From Barnes and Noble: “For Leamas the espionage business has become an hermetic, enclosed world, detached from outside reality. He has watched his last agent being shot, crossing from East to West Berlin, and his death marks the end of the Circus’ East German network. But Control is planning an operation against the head of East German Intelligence. And Leamas is to be the instrument, set in East one last time….”
This was a book club read. We tend to read quite a bit of Victorian era fiction, so Le Carre was a definite step outside the box for us. I, for one, completely enjoyed the difference in the genre and loved the fast pace and constant suspense of being a part of the spy world. The entire book was clear and concise, almost as if we were the spies and Le Carre didn’t want to give away any additional information that might harm his network or him. The book kept me engaged so much that I finished it two weeks before the rest of the group. What got me the most excited was the fact that just Le Carre does give us hints and glimpses of the truth. The ending should not come as a surprise if you are paying close attention, like a spy would.
As portions of the book were set in Berlin, I got a secret thrill of recognizing certain street names and landmarks mentioned. Granted, I was there after the wall came down, but the streets haven’t changed. It was different reading about a time when the wall was being built, and I had to reflect on just how much life has changed since then. I am so glad the Cold War is over!
In all, I was thoroughly impressed this this book and would highly recommend it to others. I’ve even started browbeating my husband into adding it to his list of books to read. If you want something out of the ordinary – a quick, suspenseful read, this is the book for you!
