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The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (George Smiley #3)

by John le Carré, Joseph Kanon (Goodreads Author) (Foreword by)

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 · rating details · 16,790 ratings · 1,169 reviews

A new hardcover edition of the book Graham Greene called “the best spy story I have ever read.”

On its publication in 1964, John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold forever changed the landscape of spy fiction. Le Carré combined the inside knowledge of his years in British intelligence with the skills of the best novelists to produce a story as taut as it is twisti...more

Hardcover, 256 pages

Published September 1st 2005 by Walker & Company (first published 1963)

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Oct 11, 2012 Chiara Pagliochini rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: letteratura-inglese

« Solo molto raramente – come adesso, al momento di coricarsi – si concedeva il pericoloso lusso di ammettere la grandiosa bugia che aveva vissuto ».

Sarò sincera: non avrei scommesso un soldo su le Carré. Perciò il fatto che l’abbia trovato piacevole si abbatte sul mio capo come una punizione letteraria, come la gogna dei miei pregiudizi. Sì, questo romanzo mi è piaciuto. Mea culpa, mea grandissima culpa. E, soprattutto, grande sorpresa per coloro ai quali, nelle passate settantadue ore, ho dat...more

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Apr 24, 2011 Kemper rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: spy-vs-spy, 100, classic-lit

It’s been over 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell, and as someone who grew up in the 1970s - 80s, reading about dueling Cold War spies gave me a weird nostalgic rush. “The Soviets? East Germans? Damn! We used to HATE those guys!”

In this era where decades of misdeeds by intelligence agencies are common knowledge and the notion of elaborate spy games are widely used fictional plots, it’s a little hard to imagine how groundbreaking this book was back in 1963. James Bond was in full literary swing...more It’s been over 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell, and as someone who grew up in the 1970s - 80s, reading about dueling Cold War spies gave me a weird nostalgic rush. “The Soviets? East Germans? Damn! We used to HATE those guys!”

In this era where decades of misdeeds by intelligence agencies are common knowledge and the notion of elaborate spy games are widely used fictional plots, it’s a little hard to imagine how groundbreaking this book was back in 1963. James Bond was in full literary swing and just beginning his cinematic career, and most people in the western nations still trusted their governments and believed that their spies were the good guys who would hold back those dirty Commies with sheer moral superiority.

It had to have been a hell of a shock to read a novel like this from a writer who had worked for British intelligence who convincingly told a story where the conflict between the two sides was a series of elaborate con games about either hiding what you knew or tricking the other guy into believing a lie. And as demonstrated here, both sides fully believed that the ends justified the means.

Alec Leamas is with the British intelligence service nicknamed the Circus and runs their operations in West Berlin. However, he’s lost every valuable agent he had to a ruthless East German operative named Mundt. Leamas is recalled by the Circus back to London where he is offered a dangerous new assignment. The Circus demotes Leamas. He pretends to become a disgruntled drunk who eventually loses his job and his pension, and he briefly gets sent to prison after assaulting someone. The ploy is to make the other side think that Leamas is ripe to turn on the Circus so that they can plant false intelligence and get back at Mundt. However, Leamas may have made a critical mistake by actually falling in love while playing a drunken disgrace.

Even with nearly 50 years worth of spy stories after this using similar plots, this book still had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing. The theme about how the supposed ‘good guys’ were just as willing to use any individual or deal with any devil to get the job done as the ‘bad guys’ were is just as relevant today as it was when it was first written. I can’t believe it took me this long to read this book.(less)

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Apr 24, 2011 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, need-to-buy, spy-stuff, 1954-1969

4.5 to 5.0 stars. Okay to begin this review I want to point out that, except for a number of Tom Clancy novels, I have only read a handful of spy thrillers so what impressed me about this book may be pretty typical stuff in the better works of the genre. Also, I have not seen the movie adaptation based and knew nothing about the plot coming in (a condition I highly recommend if you have the chance).

With that introduction made, I LOVED THIS BOOK. For a book published in 1963, once you get past s...more 4.5 to 5.0 stars. Okay to begin this review I want to point out that, except for a number of Tom Clancy novels, I have only read a handful of spy thrillers so what impressed me about this book may be pretty typical stuff in the better works of the genre. Also, I have not seen the movie adaptation based and knew nothing about the plot coming in (a condition I highly recommend if you have the chance).

With that introduction made, I LOVED THIS BOOK. For a book published in 1963, once you get past some obvious anachronisms (e.g., the Berlin wall, who the bad guy are, the sense of optimism that the world may not be totally fucked....sorry couldn't resist...), the book did not feel dated at all. I was absolutely captivated from the opening scene to the incredible ending and I highly recommend this book.

The plot deals with a British case officer working in West Berlin who, after losing his last agent operating in East Berlin, returns to London and contemplates retirement. However, his superiors have one last assignment for him and one for which his current state of mind is ideal for. They want him to “defect” and set up his nemesis in the end game of a plan that has been in the works for years. All of this takes place at the very beginning of the novel so I don’t think I am giving away any spoilers.

