The only one of his books I didn't like. ( )

I read this book after my brother gave me Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy to read on the plane home. I was hooked and had to read the whole Smiley Trilogy. Since then I have read this at least 6 times. Always in the summer while I'm travelling. The depth of the characters and the complexity of the plot takes me away every time.
One of my desert island books. A great read! ( )

As I noted in my review of "Absolute Friends" (http://www.sascha.com/2006/08/absolut...), I am a relative newcomer to Le Carre. Something clearly pushed me to read another one (more than just boredom), but my feelings are still mixed.

On the one hand, if you know anything about the American mess in Vietnam (and, um, Iraq; the book isn't about that at all, but the occasional parallels are stark), this book is interesting. The characters are well-drawn, and the plot twists are definitely not predictable.

On the other hand, much as with "Absolute Friends," I still feel like there's a lot more talk than action, or a lot more description of talk than description of action. Parts of this felt just plain slow. ( )

(long version) http://storyjunkie.livejournal.com/61...

Taking place in south-east Asia, primarily in British-controlled Hong Kong, and London, the story is a continuation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and details a quest started as part of the clean-up from the events of that book. The story follows protagonist Jerry Westerby on assignment for George Smiley, his cover as a reporter working out very well for him. The story follows the structure of a mystery, with changes in narrative voice from present tense to past tense for certain statements and paragraphs giving the reader clues without having to put the POV characters into situations of exposition. I appreciated this narrative trick quite a bit, it increased tension nicely because they were clues, not foreshadowing, and I really liked the difference that this makes. ( )

This is the second of the 'Karla' books featuring George Smiley. Smiley has found the mole in the circus, and as a consequence, now finds himself heading the department, and has all the problems of rebuilding functionality and morale that this entails.

He also has to try and track down and deal with Karla, to prevent any further problems. As such, he reactivates a part-time agent, and this is where the book gets its title.

A complicated exercise follows, through Asia and elsewhere.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/03... ( )