Really dull book ( )

By now I feel pretty confident... Le Carre is writing spy fiction as literature. I.e. it is not just entertainment by indulging in fantasies about super powers and all that. It's more about the human condition as it plays out in the context of the world of spies.

This whole novel is a kind of extended slump... it starts slow and then fizzles out altogether. Kind of reminds me of Neil Young introducing the song Don't Let It Bring You Down on the live album 4 Way Street. ( )

The thrill of le Carre is not the swashbuckling of Fleming or jingoism of Clancy. Rather it's the utterly ruthless depiction of how institutions eat themselves.

The Circus vs. The Department
Review of the Pan Books paperback edition (1979) of the 1965 original

I re-read The Looking Glass War due to the recent passing of novelist John le Carré (penname of David Cornwell) (October 19, 1931 – December 12, 2020). His passing brought back memories of my first reading his Cold War novels in the 1970s. Those were probably the first books of somewhat 'serious' writing that I had ever read, after developing an early love of reading with detective and science fiction novels in my teenage years. I had saved all of those paperbacks as well, so it seemed like a good time for some retrospective re-reads.

The Looking Glass War, as may be deduced from its title, is really about the rivalry between the Circus (Carré's nickname for MI-6 the British Secret Intelligence Service) and the Department (Carré's nickname for what appears to be a fictional version of the war time British Special Operations Executive) which here has carried on in a reduced format unlike its real-life counterpart which wrapped up operations in 1946.

The Department has an unconfirmed report that the Soviet Union has placed rocket missiles in East Germany in a move not unlike the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. It sees this as an opportunity to increase its profile and doesn't share the intelligence with the Circus or the Americans. Instead it reactivates a war time agent who is now 20 years past his prime and provides him with antiquated equipment to investigate further. It all comes undone, with Control, the unnamed head of the Circus likely helping orchestrate the downfall behind the scenes. Good old George Smiley is sent in to pick up the pieces.

The Looking Glass War comes across as more cynical than its predecessor The Spy Who Came In From the Cold with the likely failure of the mission being telegraphed early and often by the self-deluded characters of the Department. The overall message of the lack of cooperation between agencies leading to catastrophic intelligence failures is one that still holds true throughout time though.

Trivia and Link
The Looking Glass War was adapted into a 1970 film directed & written by Frank Pierson. Only a German language trailer appears to be currently available on YouTube. ( )

This is a tough book to review - as well written as Spy Who Came in from the Cold, the plot is a trainwreck. Almost from the very start, the reader is painfully aware that things are going to end badly. It's hard to warm to characters who you know are going to do evil.
But, if you can put aside these feelings, there is much to enjoy.
The players belong to a Defence intelligence agency that is gradually going backwards. the Circus is where the real business happens, and where the best people operate. Our players are distinctly second string. It's reminiscent of Slough House of Mick Herron. Le Carre paints the picture beautifully.
So, good writing, but not a particularly enjoyable book. ( )