From here, this tightly woven, brilliantly executed plot moves at an incredibly fast pace and is filled with superb twists, amazing dialogue and great characters, all of which blur the lines between good and bad. In fact, one of the most impressive aspects of the novel is the way it portrays the world of espionage as being a world filled with “grey” people doing often immoral things but for what they consider "the greater good." This aspect of espionage work has always intrigued me and I have never come across a book that portrays this better.

Bottom-line, this was a great read that packed a very enjoyable, detailed story in its slim, svelte 224 pages. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

One final note: I listened to the audio version of this book read by Frank Muller (one of my favorite narrators who tragically passed away a few years ago) and thought he did a superb job and added to the enjoyment of the story.
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May 17, 2013 umberto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: spy-fiction

This spy fiction is especially recommended since it's written by John le Carre who once worked in the famous MI5 in the UK, he has known his tradecraft well and thus can write this wonderful fiction from his experience. Some young or middle-aged readers might rarely find his novels readable, this might be the one you should start with; one reason is that it is, as well as each chapter, not too lengthy.

I first read this novel in my 20's during my college years, that is, in the midst of the Cold W...more

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May 04, 2011 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Burned-out spies

Shelves: audiobook, thriller, spy, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, modern-classic, germany, england

Having just indulged my sweet tooth with Ian Fleming's spy candy, I sampled the more refined pleasures of John le Carré, who wrote a tense spy thriller without any gadgets or heroics or sultry seductresses. Instead, Alec Leamas is a middle-aged alcoholic on the verge of retirement from the spy game; burned out, embittered, and about to be cashiered for a string of failures while running England's spy network in Cold War Berlin. He's recruited for one final mission: to target the dangerous East G...more Having just indulged my sweet tooth with Ian Fleming's spy candy, I sampled the more refined pleasures of John le Carré, who wrote a tense spy thriller without any gadgets or heroics or sultry seductresses. Instead, Alec Leamas is a middle-aged alcoholic on the verge of retirement from the spy game; burned out, embittered, and about to be cashiered for a string of failures while running England's spy network in Cold War Berlin. He's recruited for one final mission: to target the dangerous East German spymaster who's been responsible for the deaths of so many Western agents. His mission is almost derailed when he falls in love with a naive librarian who also happens to be a member of the Communist Party in England. There's some action and danger, but only in a few quick, confusing encounters in the dark. And there are tons of twists and double-crosses; everything works out logically in the end, but along the way le Carré jerks you around making you think first one person, then the other is the traitor, the double-agent, the one who's really been pulling the strings all along. The ending is a bitter and amoral one as Leamas discovers what he already knew, that there may be good guys and bad guys in the Cold War, but everyone is gray in the dark.

This was a great spy story. Read Fleming for fun, but read le Carré for a more literary thriller where spies actually act like spies, and believable human beings, and everyone is a little bit dirty. Le Carré writes without a lot of excess description, but the dialog brings the characters to life, and it's the plot where he excels. There are no gratuitous scenes catering to the men's magazine readership (like with naked gypsy catfights) and a lot less of the racist, sexist pandering; this is a much more intellectual story. The climax is a showdown between rival secret agents but not on a speeding train but in an East German secret trial where control over the outcome bounces back and forth like a ping-pong ball, carried entirely by characters delivering monologues.(less)

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Mar 14, 2013 Ebookwormy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Ebookwormy by: Voted #6 of 100 best mysteries of all time by Mystery Writers of

Shelves: mystery, fiction, 1-character-forming

Voted #6 of 100 best mysteries of all time by Mystery Writers of America (www.mysterywriters.org) and see also World Magazine January 12/19, 2008, pg. 27).

An excellent read. This book is much drier and less sensational than the James Bond genre, and i have to say I like that. Generally, I'm not into the spy novel scene; I found the dose of reality engaging.

The plot is complicated, but easily understood. The reader is given the feel of what it is like to be an agent who only has some of the piec...more Voted #6 of 100 best mysteries of all time by Mystery Writers of America (www.mysterywriters.org) and see also World Magazine January 12/19, 2008, pg. 27).

An excellent read. This book is much drier and less sensational than the James Bond genre, and i have to say I like that. Generally, I'm not into the spy novel scene; I found the dose of reality engaging.

The plot is complicated, but easily understood. The reader is given the feel of what it is like to be an agent who only has some of the pieces/ understanding to what is happening. Glimpses of the difficult process of trying to determine which intelligence is accurate and which is not as the scenario develops. Intriguing. Characters have depth. There is a sense it which the reader wants to determine "which side" each one is playing for, and their personalities come into play when trying to determine who they are working for and how they might respond to the situation at hand. Based on the recommendation (above), all of this was expected to me.

