The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (George Smiley, #3) in Espionage Aficionados

Sep 13, 2012 Ric rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Re-read of a classic spy novel.

In contrast to some of the spy heroes of its contemporaries, i.e., James Bond, Jason Bourne, this book's main character, Alec Leamas, is prosaic and world-weary. The book opens with Leamas just returned to his native England after an ostensibly failed tour in Germany. His future as a spy is unclear and his prospects in the "regular" world unappealing. And so when the erstwhile MI-6 spymaster, Control, offers him an assignment, Leamas jumps at the chance to get back ...more

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Feb 03, 2012 Bobby Bermea rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: cloak-and-dagger

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 20, 2008 John rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure-fiction, spy-fiction

This is one of those books that has been on my reading list for a long time. It has been recommended to me time and again by many different sources. I finally decided to pick it up, and I am glad I did.

This is more of a mystery novel than your action/adventure spy novels (e.g. Bourne). This is more of an intellectual thriller, if you will. There are so many events going on, both during the book and prior, that you the reader are trying to make sense of. Every bit of information you receive has t ...more

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Sep 05, 2007 Jeremiah Genest rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: spyfi

In The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, a British spy, Alec Leamas, is ordered to penetrate the East German intelligence system by posing as a defector. His job is to bring down Mundt, a hated and murderous Communist espionage chief. But Leamas has been set up by his own people: too late--once he is beyond the Iron Curtain--he realizes that Mundt is a double agent working for the British, and that Leamas's real, but unwitting, task has been to bring down Mundt's ambitious deputy, who was about to ...more

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Mar 09, 2009 Scott E rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-spy-thrillers

Excellent, compact spy story. Not quite as "page-turning" as Ludlum, not quite as "char-development" as Greene...not that either of these is bad as this is an engrossing read. This story is an intricate set-up to send an aging agent after the opposition to apparently exact revenge. As in all good spy stories...all is not what it seems.

This is the type of spy story I like, though...spies on the ground doing what spies do (i.e. not one of those techno-nuclear sub-supersonic jet "thillers"...xtra i ...more

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Aug 31, 2009 Adam rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks

Listened to the audiobook read by Michael Jayston.

I had read this about 10 years ago, and had forgotten what a nasty, cynical tone permeates every passage of this novel. While like other le Carre novels, it can be slow at moments, but it builds to a stunning climax that will leave you sitting in silence for a while.

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Jul 22, 2007 Jade17 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, absolutefavorites, espionage

this heralded my foray into espionage thrillers. i love this book and the character so much. years later and hundreds of espionage novels later, this book is still my absolute favorite.

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