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Spy Master
CALL FOR THE DEAD. A MURDER OF QUALITY. THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. MYSTERY GUILD LOST CLASSICS OMNIBUS.
455 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
10 people are currently reading
566 people want to read
About the author
John le Carré
370 books9,453 followersJohn 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.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 23, 2012
I've read most of the George Smiley books 10+ years ago and enjoyed them. When the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy came out I added it to my wish list and several other books and received this great book for my birthday.
I don't think I've ever read the 1st books (Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality) but loved them. THe Spy Who Came In From the Cold is fascinating as well.
In each of these books I didn't figure out the twist before, something that usually happens in a mystery type of book. I also really enjoyed the introduction to each book the author provided and learned some new things about le Carre.
Anyways a great introduction set to le Carre and recommend this to everyone
I don't think I've ever read the 1st books (Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality) but loved them. THe Spy Who Came In From the Cold is fascinating as well.
In each of these books I didn't figure out the twist before, something that usually happens in a mystery type of book. I also really enjoyed the introduction to each book the author provided and learned some new things about le Carre.
Anyways a great introduction set to le Carre and recommend this to everyone
February 5, 2017
I probably the last person my age to read the third novel in this omnibus, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Wow, what an amazing story. His first two novels, also in this volume, are certainly entertaining but not predictive of the genius which would be on display in the third. Absolutely compels me to read his further works
February 6, 2021
These are the first LeCarre stories and they are pretty good. Always wanted to read Spy Who Came In From the Cold. LeCarre's prose is really good. Read them in order for stuff to make sense later.
February 20, 2025
While belonging to the same series, these 3 novels cannot be more different.
The first deals with spies but has a murder mystery at its heart (until it turns into a spy novel), the second is a straight mystery - very English and proper, and the third is a classic spy novel (you really cannot get more classic than that). Overall they show an author getting more confident in his craft and developing a style that people either love or hate.
George Smiley is an unlikely hero - he is almost retired at the start (and completely retired by the end of the first novel), he is not handsome or rich and he is not in control of anyone. In the third novel he does not even show up properly - we get a glimpse of him here and there but for the most part, he is behind the scenes. And yet, it is unquestionably a Smiley novel.
In his introduction to the second novel, Otto Penzler points out that despite most of the novels being espionage novels, Smiley is primarily a detective - his methods are closer to those of a detective than the spies that come before him. That's not far from the truth - especially in the first 2 novels here but also later.
In the first novel, a man dies when he really should not have and Smiley goes investigating. There was an interview, it all ended well - and yet the man killed himself. Everyone is ready to close the book on that but Smiley knows that something is just wrong so off he goes, often against the orders of his own department, untangling a death that just does not make sense. The first half of the novel is pure detective procedural; it is just the later chapters that bring the story back into the espionage circles. Along the way we meet a lot of the supporting characters of the series to come -- all the backstory needed for all of them gets tucked into this book so they can emerge and help when needed later.
But it will be later - because A Murder of Quality finds Smiley retired and on an errant for a friend - a letter by a woman who is afraid that she will be murdered turns into a murder and Smiley is off to a small village to investigate. It is an old fashioned British mystery - with the village and the public school next door (in Britain that means private and very expensive...) and two communities which never merge and meet. And yet, they somehow managed to.
And then comes The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - the novel that made le Carré's name. It is a espionage masterpiece in more than one way although it can also be frustrating if one expects action - the only action we really get is in the first and last chapters (both chapters at the Wall); for most of the novel we get secrets, plotting and never knowing what anyone knows or what the truth may be. Even knowing the twist at the end does not take away from the novel's magic (although not knowing it will make it a different kind of reading). And Leamas is even more unlikely hero than Smiley - and yet, he is the only type of a spy who could have pulled off the whole thing. It is almost the opposite of a Bond novel - where Bond is all flash and action; this one is all plotting and carefully constructing the truth.
Overall a good start of the series - not perfect but enjoyable and I am curious to see where le Carré goes next.
The first deals with spies but has a murder mystery at its heart (until it turns into a spy novel), the second is a straight mystery - very English and proper, and the third is a classic spy novel (you really cannot get more classic than that). Overall they show an author getting more confident in his craft and developing a style that people either love or hate.