What I didn't expect takes place in the last 50 pages of the book. Le Carre, via dialogue of two characters, treats us to a debate on the cost verses benefit of espionage, using concepts from the book scenario. As the author is an insider to the espionage business, this interchange is well informed and challenging. The ending plays into the arguments presented. It took my mind awhile to chug through these philosophical concepts and figure out what I thought about them.

This is a good book for our time as our country struggles with the cost verses benefit to intelligence/ espionage and debates decisions based on intelligence. Though the theater of conflict has changed (from the cold war setting in the book to the new war against terror) the questions, philosophies and risks remain the same.

One last comment. The plot and discussion of espionage are presented purely from a humanistic standpoint (in fact God, the Bible, Christianity, etc are mentioned and generally rejected by the characters). I found myself struggling with the dissonance of attempting to apply Biblical perspective to the very grey, flawed, so far from ideal world of government, politics and intelligence. I would enjoy discussing this book, these philosophical arguments, and the role of a Biblical standard with others.(less)

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Aug 26, 2007 Alison rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of the spy genre

Shelves: alltime100novel

I had never read anything by John Le Carre, but knew that he was wildly popular. I can see why this book was an instant classic. It was short, perfectly edited, but manages to pack more plot into it's 212 pages than any other book I know.

The story is of Leamus, a spy for Britain, working in East Berlin during the Cold War. He wants to leave the trade, but is lured in for one final mission (aren't they all?) He is to pretend that he was let go by the British, and that he has spiraled into drunken...more

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Jul 11, 2007 Olivia Kienzel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

more terms of art and other things that have become a bit dated than book:the russia house, but still, just devastating and brilliant. this was my introduction to author:john le carre, and i quickly saw why everyone has always admired him (thanks for passing this on to me, teddo).
now i need to read some of the smiley novels. i just can't get over his style, his inventiveness, his complete imagination (either these things happened directly to him or he's a helluva genius). even if they did happen...more

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Dec 08, 2008 Casey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Spoiler Alert: His mom had soup and hot chocolate for him.

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Nov 03, 2009 Dionisia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Dionisia by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die #430

Shelves: own, 1001-booklist, lit-flix, espionage, europe

I was unprepared for the journey this book would take me on. Maybe this was because I don't read very many spy novels or maybe it was because John le Carré is just that good.

"And suddenly, with the terrible clarity of a man too long deceived, Leamus understood the whole ghastly trick." [CH 23: Confession]

At the end of chapter 23 Alec Leamus had the ultimate "aha" moment. Sadly, I realized I had not a clue what his revelation was. I was stumped and desperately racking my brain to recall any infor...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, read-in-2012, time-magazine-100

The next book in the Time Challenge complete...full thoughts here:
http://michaelpucci.wordpress.com/201...

I was surprised by how little action there is in this book; most of the tension comes from people speaking (read: deceiving) to each other. After a deliberately-paced first half, the second half is a flurry of crosses and double crosses, deceptions and misinformation, begging the reader to start over to see how le Carre pulled it off.

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Aug 05, 2008 Pete rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" by John le Carre is an entertaining spy story, and I enjoyed every page of it. It is unpredictable, suspenseful, and it feels authentic, particularly when compared with Ian Fleming's James Bond. Le Carre's characters are human, with human flaws, and they don't dispatch their enemies with flippant one-liners. There are a few one-meeeeeellion doahllar moments in this 45 year old book, but the themes hold up well with age. The central theme is the amorality of We...more

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Apr 01, 2010 Mohammed rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Must read for spy,political thriller fans

Shelves: espionage-and-other-thrillers

My first John Le Carrè book and i enjoyed every page of it. It was realistic,exciting,gripping.

It managed to pack more plot into it's 212 pages than most longer,padded books in the same genre today.
The best thing about the book was how real the spy world was in the story and how ugly it was just like in the real world and not like most spy books. Alec Leamas was very believable character just like every other character in the book.

The last chapter of the book is probably one of the most memorabl...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, cold, war, novel

Alec Leamas is a world weary secret agent for British counter-intelligence, working out of Berlin. He has been running a network of agents in Berlin for many years, very successfully, but recently things have been going wrong, and when his last agent is shot and killed trying to crossover into the West, he returns to England. His boss, Control, asks him to do one final very important (and very dangerous) assignment, a devious plan designed to result in the death of the powerful head of East Germ...more

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May 09, 2013 Vinh Lu rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. **** Spoiler Alert! There are spoilers in this review! ******

This was a relatively short book (a little over 200 pages.) I don't usually read books about spys and espionage but I saw that this book was voted (or some editor elected it I'm not sure) as the best spy novel of all time by a literary magazine so I thought I'll give it a read. Having read it, I'm not quite sure I would agree but I really don't have any other experience in this genre to compare. I do like movies about spy and espionage...more **** Spoiler Alert! There are spoilers in this review! ******

This was a relatively short book (a little over 200 pages.) I don't usually read books about spys and espionage but I saw that this book was voted (or some editor elected it I'm not sure) as the best spy novel of all time by a literary magazine so I thought I'll give it a read. Having read it, I'm not quite sure I would agree but I really don't have any other experience in this genre to compare. I do like movies about spy and espionage so that is what I will compare it to. This book is more of a thinking man's spy novel. Instead of action and cool gadgets like James Bond and the Jason Bourne movies, if they made the movie out of this book, it would be a bunch of people talking.

