This is an enjoyable novel that fills in gaps in the George Smiley omnibus, The Quest for Karla (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honorable Schoolboy, and Smileys People) as well as amplifying some of The Russia House. There is no running story line; it is snippets of incidents in the career of one of Smileys contemporaries. Told with all of the criticism and wry wit that Le Carré can master, he will hold your attention to the very end.
The rules of the game, and of the world, have changed. Old enemies now yield to glasnost and perestroika. The killing shadows of the Cold War are flooded with light. The future is unfathomable.
To train new spies for this uncertain future, one must first show them the past. Enter the man called Ned, the loyal and shrewd veteran of the Circus. With the inspiration of his inscrutable mentor George Smiley, Ned thrills all as he recounts forty exhilarating years of Cold War espionage across Europe and the Far East - an electrifying clandestine tour of honorable old knights and notorious traitors; triumph and failure; passion and hate; suspicion, sudden death and old secrets that haunt us still.
The Secret Pilgrim is for le Carre' fans who have read every one of his books. It is also for those who have never read one - this is the perfect place to start.
To train new spies for this uncertain future, one must first show them the past. Enter the man called Ned, the loyal and shrewd veteran of the Circus. With the inspiration of his inscrutable mentor George Smiley, Ned thrills all as he recounts forty exhilarating years of Cold War espionage across Europe and the Far East - an electrifying clandestine tour of honorable old knights and notorious traitors; triumph and failure; passion and hate; suspicion, sudden death and old secrets that haunt us still.
The Secret Pilgrim is for le Carre' fans who have read every one of his books. It is also for those who have never read one - this is the perfect place to start.
Classic spy story
