Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré

Novel by John Le Carré
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Description

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the endeavors of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service known as "the Circus" because its London office is at Cambridge Circus. At the height of the Cold War in 1973, a former senior official of Circus has been wrestling with retirement and disillusionment for a year after an operation in Czechoslovakia, codenamed Testify, ended in disaster with the capture and torture of agent Jim Prideaux. The failure resulted in the dismissals of Smiley and his superior, Control, the head of the Circus.




Now, Smiley is summoned to a secret meeting with a member of the Cabinet Office. Evidence testifies that the Circus has been infiltrated at the highest level by a Russian agent. An implanted mole has been destroying Circus in the process. 




The Circus relies only on Smiley's wit and a small loyal cadre. He is assigned to identify the traitor and destroy him, even though it (traitor) could be his closest one. 'Find the mole, George. Clean the stables. Do whatever is necessary.' Reluctantly Smiley agrees and embarks on the dark journey with the past filled with love, duplicity, and betrayal. Simley recognizes the hand of Karla--his Moscow Centre nemesis-- and sets a trap to catch the traitor.




Review




'A great thriller, the best le Carré has written'. -- Spectator




" A spy, like a writer, lives outside the mainstream population. He steals his experience through bribes and reconstructs it." -- John Le Carré




Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the fifth novel of Smiley's series. At the time of its publication, the novel had received critical acclaim for its complex social commentary and lack sensationalism but remains a staple of the spy fiction genre. The title will be familiar to many who have never even read this book as it was taken from a nursery rhyme. 




Notwithstanding, The book is one of the greatest spy novels on the shelf. It's a good read for book lovers, especially for those who love to read spy, suspense, and thriller. The icy atmosphere of the Cold War is brought brilliantly to life via a cast of memorable characters who all have their own motivations for the act of loyalty, friendship, daring... and betrayal. It reflects the cold war period and hostility and suspicion which existed between the two armed camps, NATO and the Soviet Union. It is a good read for anyone who is not familiar with the Cold War and its tensions. The novel is a real period piece and moves at a good pace. 




It is a modern classic in which John Le Carré expertly creates a total vision of a secret world. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy begins with George Smiley's chess match of wills and wits with Karla, his Soviet counterpart.

Adaptation
TV

•  In September 1979, a seven-part TV miniseries of the same name was made by BBC. It was directed by John Irvin, produced by Jonathan Powell, and starred Alec Guinness as George Smiley and Ricki Tarr was played by Hywel Bennett.

Radio

• In 1988, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a dramatization, by Rene Basilico, of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in seven weekly half-hour episodes, produced by John Fawcett-Wilson.
• In 2009, BBC Radio 4 also broadcast a new dramatization, by Shaun McKenna, of the eight George Smiley novels by John Le Carré, featuring Simon Russell Beale as Smiley and produced by Steven Canny. The series was repeated in 2016 on BBC Radio 4 Extra. It has since been released as a boxed set by the BBC. 
• BBC audiobook in CD and audio cassette formats in which Bernard Hepton portrays George Smiley.

Film

• In 2011, the Oscar-nominated feature film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was directed by a Swedish director Tomas Alfredson and starred Gary Oldman as Smiley, Colin Firth, and Tom Hardy. It was based on a screenplay by Bridget O'Conner and Peter Straughan. It included a cameo appearance by John Le Carre in the Christmas Party Scene as the older man in the grey who sings the Soviet anthem. 

About the Author

David John Moore Cornwell (born on 19 October 1931 in Dorset, England), is better known by the pen name John Le Carré, is a British author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and 1960s, he worked for both the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). 

He is one of the greatest spy authors in the literature world. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), became an international best-seller and remains one of his best-known works. After the success of this novel, he left MI6  and became a full-time author. Several of his books have been adapted for film and television, including The Constant Gardener, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and The Night Manager. 

He has been awarded many awards and honors such as the following:

• In 1964, Le Carré won the Somerset Maugham Award.
• In 1998, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letter) from the University of Bath.
• In 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern.
• In 2008, The Times ranked him 22nd on its list of "The 50 greatest British Writers since 1945".
• In 2011, he was awarded the Goethe Medal, a yearly prize given by the Goethe Institute.
• In 2012, he was awarded the Degree of Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa, by the University of Oxford.
• In 2020, he won the Olof Palme Prize.

Le Carré has lived in St. Buryan, Cornwall for more than 40 years; he owns a mile of a cliff near Land's End.

John Le Carré
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Rating: 4.2/5

Author: John Le Carré

Publisher: Penguin Books

Publishing Date: June 7, 2011 (Reprint edition)

Language: English

Genre: Spy Novel, Political Thriller, Espionage Thriller, Military Thriller

ISBN-10: 0143119788

ISBN-13: 978-0143119784

Pages: 400

Cost: $18.95 (Hardcover)