I was curious as to why this is considered such a great book so I checked my favorite source Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, when this book came out, the concept of the book was radically different than previous spy novels. Previous spy novels portrayed it as romantic and thrilling. This book was more realistic and show the moral ubiquity of the profession. After reading this description I will agree that the book seem fairly realistic.

The book is about a British spy named Alec Leamas who undergoes an operation (his last) to bring down a high level officer from Germany named Mundt. But this operation does not involve any gun play or sabotage. The operation was mainly one of deception. Leamas pretends to defect to Germany and plants seeds of betrayal involving Mundt, claiming that he is actually a British double agent. The intention was to disqualify him and have his own people bring him down (the punishment for treason is death.) Mundt is a cold blooded killer and operative, having killed most of Leamas's men so that was his main motivation to bring him down. Most of the book was Leamas being interrogated by other counter intelligence operatives (especially by one by the name of Fiedler) and a trial for Mundt as they try to figure if what he is saying is true or not. There is a big twist ending that I did not see coming.

It is hard to discuss this book without discussing the twist ending, so I will discuss this twist. The twist at the end was that the actual target of the operation was Fiedler and not Mundt. The higher ups in the British counter intelligence (appropriately named Control) lied to Leamas. The truth was Mundt was actually really a British double agent. Fiedler was targeted because Fiedler has always suspected that Mundt was a double agent. Fiedler was getting too close to the truth. However, the moral ubiquity of the novel was that Fiedler was a good man. He was simply doing his job as a German operative. Mundt had no morals. He was a cold blooded killer and racist and traitor. However, he is at a level where he can and has provided valuable intelligence to the British agency so they must protect him and bring down Fielder (kill him.) For the agency, the ends justify the means. And that was the radical idea in the book. It shows that no matter which side you are on, you must do questionable things to further your goal. It was a new idea as most of the previous spy novels were always clear cut patriotic (our side is good, and their side is evil.) In that sense, the book achieved it's goal of showing the ugly side of the spy business. However, as I prefer more action in my spies, I guess this book was not for me.(less)

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May 04, 2013 Susan Oleksiw rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My family talked about this book for years, and I came away thinking I had read it. But I began to wonder if I had. It's interesting to read this well-known book after the spy and thriller genre have developed so much.

Leamas runs the network in Berlin, and the story opens with an agent being killed while trying to cross from East to West. Leamas returns to London, having lost basically his entire network of agents, and is headed for retirement. He and his superiors come up with a plan to trap hi...more

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Apr 20, 2013 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What prompted me to read this book some 50 years after it was written was the an article the author that appeared in a recent issue of the New Yorker. This was LeCarre's breakthrough novel and the first one that was made into a movie. I suppose if I hadn't read a synopsis before I started, I would have had a better sense of suspense in the story. Still I enjoyed how the story unfolded.

One of the characteristics of a LeCarre novel, is the way he shows how the similar the intelligence agencies we...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Nick Ziegler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“…in our world we pass so quickly out of the register of hate or love — like certain sounds a dog can’t hear. All that’s left in the end is a kind of nausea; you never want to cause suffering again.”

I was attracted to this novel because it is reputed to have been controversial for suggesting a moral equivalency between the West and the Soviets, as early as 1963. This is true, in relation to the espionage agencies at least. Le Carre worked for the British intelligence services, as we all know, an...more “…in our world we pass so quickly out of the register of hate or love — like certain sounds a dog can’t hear. All that’s left in the end is a kind of nausea; you never want to cause suffering again.”

I was attracted to this novel because it is reputed to have been controversial for suggesting a moral equivalency between the West and the Soviets, as early as 1963. This is true, in relation to the espionage agencies at least. Le Carre worked for the British intelligence services, as we all know, and we can see him working out his frustrations and his doubts on these pages. One working thesis is that espionage as practiced in the 20th century was incompatible with Western democracy, or any ideology that grants special importance to the individual. Fiedler, an East German true believer, suggests that while for the Communist a secret service is the "natural extension of his arm" because it sacrifices individuals for the sake of collectivities, Britain's intelligence services are "shrouded in a kind of pudeur anglaise." In Leamas, we see a man who, perhaps in order to avoid that very guilt, has retreated into anomie.

It is suggested, then, that while the Communists had a positive ideology to rely upon, it was difficult for a Western Cold Warrior to know why he did what he did. We know from history that the West did have a positive ideology -- free market capitalism and the like -- but this was early in the Cold War, and we don't see that articulated in the novel. Furthermore, the West always positioned itself as post (or pre) ideological: while the Communists had axes to grind, the West stood manifestly for what is just and right and rational. Likewise, when Fiedler asks Leamas what agents on his side believe in, he tells him they don't believe in anything. "We're not Marxists, we're nothing. Just people."

