HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold: A George…
Loading...

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold: A George Smiley Novel (George Smiley Novels Book 3) (original 1963; edition 2012)

by John Le Carré (Author)

Series: George Smiley (3)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
8,569239978 (4)506
A veteran spy wants to "come in from the cold" to retirement. He undertakes one last assignment in which he pretends defection and provides the enemy with sufficient evidence to label their leader a double agent.
Member:daltonbigbee
Title:The Spy Who Came in from the Cold: A George Smiley Novel (George Smiley Novels Book 3)
Authors:John Le Carré (Author)
Info:Penguin Books (2012), Edition: Reprint, 228 pages
Collections:Kindle
Rating:
Tags:Fiction, Espionage, John Le Carre

Work Information

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré (1963)

  1. 40
    Call for the Dead by John le Carré (otori)
    otori: Key character Hans-Dieter Mundt first appearance.
  2. 30
    Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré (John_Vaughan)
    John_Vaughan: Setting the oeuvre.
  3. 10
    Uncommon Danger by Eric Ambler (yokai)
  4. 10
    The Secret Pilgrim by John le Carré (Oleg.Gerassimenko)
  5. 00
    The Deceiver by Frederick Forsyth (Artymedon)
    Artymedon: Both novels have a central participant: the Berlin Wall.
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 506 mentions

English (221)  Spanish (6)  Dutch (3)  Danish (3)  Italian (2)  Hebrew (2)  French (1)  All languages (238)
Showing 1-5 of 221 (next | show all)
(or 4.5) very good. I'd heard Le Carré's spy books were almost the opposite of Fleming's bond books, not glamorous. And boy is it not glamorous. Depressing even, but very well written. ( )
  dtscheme | Jan 1, 2024 |
Gritty, dirty, gray, grainy and foggy. These are what I felt as I listened to John le Carré's book 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'. I was not quite sure when this book takes place, but it feels like the 1970's, it is a story about espionage agents that worked in post WWII/Cold War world. Agents working for Great Brittan, East and West Germany, amongst others are all in play as we follow Alec Leamas, who is aging out and near retirement.
Leamas is not ready to hang it up quite yet and is offered an opportunity to get back/take revenge on the East German agent who done him dirty. Does he? Did he? What happened? What really happened? Lots of politics and subterfuge, to the point that my head was spinning as to what was going on anymore, I was lost. The constant moving of parts and pieces, I couldn't get into the characters, believe what was going on was actually what was happening which led to a listlessness in regards to the characters and the story.
Was it well done, as far as spy novels I have not read many, but it seems to have been. le Carré writes with a descriptive flair that make the reader/listener feel like you have gone back in time to that dark and dingy time. So many twists and turns, shadowy figures appearing and reappearing, moving all around Europe, switching sides and stories seem to be right up the spy novel alley. I just couldn't get into it, it was too much for me. I wouldn't recommend it, but also wouldn't turn anyone away from it either. ( )
  Schneider | Dec 15, 2023 |
Very good. A sad love story, complicated espionage that amounted to a depressing both side-ism —we are not much better than our enemies —kind of conclusion. War: what is good for. Absolutely nothing, not even a Cold War.
  BookyMaven | Dec 6, 2023 |
Good, gritty, resolutely unglamorous espionage story. Anyone who enjoyed the British series Callan would love this. It was my first Le Carré - I'd be happy to read more in a similar vein.

Interesting how totally the political and cultural landscape has changed in the 50 years since this was written. This world is still recognisable to me, but to anyone a bit younger it would probably would seem as alien as the Victorian era. The detailed depictions of spy rings, and how they do their jobs, also seems like something from a bygone age - complicated but at the same time strikingly basic. Maybe things have not changed so much - but I think there was something unique about the paranoia instilled by having two such powerful and evenly-matched sides, living on top of each other as in Berlin, where everyone is suspect and you assume that you are constantly watched.

The plot itself is very well crafted. Le Carré carefully keeps you from knowing exactly what's going on, which is the exact situation that his compelling lead character, Alec Leamas, is in. It brings empathy with a difficult-to-like character, and leaves you wide open for the inevitable reverses and reveals.

( )
  thisisstephenbetts | Nov 25, 2023 |
The classic spy novel. ( )
  everettroberts | Oct 20, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 221 (next | show all)
En este clásico, el autor recrea un mundo jamás conocido antes en la novela de suspense. Con los conocimientos acumulados durante sus años en el servicio de inteligencia británica, le Carré saca a la luz los interiores un tanto turbios del espionaje internacional de la mano de Alec Leamas, un agente británico durante los primeros años de la guerra fría en Berlín. Leamas es responsable de mantener a sus agentes dobles protegidos y con vida, pero los alemanes del Este empiezan a matarlos, por lo que su superior, Control, le pide que vuelva a Londres no para echarle del cuerpo sino para encargarle una misión un tanto complicada. Con esta novela clásica de suspense, le Carré cambió las reglas del juego. Esta es la historia de un último encargo que recae sobre un agente que desea desesperadamente retirarse de su carrera de espionaje.
added by Pakoniet | editLecturalia
 
The best spy story I have ever read," says Graham Greene, and I am not too far from agreeing with him. Whether "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" is better than Eric Ambler's "Epitaph for a Spy" or Somerset Maugham's "Ashenden" or Mr. Greene's own "The Confidential Agent" is inconsequential. What matters is that it belongs on the same shelf. Here is a book a light year removed from the sometimes entertaining trivia which have (in the guise of spy novels) cluttered the publishers' lists for the past year.
 

» Add other authors (23 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
le Carré, Johnprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Boyd, WilliamIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jayston, MichaelNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Muller, FrankNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Salomaa, AnttiTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Taylor, MattCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Veraldi, AttilioTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Is contained in

Has the adaptation

Is abridged in

Has as a study

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
The American handed Leamas another cup of coffee and said, "Why don't you go back and sleep? We can ring you if he shows up."
Quotations
"What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They're a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives."
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

A veteran spy wants to "come in from the cold" to retirement. He undertakes one last assignment in which he pretends defection and provides the enemy with sufficient evidence to label their leader a double agent.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4)
0.5
1 10
1.5 8
2 58
2.5 13
3 369
3.5 110
4 860
4.5 112
5 550

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

Penguin Australia

2 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0141194529, 0241962331

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,186,736 books! | Top bar: Always visible