Le Carré's always worth reading, of course, but this book feels a bit too much like one of those episodes they have in American TV series where a lot of clips from old shows are strung together over a flimsy excuse for a plotline.

We are presented with a series of unconnected incidents in the career of a spy called Ned, stretching over the last couple of decades of the Cold War and its aftermath. Le Carré used this sort of structure very successfully a few years earlier in A Perfect Spy: it's strange that he should have used it again in this potboiler. Presumably Le Carré was struggling to find a way to move forward after the end of the Cold War, as he has since done very capably. The stories here probably aren't really recycled, but there is a suspicion that these are fragments of unfinished novels from the scrap pile. Read individually, they are good stories, with old friends like George Smiley and Toby Esterhase popping up here and there, and plenty of classic Le Carré locations, but as an ensemble they don't seem to add up to much. ( )

Like all of the books in this series, this is an excellent study of the bleak and lonely life of a spy. Told within the framework of an after-dinner speech and Q. and A. session, this reads a bit more like discrete short stories rather than a full-on novel. Smiley is at his best explaining the ins and outs of espionage to a group of young, er, spy-students. One caveat is that the plot resolution of the 3-book Karla series by Le Carre is given away and repeatedly discussed, so don't read this as a first book from this author. ( )

An old protege of George Smiley's is close to retirement himself, and is involved in training some new people for the British Secret service.

He asks his old mentor to come in and give some guest lectures, and these talks lead to reminiscences via short stories for Ned, himself a career spy.

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

straight forward spy thriller, nifty and clever, good entertainment

Excellent use of episodic technique provides a complete picture of Ned, the career spy. Le Carre is more concerned with the development of character than any suspense. Both Smiley and Ned are reflective in their retirement about the purpose of their profession. Is it worthwhile? Is it soul-destroying? Why is it so permanent in human society?
This novel is a good basis for reflection on all spy fiction.
It is an excellent novel. On a par with most of Graham Greene. ( )