However much the espionage agencies on both sides are shown to operate in murky, amoral waters -- and evidently this was shocking for the time -- there is no moral equivalency posited between the societies they serve. On the most basic level, this is a novel in which we want Leamas to win, and we want him to have his love with Liz. But again, we are upset when Fiedley is thrown under the bus -- he was a Communist true believer, whereas Mundt was a traitor. A traitor who helped the West, but unlikeable nonetheless. Le Carre encourages our disdain for Mundt by making him an antisemite, even as he is exonerated somewhat from his murders. What little is shown of East Germany is not favorable -- there is a potato shortage, leaving black bread, ersatz coffee, and blood sausages the choice menu items of the Democratic Republic. The delusions of the East are demonstrated by the prison commissar who declares to Liz that in England "the workers are starving," only to shortly thereafter ask Liz if she might have her meal.

All that aside, the novel is spartan and well constructed. There isn't a wasted sentence, save maybe some near the end, when Le Carre feels the need to drive some of his points home with the argument between Lameas and Liz. The plot cleverly works upon the reader in the way a spy novel ought to. Le Carre is a shrewd observer of human behavior, and knew how people would act when exposed to the significant pressures of the international spy game. As you must know if you are considering reading this, it is not James Bond, and there are no superhuman feats of derring-do. The characters are as intelligent as the reader, and no one is a dupe. This makes the resolution of the novel satisfying, rather than cheap.(less)

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Apr 12, 2013 Anirban rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: political-spy-thriller, award-winners, british-mystery

This was my first Le Carre novel, and frankly speaking I am a bit confused. I cant say that I hated it or I liked it very much. All I can say is that IT WAS DIFFERENT.
I have grown up on spy thrillers by Fredrick Forsyth, Robert Ludlum and others, and always, in their books, there is a lot of movement, a lot of action, which was missing in this book. While reading it, more than once, I had the feeling of reading a drama instead of a thriller.
Now, why I had that feeling? Normally, a thriller nee...more

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Apr 09, 2013 Csaba Torma rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: espionage

For one of my seminars it was compulsory to read this book. At first I was sceptical, but after finishing the book I was quite surprised. The whole "spy world" of the Cold War was perferctly described in the book. Each character was perfectly built up through the book. At first it may seems that everything is a chaos, it's hard to memorize things in the beginning, however after I read half of the book, everything became clearer. I really liked how almost everything was connected to each other an...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Fran rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. BEWARE. BELOW THERE BE DRAGONS, KNOWN TO YE LANDLUBBERS AS SPOILERS!

I first read The Spy Who Came in From the Cold 25 or 30 years ago, when stories about families trying to dodge searchlights and bullets were regular features on the news. Recently, I found a nice copy at a thrift store and reread it today. It's an odd experience, knowing with certainty that you've read a book, and yet remembering so little about it. Here's what I recall from that first reading, when I was in high school or col...more BEWARE. BELOW THERE BE DRAGONS, KNOWN TO YE LANDLUBBERS AS SPOILERS!

I first read The Spy Who Came in From the Cold 25 or 30 years ago, when stories about families trying to dodge searchlights and bullets were regular features on the news. Recently, I found a nice copy at a thrift store and reread it today. It's an odd experience, knowing with certainty that you've read a book, and yet remembering so little about it. Here's what I recall from that first reading, when I was in high school or college: It was compelling, tense, and hard to put down. It had an overwhelming sense of sadness and injustice. It ended badly. That's it. I couldn't remember the plot or characters at all.

Now, two or three decades on, I'm older, more cynical, and more schooled in the spy genre from LeCarre's other books about George Smiley, blockbuster Bourne movies, and all the rest. And I'm impressed by how well this book has held up. The Cold War may be over and pieces of the Berlin wall gathering dust on bookcases around the world, but in the age of zero dark thirty torture, LeCarre's work not only rings true, but holds an important lesson we would do well to remember. In cold, terse, implacable prose, he lays bare a game where the master players contradict the very freedoms and values they claim to be protecting.

LeCarre creates a sense of urgent tension and danger from the first page, throwing us into the unsure, anxious mind of Berlin station head Alec Leamas, whose double agent is shot dead in front of his eyes while trying to escape to the West. Soon Alec is recruited by a largely off-screen George Smiley into a convoluted plot to bring down their chief nemesis in the East through a long game of subterfuge. To accomplish this, Leamas must pretend to be drunk, degenerate, and disgruntled, apparently fired from the Circus (Britain's spy agency) without his pension, left to take a demoralizing job in a library indexing books. There, he becomes lovers with a young, idealistic girl who belongs to the Communist Party. He further degenerates, contriving to have himself thrown in prison, all to make himself a ripe fruit for plucking by the other side. As an apparent defector, he will spring the trap by convincing the East Germans that their lead spy is actually a double agent, thus neutralizing him. LeCarre skillfully keeps Leamas -- and the reader -- on edge, unsure of what's happening, who should be trusted, and whether or not the middle-aged Alec is even up to the task.

