm going to dive into the whole Smiley series and am already reading the second one.

:D

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Θετική έκπληξη ο Λε Καρέ. Την "τελευταία κλήση" την είχα πάρει από κάποια προσφορά θυμάμαι, χωρίς πρακτικά να θέλω να την αγοράσω. Η ψυχροπολεμική αντικατασκοπία μου φαινόταν πάντα πολύ γκράντε όσον αφορά βιβλία μυστηρίου, πολύ αδικαιολόγητα ή ίσως δικαιολογημένα πολύπλοκη σαν θέμα για βιβλίο, προτιμούσα το "γειτονιακό" αστυνομικό με τον hard-boiled περιθωριακό ντετέκτιβ ή το αγαπημένο νουάρ. Κατάσκοποι, απόρρητα έγγραφα, διεθνείς συνομωσίες, παρασκήνιο στο παρασκήνιο, δεν. Συν ότι ήμουν σχεδόν σίγουρος ότι θα διαβάσω έναν λιγο πιο ραφιναρισμένο Φλέμινγκ και δεν ψηνόμουν για ιπτάμενα αυτοκίνητα που προσγειώνονται σε σκάφη, για κακούς με χρυσά δόντια και για έναν Μποντ, έναν Τζέιμς Μποντ.

Ε, όλα αυτά, ο Λε Καρέ δεν τα γράφει. Διάβασα ένα δεμένο βιβλιαράκι 170 σελίδων με σφιχτή πλοκή, απροσδόκητα καλή και πλούσια γραφή με εξίσου προσεγμένη μετάφραση από την Ιλάειρα Διονυσοπούλου, προσγειωμένους χαρακτήρες που, αν και εμπλέκονται σε κάτι που λέγεται κατασκοπία και εμείς το βαφτίζουμε σχεδόν ρομαντικό και ενθουσιαστικό μέσα στο πέπλο μυστηρίου του, αυτοί το αντιμε��ωπίζουν ως έχει: ένα παιχνίδι με τίμημα αξιοπρέπειες και ζωές. Οι κατάσκοποι του Λε Καρέ, με πρώτο και καλύτερο τον ίδιο τον Τζορτζ Σμάιλι, είναι κατάκοποι, είναι απηυδισμένοι με αυτόν τον τρόπο ζωής, ζώντας έναν thrill για κάθε δεκαετία που σπρώχνουν χαρτιά, ισιώνουν γραβάτες και κατασκευάζουν γυαλιστερά χαμόγελα πίσω από γραφεία και αίθουσες συνεδρίασης σε μουχλιασμένα κτήρια. Ο Λε Καρέ με την προσωπική του εμπειρία ως κατάσκοπος της MI6 μας δίνει μια πολυ ρεαλιστική οπτική της (αντι)κατασκοπίας τα χρόνια του ψυχρού πολέμου και όσο περίεργο και αν ακούγεται, αυτή η γήινη προσέγγιση χωρίς εξτραβαγκάντζες είναι πολύ γοητευτικότερη.

Προτείνεται και ήδη μπήκε στην λίστα η "Η τριλογία του Κάρλα", και σύντομα μάλιστα.

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Call for the Dead is the first George Smiley novel and introduces Smiley, and other primary characters. Smiley is a wonderful creation: unattractive, seemingly ponderous, and introverted. A donnish figure completely out of time, and yet a brilliant thinker, empathetic and perceptive. He is also heartbroken. His unlikely and beautiful ex-wife, Lady Ann Seacomb, having left him for a Cuban motor racing driver.

I've wanted to read the George Smiley books since watching the BBC adaptation of 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' back in the 1970s. I subsequently loved the 2011 film adaptation directed by Tomas Alfredson, which I saw in the cinema, and rewatched a few weeks ago. Everything I have heard about the source material suggests joy and wonder would await and, I’m pleased to report, that’s exactly what I found.

Part of what is so marvellous about this book is how John le Carré allows the reader to enter Smiley’s mind and the slow, deliberate machinations as he grapples with complex problems. Frankly it’s wonderful. What a book.

‘If people tell me that I am a genre writer, I can only reply that spying was the genre of the cold war’ John le Carré

Like many brilliant writers, John le Carré is often pigeonholed as a spy or espionage genre writer, and therefore somehow less worthy (this critical sniffiness is often levelled at other wonderful writers who focus their books on crime or science fiction).

Call for the Dead is a really intelligent, beautifully written novel, and a great introduction to the Smiley books which I know will only get better and better.

I don’t why it has taken me so long to start reading John le Carré’s work but better late than never eh?

4/5

[Márta Péterffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most jött el az idő, hogy ismerkedjek Le Carré regényeivel, ez jó kezdet volt, az első történet George Smiley ügynökkel. Valójában 4.5 csillagos, kicsit krimi és kémregény is egyben.
Két könyvéből készült filmet/mini-sorozatot/ is láttam, a The Night Manager nagyon tetszett, hogyne tetszett volna, mikor Hugh Laurie és Tom Hiddlestone remekel benne!:))
További műveit várólistáztam, mindenképpen érdekel!

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having read some of Le Carre's more recent book, I decided to go back to the beginning and this is the first book that he wrote, and in which he introduced us to his leading character George Smiley. A nice, tight book that is well written and holds the attention it does a very good job of getting the reader into the initial Cold War espionage genre that Le Carre is a master of.
Love the writing style and the characters - oh so very British! - and the way he leads us through the maze of the Spy vs. Spy world that had really just begun to occur in actuality when this book was written back in 1961. I want to read more by this author because I love the style of writing, the plotting and the mind games that Smiley is put through and takes us on. The next book featuring Smiley is quite different in that it has nothing to do with espionage and is the only one of Le Carre's books in which he has Smiley interacting outside of that genre. Why, oh why, did I take so long to join Le Carre's group of avid followers? No idea, but that seems to be a sad refrain that I keep coming to in that the older I get the more books and authors I realize that I have never read. Trying desperately to remedy this situation and Le Carre' is a thinking persons author - no wild chases, no multiple and unnecessary deaths, just George Smiley trying his best to outthink and outwit all of his Cold War enemies. Understated and underwhelming, George Smiley is a great character and I look forward to following more of his missions!

[Barbara K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never previously read this first of LeCarré's books featuring unlikely spy George Smiley, but I'm on a mission to read them all in sequence in 2020 and it seemed like a logical place to begin. This short book left me with a pleasant feeling of settling in with an old friend, both in terms of Smiley's character and LeCarré's writing.

I've read that there is no particular value to reading these books in order, and I can see why it might make sense for a reader to become immersed in the Karla trilogy first. There is certainly more texture and an elevated level of tension in those books when compared with Call for The Dead.

In this entry the author describes a backstory for Smiley that I found satisfying, well suited to this tale (note, though, that LeCarré reinvents this background as it suits the plot of subsequent entries in the series). And it is far less opaque than the later volumes. It's much easier to follow the direction of the story here than it is in the Karla books, for instance.

If I were reviewing this as a newly issued book, I would take exception to the conclusion. Not to how the events are resolved, but to the fact that LeCarré has us inside Smiley's head as he puts all the pieces together, but then has a final scene where Smiley recounts everything again for the other two principals. It felt a bit as if he was trying to pad the ending of what is basically a very short book.

But I won't quibble over that. Call of the Dead left me primed and ready to enjoy more of Smiley throughout the rest of the year.