The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

[Grant, Usurper of Book Club]

It's hard to talk about spy books without discussing the ending. I want to read the new book "A Legacy of Spies" which is supposed to discuss the events in this book many years later. I think the reason this book is a good, and is more than just a spy novel, is because it's about being tired and burnt out, which is something that is a little more relateable than just being an suspense thriller.

Leamas is always portrayed as a good spy. The narrator presents him as competent and observant. The entire book is spent presenting him as such. But, at the end, it's Leamas who has been deceived the whole time by the larger game. Ever since piece in the play has done it's part. Leamas should've known this, but was too tired and burnt out to recognize it. The action in the book is driven by things that don't happen in the book. Characters who pop up again in other books.

I'm a bit surprised by the end. Leamas must have/should have known that Mundt would kill Liz, but they let it happen. Why did Leamas try for the wall? Was he too tired and distraught? Or was it literary necessity, if he'd tried to run and defect another way, he'd of probably be caught anyways.

The Cold War provides the best background for this because it has the wall. There is a line, behind that line exists your enemy, and you're supposed to know who your enemy is. But, Leamas, knows Fielder to be his friend. Fielder is the one who offers him protection. Mundt, is his enemy, the one who would see him dead and ultimately executes him. Of course Fielder was the one who was on the East side and Mudnt was working for the West. It's Fielder who says "we're all the same you know."

In the cold war the world was split into two sides, and it was still difficult to tell who the "good guys" and "bads guys" were. No wonder it's tough to write spy novels today.