LeCarre has a Hemingwayesque style. Told mostly through interior thoughts and dialogue, the tone is oddly detached, almost cold. And yet we care about what happens to Leamas and the girl, longing for everything to work out in the end, all the while that detached tone reminding us that we know better.

It's remarkable how LeCarre creates and sustains two opposing tones simultaneously in this book -- a sense of urgent suspense (and the hope that underlies it) and a overwhelming world-wearyness. Here's one devastating passage, where Liz, the naive communist, attends her first party meeting in Germany:

At last, on the fourth day, a Thursday, came their own Branch Meeting. This was to be for Liz at least, the most exhilarating experience of all; it would be an example of all that her own branch in Bayswater could one day be. They had chosen a wonderful title for the evening discussions "Coexistence After Two Wars," and they expected a record attendance. The whole ward had been circularized; they had taken care to see there was no rival meeting in the neighborhood that evening; it was not a late shopping day.

Seven people came.

Seven people and Liz and the branch secretary and the man from District. Liz put a brave face on it but she was terribly upset. She could scarcely concentrate on the speaker and when she tried he used long German compounds that she couldn't work out anyway. It was like the meetings in Bayswater, it was like midweek evensong when she used to go to church --the same dutiful little group of lost faces, the same fussy self-consciousness, the same feeling of a great idea in the hands of little people. She always felt the same thing-- it was awful really but she did --she wished no one would turn out because that was absolute and it suggested persecution, humiliation it was something you could react to.

But seven people were nothing; they were worse than nothing because they were evidence of the inertia of the uncapturable mass. They broke your heart.

Near the end of the book, Leamas viciously tears the scales from Liz's eyes. Explaining that he, too, was deceived by the spymasters who run him, he nevertheless capitulates to the winning move.

"There's only one law in this game," Leamas retorted. "Mundt is their man; he gives them what they need. That's easy enough to understand, isn't it? Leninism –the expediency of temporary alliances. What do you think spies are; priests saints and martyrs? They're a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists, and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives. Do you think they sit like monks in London, balancing the rights and wrongs? I 'd have killed Mundt if I could, I hate his guts; but not now. It so happens that they need him. They need him so that the great moronic mass you admire can sleep soundly in their beds at night. They need him for the safety of ordinary, crummy people like you and me."

When she protests, crying out for justice and moral action,

"This is a war," Leamas replied. "It's graphic and unpleasant because it's fought on a tiny scale, at close range; fought with the wastage of innocent life sometimes, I admit. But it's nothing, nothing at all beside other wars – the last or the next....What else have men done since the world began? I don't believe in anything, don't you see – not even destruction or anarchy. I'm sick, sick of killing but I don't see what else they can do. They don't proselytize; they don't stand in pulpits or on party platforms and tell us to fight for Peace or for God or whatever it is. They're the poor sods who try to keep the preachers from blowing each other skyhigh."

In my faulty recollection of the ending, Alec Leamas is sacrificed by Smiley and his other handlers, left to die for the cause. I had forgotten the actual ending. Yes, Leamas is deceived--he is told only as much as he needs to be told to play his part well. And yes he is cold-eyed and cynical, just as his speech to Liz makes clear. And yet, in the end, he chooses to die by her side. Is is love? Or a grateful laying down of his burdens? Or does he no longer believe in unbelief? It's an ending that will keep me thinking for some time, that much is clear. (less)

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Feb 24, 2013 Claire Sgyreju rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries-and-thrillers, kindle-books

I read this book in one sitting on a plane. I very much enjoyed it, although the character of Liz Gold was rather unrealistic and her motivations never made much sense to me. She was too submissive and totally dedicated to a man she barely knew and who didn't do much to earn such love and devotion from her, that made little sense to me. But I like reading Leamas's story and the opening chapter at the checkpoint was especially great. I only wish the book had been a bit less predictable - I unders...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Jon Tupper rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: espionage

Perhaps I am blinded as I just finished this book. However, right now this is, for me, the best book I've ever read. My Mom was born in Hungary and immigrated to America in 1929. Before she passed on early in my life, we never had the chance to finish some of our after dinner discussions about the Hungarian Revolution or why, if I didn't choose, it was all right with her if I went in the Army or to work instead of going to university as nearly everyone in my hometown did.

This book continues thos...more Perhaps I am blinded as I just finished this book. However, right now this is, for me, the best book I've ever read. My Mom was born in Hungary and immigrated to America in 1929. Before she passed on early in my life, we never had the chance to finish some of our after dinner discussions about the Hungarian Revolution or why, if I didn't choose, it was all right with her if I went in the Army or to work instead of going to university as nearly everyone in my hometown did.

