Impressive story telling

This book is fiction at its best. In this particular case, it’s spy fiction, but that hardly matters. Nothing is excessive, and nothing is missing. Every sentence and every word is exactly where it belongs.

The story takes place in the early 1960s, in the midst of the Cold War. Le Carré’s spies lack the flair of James Bond. The characters are not Hollywood actors but feel like real people in real situations, grappling with dilemmas in the murky gray area between good and evil.

Meticulously and tightly directed, Le Carré weaves layer upon layer, crafting a complex intrigue. As a reader, you feel treated like an intelligent individual by the author. A classic spy story blended with a Greek tragedy. And all of this in just 200 pages. A masterclass in storytelling.