George Smiley is an unlikely hero - he is almost retired at the start (and completely retired by the end of the first novel), he is not handsome or rich and he is not in control of anyone. In the third novel he does not even show up properly - we get a glimpse of him here and there but for the most part, he is behind the scenes. And yet, it is unquestionably a Smiley novel.
In his introduction to the second novel, Otto Penzler points out that despite most of the novels being espionage novels, Smiley is primarily a detective - his methods are closer to those of a detective than the spies that come before him. That's not far from the truth - especially in the first 2 novels here but also later.
In the first novel, a man dies when he really should not have and Smiley goes investigating. There was an interview, it all ended well - and yet the man killed himself. Everyone is ready to close the book on that but Smiley knows that something is just wrong so off he goes, often against the orders of his own department, untangling a death that just does not make sense. The first half of the novel is pure detective procedural; it is just the later chapters that bring the story back into the espionage circles. Along the way we meet a lot of the supporting characters of the series to come -- all the backstory needed for all of them gets tucked into this book so they can emerge and help when needed later.
But it will be later - because A Murder of Quality finds Smiley retired and on an errant for a friend - a letter by a woman who is afraid that she will be murdered turns into a murder and Smiley is off to a small village to investigate. It is an old fashioned British mystery - with the village and the public school next door (in Britain that means private and very expensive...) and two communities which never merge and meet. And yet, they somehow managed to.
And then comes The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - the novel that made le Carré's name. It is a espionage masterpiece in more than one way although it can also be frustrating if one expects action - the only action we really get is in the first and last chapters (both chapters at the Wall); for most of the novel we get secrets, plotting and never knowing what anyone knows or what the truth may be. Even knowing the twist at the end does not take away from the novel's magic (although not knowing it will make it a different kind of reading). And Leamas is even more unlikely hero than Smiley - and yet, he is the only type of a spy who could have pulled off the whole thing. It is almost the opposite of a Bond novel - where Bond is all flash and action; this one is all plotting and carefully constructing the truth.
Overall a good start of the series - not perfect but enjoyable and I am curious to see where le Carré goes next.
December 6, 2017
There’s a bit of Smiley in all of us. Intriguing, absorbing and amusing tales told by the great John le Carre. Pin-holing le Carre’s first few efforts were difficult, don’t you think? It was a bit like so many other writers that you couldn’t necessarily pin-hole le Carre into one genre. "Call from the Dead", for example, was like an Agatha Christie who-dunnit, except it was espionage. Of course his Smiley books were espionage, but this one also had a confidence trickster feel about it ~ much like some of Len Deighton books, but it wasn’t really. Such was the difficulty you would find when pin-holing the great writing of Le Carre.
In this splendid effort, this reader enjoyed how le Carre used Mundt, not as a main character, but as a character simply lurking in the background. (Of course, Mundt was the villian found in his great spy novel, ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’). Without giving the story too much away, the reader will find out that Fennan, who Smiley routinely interviewed the day before turns up dead. As you would expect from a George Smiley thriller, there were many twists and turns and all wouldn't be revealed until the very end. So be a good reader, and don’t flick to the end to find out what happens. It will unwind very quickly anyway, particularly because it’s only about 100 pages (at least in my version).
In this readers' own copy ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’ would easily get five stars by itself, but with "A Small Town in Germany" along side it, the rating, unfortunately must come down a bit. This old version (published way back in 1983) also has "The Looking Glass War" in it too which makes up a pretty good collection of stories to read.
It would be ideal for that slow office day, a rainy afternoon or for those insomniacs who need to do something to fill in some of their time. So sit back, relax and let le Carre carry you away!
A splendid effort! Easily gets four stars for this collection! Easily!
In this splendid effort, this reader enjoyed how le Carre used Mundt, not as a main character, but as a character simply lurking in the background. (Of course, Mundt was the villian found in his great spy novel, ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’). Without giving the story too much away, the reader will find out that Fennan, who Smiley routinely interviewed the day before turns up dead. As you would expect from a George Smiley thriller, there were many twists and turns and all wouldn't be revealed until the very end. So be a good reader, and don’t flick to the end to find out what happens. It will unwind very quickly anyway, particularly because it’s only about 100 pages (at least in my version).