This book continues those discussions. LeCarre's characters speak of Socialism, Communism, God, Christianity and the hard cold life of the world in a bald palate seemingly all grey. It's not really though. It's not really a palate at all; it's a phantasmagoria of subtle emotional movement. LeCarre's pace is intriguing. I was lulled in some places by what seemed drivel and polemic and unneeded intricacy of detailed description. They weren't unintentional lulls: the alternating current between the hugely violent and emotionally wrenching scenes and the other was a tremendous literary tool. The tension built in the alternation was incredible.

However, I was terribly trapped in the genre: who's doing what to whom, who's on who's side, what will happen? I missed the entire point of the piece until the very end. "The Spy who Came in from the Cold" is about trust, ultimately, and surrender of one's need to be protected, not about a cause, but about people, about a willingness to risk feeling in place of protection, betrayal and deceit.

I had no idea what "The Cold" was until I'd read the entire book.

Of course, often the latest book I've read is "the best book I've ever read." I'm not a spy, or a commodities trader.

"The Bean Tree" and " Pigs in Heaven" are entirely different stories. Still, though, maybe they're not so different. Just that Kingsolver is a lot more "in from the cold" than not. I loved both those books as they are about redemption, without being exclusive.

LeCarre made me think about Valerie Plame. Just what was going on there? Think of it: R. Cheney did NOT respond to subpeonas to testify as to who was at the 2002 secret US energy policy conference, that is the conference before the 2003 "Shock and Awe" campaign. Who is he and who does he work for?

I suppose I need to simply enjoy my daily walk and workout at the gym when I can, and listen to the latest professional sports news and talk, especially the hockey. Hockey is an agrarian sport, still, though the marketers are trying to ruin it. It's agrarian because there is a code that all who play know: fighting is a part of the game and, especially, if a prominent player for one team is intentionally hurt, there will be a price paid.

Alec Leamas came to a place where he just said "I ain't playin no more" What a fantastic work. LeCarre's forward to the edition I read is revealing and fascinating.(less)

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Feb 21, 2013 Will Tate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'd fished this one off the shelves for a re-read after catching the end of the film version at Christmas(a rare example of a film being nearly as good as the book, with Richard Burton outstanding as Leamas and the stark B/W lighting brilliantly catching the bleak austerity of cold war Berlin). I had read the book 30 years ago:the era of Brezhnev and Reagan, a time when Eastern bloc agents could be stabbed in London with a poisoned umbrella. In short, things were not so very different to the col...more I'd fished this one off the shelves for a re-read after catching the end of the film version at Christmas(a rare example of a film being nearly as good as the book, with Richard Burton outstanding as Leamas and the stark B/W lighting brilliantly catching the bleak austerity of cold war Berlin). I had read the book 30 years ago:the era of Brezhnev and Reagan, a time when Eastern bloc agents could be stabbed in London with a poisoned umbrella. In short, things were not so very different to the cold war timescale of the novel, whereas now there is no GDR, no Berlin Wall, European Communism has been and gone.
So is "The Spy.." relevant today? The answer has to be yes. The message it sends us, in near-nihilistic, almost unremittingly dark tones, is that there are never any winners, that both sides are as bad as each other, their Machiavellian plots overriding the lives of the people caught up in them. And Le Carre leaves us in no doubt about those spies and agents: "What do you think spies are," Leamas says to the girl who unwittingly betrays him, "priests, saints, martyrs? They're a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives". It's a very different world to that of James Bond and his gadgets and gorgeous girls and exotic locations.
Alec Leamas is a bitter, cynical 50 year old agent, recalled to London from his 10 year posting in W. Berlin after a disastrous loss of agents. Leamas is persuaded by Control to contact the E. Germans with a view to defecting. He believes he is just playing his part in a plot to exact revenge on the Germans, but as events unfold, he gradually realises that he is just a pawn in a far more complex plot, and a pawn who can be readily sacrificed as part of the greater game.
For a thriller there is not a lot of "action", except for the opening chapter, where the defecting E.German is gunned down, and a dramatic ending, almost operatic in its pathos. Much of the novel consists of Leamas talking: to Control at Cambridge Circus, to Liz, the naive girl (and Communist party member) he meets while working at the library, to his German interrogators. A GDR Tribunal into the activities of its agents takes up three chapters towards the end. But it is still a page-turner and even when you know Leamas's fate you're still rooting for him - he's as near to a "goodie" as you're going to get in this story! (less)

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Jan 27, 2013 Emperor Norton rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This could be my favorite in the genre. I very much want to give it 5 stars just to kick it above the 4-star books it will sit with, but I try to give 5 stars very sparingly. 4.5?

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold is a fine psychological yarn, the way that any spy novel should be at some level. It's smartly imagined and well wrought, and a hard story to put away. But it does not glamorize espionage; instead it makes you feel how truly dirty the spy's trade is.

