The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

by John le Carré

Alex Leamas is tired. It's the 1960s, he's been out in the cold for years, spying in Berlin for his British masters, and has seen too many good agents murdered for their troubles. Now Control wants to bring him in at last - but only after one final assignment.

He must travel deep into the heart of Communist Germany and betray his country, a job that he will do with his usual cynical professionalism. But when George Smiley tries to help a young woman Leamas has befriended, Leamas's mission may prove to be the worst thing he could ever have done.

In le Carr's breakthrough work of 1963, the spy story is reborn as a gritty and terrible tale of men who are caught up in politics beyond their imagining.

Paperback

Published September 3, 2013

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.

Le Carré died at Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro, on 12 December 2020, aged 89. An inquest completed in June 2021 concluded that le Carré died after sustaining a fall at his home.

abridged from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

“her black hair drawn across her cheek as if to protect her from the rain” and “he stood glaring round him like a blinded bull in the arena”. what a book…..what a final page…..!
This book feels so much more physical than other Le Carre’s, more urgent. Is he TOO good? Ten stars. Obviously the famously very brilliant book was brilliant. I want to read it again right away.