In this readers' own copy ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’ would easily get five stars by itself, but with "A Small Town in Germany" along side it, the rating, unfortunately must come down a bit. This old version (published way back in 1983) also has "The Looking Glass War" in it too which makes up a pretty good collection of stories to read.
It would be ideal for that slow office day, a rainy afternoon or for those insomniacs who need to do something to fill in some of their time. So sit back, relax and let le Carre carry you away!
A splendid effort! Easily gets four stars for this collection! Easily!
July 15, 2021
Three of Le Carre’s first novels introducing his reluctant hero, George Smiley, are included in this book. The third is the most famous, was made into a movie and pushed Le Carre into the world stage. The first two read more similarly to traditional ‘whodonnits’: murder, obvious suspects, handful of confusing clues and interesting results. George Smiley is introduced as an unlikely detective. He is a mousey, unkempt, bookish man, recently retired from Britain’s Secret Service. He tends to partner with a local policeman and uses his understanding of society and individuals to solve the murders. I enjoyed the first two books as pure murder mysteries, but the third is definitely something unique: a slow, intellectual, spy thriller with little action and lots of plot. The majority of the book is spent setting up an elaborate sting of a supposed East German spy. Until the end the reader is trying to understand who is really stinging whom. The movie with Richard Burton is also quite amazing. In this book Smiley is a side character, but others from the earlier two books reappear. My only complaint about the books is the obvious anti-Semitism, particularly in the first book. It was written in 1961 with parts occurring both before and after WWII. He may have purposefully written the slights, but it was jarring to come from non-Nazi characters.
January 20, 2021
The death of John le Carré prompted me to reread his books from the beginning.
Call for the Dead is a unique novel in that it combines mystery, thriller and espionage in one story. Just the description of Smiley in the opening pages is priceless.
A Murder of Quality is a simple mystery even though George Smiley is the "amateur" sleuth, if you will. It as much a novel of manners in that is spears the snooty attitudes of British public schools (they are private) without mercy.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is, of course, the breakthrough, outstanding espionage story. Smiley only features tangentially in it. The hero is Alec Leamas who embodies all the disenchantment le Carré had with the world of espionage. Watching Leamas go to seed is painful.
Call for the Dead is a unique novel in that it combines mystery, thriller and espionage in one story. Just the description of Smiley in the opening pages is priceless.
A Murder of Quality is a simple mystery even though George Smiley is the "amateur" sleuth, if you will. It as much a novel of manners in that is spears the snooty attitudes of British public schools (they are private) without mercy.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is, of course, the breakthrough, outstanding espionage story. Smiley only features tangentially in it. The hero is Alec Leamas who embodies all the disenchantment le Carré had with the world of espionage. Watching Leamas go to seed is painful.
March 27, 2019
I wrote a review that was lost between the computer and the website. Technology....
May 21, 2021
These were interesting to read in order together. The first two have a casual misogyny and casual sadism that was pretty rote for those genres at that time. Maybe it was perceived as edgy or something, but the unrelieved nastiness of every member of the boys' school was still pretty shocking to me. And then, LeCarre did make the disloyalty of wives/women the central thread of his work, even as he toned down the nastiness factor.
August 29, 2016
Included in this volume are Le Carre's first three novels: A Call for the Dead, A Murder of Quality, and the Spy Who Came in from the Cold. It was my first time reading Le Carre, and this trio of books from the 1960s is a good place to start.
Le Carre is, of course, widely thought of as one of the great Cold War spy-craft writers. George Smiley, who is introduced in these three books, can be mentioned with other famous literary espionage/spy figures like James Bond, Jack Ryan, etc. Smiley though is much less cinematic than these other types. Le Carre writes in a much more grounded style, making the fiction feel more realistic and less like escapist fantasy. There are few large-scale action set pieces, and more bureaucratic maneuvering; fewer explosions and more slow-burning, whispered conversations.