What gives this book the extra half-s...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Vijai rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mr. le Carré is an artist at weaving the words into emotions and I believe this amazing ability was his undoing in this book.

In the book Mr. le Carré builds a story around a central concept found in his books - that the life of a spy isn't exactly romantic it is made out to be and gets to the very DNA of such a life which is defined by mundane - and then tries to weave that into what must have been the strongest emotion at that time in Europe (I mean he went after that theater specifically whic...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Φαροφύλακας rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: Αστυνομικά-crime

Πρόκειται για ένα κλασικό κατασκοπευτικό μυθιστόρημα που έχει γυριστεί και ταινία το 1965, με τον Ρίτσαρντ Μπάρτον. Το πήρα από τις εκδόσεις Bell, μεταχειρισμένο για 2,50 €, και βλέπω πως τώρα κυκλοφορεί με άλλο εξώφυλλο.

Κι υπάρχει λόγος που είναι κλασικό. Η ιστορία είναι πολύ καλή και καταφέρνει να παραμένει ξεκάθαρη μέσα σε όλο το μπερδεμένο κουβάρι τής κατασκοπίας κι αντικατασκοπίας. Οι χαρακτήρες ζωντανοί και ρεαλιστικοί και το τέλος συγκλονιστικό, τουλάχιστον για μένα.

Η ιστορία εκτυλίσσεται...more Πρόκειται για ένα κλασικό κατασκοπευτικό μυθιστόρημα που έχει γυριστεί και ταινία το 1965, με τον Ρίτσαρντ Μπάρτον. Το πήρα από τις εκδόσεις Bell, μεταχειρισμένο για 2,50 €, και βλέπω πως τώρα κυκλοφορεί με άλλο εξώφυλλο.

Κι υπάρχει λόγος που είναι κλασικό. Η ιστορία είναι πολύ καλή και καταφέρνει να παραμένει ξεκάθαρη μέσα σε όλο το μπερδεμένο κουβάρι τής κατασκοπίας κι αντικατασκοπίας. Οι χαρακτήρες ζωντανοί και ρεαλιστικοί και το τέλος συγκλονιστικό, τουλάχιστον για μένα.

Η ιστορία εκτυλίσσεται στα χρόνια τού Ψυχρού Πολέμου και κυρίως στην Ανατολική Γερμανία. Ο ήρωας είναι ο Άλεκ Λήμανς που επιστρέφει από την δράση στο Βερολίνο πίσω στο Λονδίνο ("γυρίζει από το κρύο" κατά την έκφραση) δήθεν για να αποτραβηχτεί ενώ στην πραγματικότητα ξαναρίχνεται σε ένα περίπλοκο, μυστικό και ριψοκίνδυνο σχέδιο.

Αυτό που πραγματικά αναδεικνύει την ιστορία είναι η ικανή λογοτεχνία τού Λε Καρέ. Αυτό που την κάνει αξέχαστη είναι το τέλος το οποίο μού έφερε αναπόφευκτα στο μυαλό εκείνο το πανέμορφο διήγημα τού Μοπασάν με τον τίτλο "Αγάπη".

Ένα πολύ καλό βιβλίο στο είδος του.

[ πρώτη δημοσίευση στην Λέσχη του Βιβλίου ](less)

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Nov 04, 2012 Erin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A good spy novel ought to have double agents, sacrificial women, and neat fight scenes. John le Carre’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold has these elements. It’s a really good read: well paced, brilliantly plotted, and smooth in the necessary transitions in narrative focalization that allow the reader access to pieces of information, but not quite enough (for me at least) to piece together the mystery before le Carre is ready to have it all out.

The novel grapples with questions of whether indiv...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Phil Mc rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Having read this book my first task was to return to the previous Smiley novels and drop my rating by a star on each. They didn't get any worse by comparison; rather, this is such a perfect novel that it deserves to stand above them.

After the murder mystery of the previous Smiley outing I was looking forward to some solid character development in this novel. I didn't get it and I don't care. Smiley exists in the shadows of this novel. He is a watcher at the airport, a voice behind the wall, the...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Nan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorites

I've re-read this one several times over the years. The best Smiley book and the best overall book by Le Carre, in my opinion. There's much here to engage an espionage fan, as well as a suspense writer looking for great models of craft. George Leamas is an action figure, and act he does, and though there's plenty of moral introspection to let the reader guess why he does what he does, it's presented so deftly and sparingly that it never feels like the navel-gazing you often get in self-billed li...more

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About John le Carré

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

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (George Smiley, #5)

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“It is said that men condemned to death are subject to sudden moments of elation; as if, like moths in the fire, their destruction were coincidental with attainment.” — 3 people liked it

“This is a war," Lemas replied. "It's graphic and unpleasant because it's fought on a tiny scale, at close range; fought with a wastage of innocent life sometimes, I admit. But it's nothing, nothing at all besides other wars - the last or the next.” — 3 people liked it

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The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (George Smiley #3)

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