"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy--John le Carre's last tremendous success-ended with the devastating unmasking of a double agent at the heart of the British Secret Service (known as the Circus to le Carre's millions of readers round the world). Now, in The Honourable Schoolboy, George Smiley--who has assumed the unenviable job of restoring the health, and reputation, of his demoralized organisation--goes over to the attack. Salvaging what he can of the Service's ravaged network of spies, summoning back a few trustworthy old colleagues, working them--and himself-around the clock, he searches for a whisper, a hint, a clue that will lead him back to his opposite number: Karla, the Soviet officer in Moscow Centre who mastermined the infamous treachery.
When he finds his opening, Smiley moves without hesitation. His battleground: the Far East. His choice of weapons: the Honourable Gerald (Jerry) Westerby, an Old Asia Hand,veteran of several marriages (and wars), unquestioning in his readiness to asnwer Smiley's summons. 'You point me and I'll march', says Jerry.
Jerry's odyssey begins: to Hong Kong-and blackmail and murder; to collapsing Cambodia and Vietnam-and drug traffickers, the CIA, and a huge and mystifying 'gold seam' spilling out of Russia. Slowly, manipulated by Smiley and his cohorts back in the Circus, Jerry thrusts himself into the centre of an intrigue of money, defection, passion--and finds not only fertile ground for Smiley's revenge, but a drama of loyalty and love that both tests his courage and spurs his belated coming of age, in tragic defiance of the voracious requirements of the trice which owns his allegiance."
When he finds his opening, Smiley moves without hesitation. His battleground: the Far East. His choice of weapons: the Honourable Gerald (Jerry) Westerby, an Old Asia Hand,veteran of several marriages (and wars), unquestioning in his readiness to asnwer Smiley's summons. 'You point me and I'll march', says Jerry.
Jerry's odyssey begins: to Hong Kong-and blackmail and murder; to collapsing Cambodia and Vietnam-and drug traffickers, the CIA, and a huge and mystifying 'gold seam' spilling out of Russia. Slowly, manipulated by Smiley and his cohorts back in the Circus, Jerry thrusts himself into the centre of an intrigue of money, defection, passion--and finds not only fertile ground for Smiley's revenge, but a drama of loyalty and love that both tests his courage and spurs his belated coming of age, in tragic defiance of the voracious requirements of the trice which owns his allegiance."
Le Carre is the best.
Robert M. (shotokanchef) reviewed The Honourable Schoolboy (George Smiley, Bk 6) on + 813 more book reviews
Its the 70s and the British Empire is coming apart at the seams; The operation in Hong Kong, a last bastion of the Empire, is being shuttered; in the wake of the Karla scandal, so are most others in the East and Europe. Enter Smiley; back on the track of his nemesis, Karla! If you havent read Le Carres Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, you may want to do so before tackling this book. There are numerous flashbacks in this sequel, and many of the same characters.