There is a general consensus (which I agree with) that the first two books are sort-of "warm up" novels. Le Carre is getting is footing as a writer and just starting to build a world. As other reviewers note, though Smiley is the protagonist of both books, they feel more like mystery novels than world-spanning international spy fiction. Smiley encounters a "case" and by the book's end, has solved it. They are entertaining and satisfying books, but would scarcely be remembered if it weren't for the rest of Le Carre's work.
The third book in the volume, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold is considered something of a classic of the genre, and deservingly so. Smiley and other characters from the earlier books are peripheral characters in this one, but it is still one connected world. It is an engrossing read that had me guessing about agents, double-agents, moles, and motives from start to finish. Written in an understated style, but with some lovely literary flourishes throughout. A great, thinking-person's spy thriller.
Le Carre is, of course, widely thought of as one of the great Cold War spy-craft writers. George Smiley, who is introduced in these three books, can be mentioned with other famous literary espionage/spy figures like James Bond, Jack Ryan, etc. Smiley though is much less cinematic than these other types. Le Carre writes in a much more grounded style, making the fiction feel more realistic and less like escapist fantasy. There are few large-scale action set pieces, and more bureaucratic maneuvering; fewer explosions and more slow-burning, whispered conversations.
There is a general consensus (which I agree with) that the first two books are sort-of "warm up" novels. Le Carre is getting is footing as a writer and just starting to build a world. As other reviewers note, though Smiley is the protagonist of both books, they feel more like mystery novels than world-spanning international spy fiction. Smiley encounters a "case" and by the book's end, has solved it. They are entertaining and satisfying books, but would scarcely be remembered if it weren't for the rest of Le Carre's work.
The third book in the volume, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold is considered something of a classic of the genre, and deservingly so. Smiley and other characters from the earlier books are peripheral characters in this one, but it is still one connected world. It is an engrossing read that had me guessing about agents, double-agents, moles, and motives from start to finish. Written in an understated style, but with some lovely literary flourishes throughout. A great, thinking-person's spy thriller.
September 1, 2015
The start of the Smiley series! The first two in the series take more of a detective framework while the third one (Spy who came in from the cold) is considered the greatest spy novel of all time. Le Carre creates a fantastic world that continues in the honourable school boy, the looking glass war, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, and Russia house. Really recommended for all spy novel enthusiasts. Fair warning: Le Carre created more realistic spy stories that are not focused on car cashes or anything close to James Bond stories.
August 27, 2016
I haven't read many Le Carre books, but was led to believe that this one was a spy masterpiece. I'm not sure if it was the heightened expectations or some other reason, but this book certainly did not pass muster in my opinion. The story is not complex enough for a so called spy masterpiece and as a result I was left quite disappointed. All Ludlum books I've read have been way better than this.
October 22, 2015
Great reading - I enjoyed these spy novels. Spy who came in from the cold would make a great movie; it had me flip flopping on what was really going on the entire time. Sadly, I've finished and all I have left on this business trip are books by Hayek and Buchanan...leaving the spy world behind for the great thrills of economic thought?
October 4, 2018
Plenty of cringey 60s slang to be had.
So much, in fact, that I think this really wants footnotes. There were large chunks where I totally lost the plot and I don't think it's just the sleep deprivation.
Shame, too, because some parts - Leamas "going to seed" for example - are quite enjoyable.
So much, in fact, that I think this really wants footnotes. There were large chunks where I totally lost the plot and I don't think it's just the sleep deprivation.
Shame, too, because some parts - Leamas "going to seed" for example - are quite enjoyable.
September 30, 2010
Very interesting spy novels. I love the small references between the stories to each other, makes the world feel complete and more real. Le Carre is a fantastic author. Read these slowly to get the full depth.
February 8, 2013
So far I've read the first novel in this collection, Call for the Dead. It was a well crafted mystery with some espionage trappings and a fascinating main character. Unfortunately I never felt compelled enough to read the other two.
April 24, 2012
I really enjoyed these novels. It took a little while to get into the first one but once I started, I didn't want to put them down. "The Spy" is definitely the best one though. I really enjoyed it!!
October 11, 2009
An excellent collection of Cold War era spy novels by a man who understands the genre.
Want to read
December 22, 2008so far...so good...book 1 of 3 was fun
Read
November 10, 2025Back story on Smiley
November 30, 2010
The movie follows the book. Read fro book club.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews