A Legacy of Spies (2017)

Context, this is the first Le Carre i've read, the espionage genre not being a favourite of mine. My only Le Carre experience is the last film adaptation of Tinker, Tailor and the Nightmanager mini-series.

While there are clearly at least a couple of other Le Carre stories being referenced in this i didn't find that offputting or detrimental to the book.
Overall its a well crafted and detailed plot with likable characters and while not much in the way of action its realistic and generally compelling.
I did however have a few issues with it that could have brought the rating down but i decided it was still worth the 4-stars in the end.

So the very general plot is that in modern day questions are being asked about an old operation called Windfall. So you have a lot of back and forth between the present and past.
First issue is that Windfall only actually starts about half or maybe two-thirds of the way through the novel. So when we finally get to that point it undercuts everything thats gone before, makes it feel a little pointless. I don't think it's a good narrative device to make the majority of your book feel like prologue. Don't get me wrong all of the previous stuff is great, its only when i realized that it was all preamble to the actual Windfall operation that it put a bad taste in my mouth.

My other minor issues are about the endings, there are of course two of them one for Windfall in the past and one for the present. In the present it feels a bit Deux Ex Machina and also some of the characterization of one of the final people to appear just felt... odd. Some of it was good but some not so good.

As for the climax of Windfall, what the entire book feels like its been leading up to... amazingly this is the one place the author decides to skimp on the details. All this build up and yes we get the general outline of what happened but far less information than i would have liked.
Perhaps the author felt he'd dropped enough hints throughout, that it would be insulting to the reader to do a blow-by-blow at the end but i certainly wanted a more indepth account.

As a whole though, undoubtedly well written, but didn't convert me to an espionage fan.

Edit: Having looked at some other reviews i now understand a lot of the details i was missing are from another Le Carre novel [b:The Spy Who Came In from the Cold|19494|The Spy Who Came In from the Cold|John le Carré|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327719782s/19494.jpg|1177001]. ( )

Another great le Carre work; and this one weaves the past and the present; and I love that Peter is the center of this one. Now on to read The Spy Who Came in From The Cold (of which I have vague memories of having seen decades ago the movie with Richard Burton)

(Libby) ( )

Peter Guillam is summoned from retirement in France to answer questions about a Circus cold war operation in Berlin which resulted in two deaths. Relatives of the dead believe they have uncovered details from old Stasi files, which suggest negligence by the Circus in general and Guillam in particular, which justify large damages. Guillam is lead through the existing paper trail, reliving the operations with attempts to incriminate himself. Fascinating window into the Cold War and in particular divided Berlin. ( )

This was a wonderful book that I read in essentially a single day. The thing about all the le Carré books is that he creates IMMEDIATE connection to characters and places. Within 2 paragraphs I feel like I know where I am and while I think I know the characters they are always onions with many layers. This book is perfectly arranged and sequenced which is amazing given the number of flashbacks needed to tell the story. So many of the characters are familiar from the other Smiley novels and they remain consistent but are expanded. I'm old enough that I often run into people discussing events which I have witnessed for which they are too young to have direct experience. Often they lack the necessary context to truly understand the choices made and they simply view everything through the glasses of their current day experience. This book shows that happening, instead of telling which is what weak story tellers do. I suspect that le Carré writing long hand has something to do with his pacing and his absolute patience with letting the story unfold. I truly enjoyed this book a lot. ( )

Close to five stars but not fully up to le Carré's best. It treats with 1950's-era cold war espionage, the author's natural milieu, as seen through today's eyes of a retired British MI6 agent who featured in several previous fine novels of this observant author. The agent is recollecting under administrative inquisition a compartmentalized operation decades ago that resulted in the deaths of two valuable assets whose specters have rematerialized. Smoke and mirrors throughout. The ending is realistic if anti-climactic.

Le Carré, once recruited by both MI5 and then MI6, abandoned his illusions about western espionage organizations and is masterful at illustrating the human factor. You sense his surviving personal investment in the services and his misgivings about their ultimate worth when human costs are weighed in the balance, his sympathy for normal frailties of agents and assets who risk their lives for their cause or country, and his disgust at those higher up who are interested foremost in advancing their careers, not merely at the expense of those lives but of their country as well.

I highly recommend, in order of preference:
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy*
Smiley's People
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
The Constant Gardener (post-cold war)
and others.
Each one can stand alone. All are well-researched, realistic, easy to read and thrilling.
Are spying and writing similar larcenies?
* The 1979 seven-part BBC television series is much better than the movie. The mole is based on double agent Kim Philby, who blew the covers of le Carré and others, ending le Carré's official career in MI6. ( )