✍ Scribed by John Le Carré
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
In this classic, John le Carré's third novel and the first to earn him international acclaim, he created a world unlike any previously experienced in suspense fiction. With unsurpassed knowledge culled from his years in British Intelligence, le Carré brings to light the shadowy dealings of international espionage in the tale of a British agent who longs to end his career but undertakes one final, bone-chilling assignment.
When the last agent under his command is killed and Alec Leamas is called back to London, he hopes to come in from the cold for good. His spymaster, Control, however, has other plans. Determined to bring down the head of East German Intelligence and topple his organization, Control once more sends Leamas into the fray -- this time to play the part of the dishonored spy and lure the enemy to his ultimate defeat.
It would be an international crime to reveal too much of the jeweled clockwork plot of Le Carré's first masterpiece, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. But we are at liberty to disclose that Graham Greene called it the "finest spy story ever written," and that the taut tale concerns Alec Leamas, a British agent in early Cold War Berlin. Leamas is responsible for keeping the double agents under his care undercover and alive, but East Germans start killing them, so he gets called back to London by Control, his spy master. Yet instead of giving Leamas the boot, Control gives him a scary assignment: play the part of a disgraced agent, a sodden failure everybody whispers about. Control sends him back out into the cold--deep into Communist territory to checkmate the bad-guy spies on the other side. The political chessboard is black and white, but in human terms the vicinity of the Berlin Wall is a moral no-man's land, a gray abyss patrolled by pawns.
Le Carré beats most spy writers for two reasons. First, he knows what he's talking about, since he raced around working for British Intelligence while the Wall went up. He's familiar with spycraft's fascinations, but also with the fact that it leaves ideals shaken and emotions stirred. Second, his literary tone has deep autobiographical roots. Spying is about betrayal, and Le Carré was abandoned by his mother and betrayed by his father, a notorious con man. (They figure heavily in his novels Single & Single and A Perfect Spy.) In a world of lies, Le Carré writes the bitter truth: it's every man for himself. And may the best mask win. --Tim Appelo
Graham Greene The best spy story I have ever read.
Newsweek Le Carré is simply the world's greatest fictional spymaster.
Vanity Fair Le Carré is one of the best novelists -- of any kind -- we have.
Daphne du Maurier First-rate and tremendously exciting.
J. B. Priestley Superbly constructed, with an atmosphere of chilly hell.
The Sunday Times (U.K.) A topical and terrible story...he can communicate emotion, from sweating fear to despairing love, with terse and compassionate conviction. Above all, he can tell a tale. Formidable equipment for a rare and disturbing writer.
📜 SIMILAR VOLUMES
### Amazon.com Review It would be an international crime to reveal too much of the jeweled clockwork plot of Le Carré's first masterpiece, *The Spy Who Came in from the Cold*. But we are at liberty to disclose that Graham Greene called it the "finest spy story ever written," and that the taut tale
In this classic, John le Carre's third novel and the first to earn him international acclaim, he created a world unlike any previously experienced in suspense fiction. With unsurpassed knowledge culled from his years in British Intelligence, le Carre brings to light the shadowy dealings of internati
### Amazon.com Review It would be an international crime to reveal too much of the jeweled clockwork plot of Le Carré's first masterpiece, *The Spy Who Came in from the Cold*. But we are at liberty to disclose that Graham Greene called it the "finest spy story ever written," and that the taut tale
Alex Leamas is tired. It's the 1960s, he's been out in the cold for years, spying in Berlin for his British masters, and has seen too many good agents murdered for their troubles. Now Control wants to bring him in at last - but only after one final assignment. He must travel deep into the heart of
******************From the _New York Times_ bestselling **author of _Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy_ ; _Our Kind of Traitor_ ; and _The Night Manager_ , now a television series starring Tom Hiddleston. **John le Carr e's new novel _, A Legacy of Spies,_ is now available.******************** The 50th