Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) is the first novel in John  le Carré's "Karla Trilogy" featuring MI6 agent George Smiley battling his KGB counterpart. Here, Smiley is called back – on the sly – from his abrupt and involuntary retirement to unravel a series of botched operations and find the Soviet mole inside the British intelligence service.

The story starts in the middle of the action, when a rogue British agent confesses to an illicit, and perhaps staged, love affair with a Russian spy. Is Irina's report of a high-level mole inside the agency for real? Or clever disinformation planted by Karla to disrupt Britain's espionage efforts? Only Smiley and his covert team can find the answer.

As brilliant as the novel is – and it is brilliant – it is so dense with spy jargon and so intentionally abstruse that the plot is almost impenetrable. Only in the last 50 or so pages to the pieces start to fall together. But fans of Cold War espionage novels will eat it up.

OTHER REVIEWS

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NOTES

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was followed by The Honourable Schoolboy (1977) and Smiley's People (1979). The Karla Trilogy was published in an omnibus edition in 1982 called The Quest for Karla.

I wanted to read the book before I saw the new movie, starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth, which I am now particularly excited about.

This also counts as one of my books for the Mt. TBR and Off the Shelf Challenges, as well as one of my pre-identified choices for the TBR Pile Challenge. Since I got my copy of The Quest for Karla from my Grandma in 1983, this may be the book that has sat on my TBR shelf the longest. It's about time I finally read it!

Opening Sentence: Half of a Yellow Sun

Master was a little crazy; he had spent too many years reading books overseas, talked to himself in his office, did not always return greetings, and had too much hair.

-- Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

What a terrific first sentence! 

This won the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.  It is set in the 1960s in Nigeria, leading up to and during the civil war and brief existence of the independent country of Biafra.  I am about half of the way through it and it is very good.

Teaser Tuesday Valentine's Day: A Simple Machine, Like a Lever

While I answered her, though, I was wondering if I would still love Marie if she owned a car.  I wanted to think so, but I wasn't sure. 

-- A Simple Machine, Like the Lever by Evan P. Schneider, published by the super nifty Propeller Books.

This is one of the many passages in this sometimes endearing story of under-achieving man in love with his bike that make me think, "Only in Portland!"

No wonder my single girlfriends get so frustrated by the men here in Rose City!



Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here).

Metroreader hosting in February. Please stop by her fun blog to see what she is reading on her commute!

I got three terrific new books last week:



The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents: From Wilson to Obama by Steven F. Hayward.

This is exactly what I need for a refresher course on 20th+ Century Presidents. Hayward is as witty and irreverent as ever. And he gets right to the point with his system of grading US Presidents on how strictly they adhered to their oath to uphold the Constitution. It looks like I could learn a little while I'm laughing.



Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan.

I'd like to read this one because it looks great, but I'll have to wait for Hubby to finish, since he snatched it a way from me the minute it came out of the envelope. It is so right up his alley.



The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman. This looks like an incredible novel!

I won it in a giveaway on the Chunkster Reading Challenge. Thanks for hosting, Wendy and Vasilly!

Review: Blood Sport

 

Blood Sport is one of Dick Francis's earlier novels, first published in 1967. It is edgier than most of his mysteries, and, in some ways, a little disturbing.

Like most of his books, this one involves a competent professional dragged off his patch for some amateur sleuthing involving race horses. In this case, 38-year-old Gene Hawkins is a government personnel manager, at least on paper. His real job as some kind of spy-catching secret agent is only hinted at.

While on a (stress-induced) vacation, his boss distracts him with a moonlighting assignment to find three valuable stud horses stolen in America – an adventure that takes him from Tennessee horse country to the far corners of the American West.

The plot moves right along, with plenty of clever bits. But it is darker than the usual Francis story. Hawkins is depressed to the point of being suicidal, frequently considering shooting himself or otherwise doing himself in. He actively toys with the possibility of consoling himself in the arms of his boss's 17-year-old daughter. And there is a surprising death that makes sense in terms of Hawkins's situation, but gives the ending a moral ambiguity atypical of a Francis book.

Because Blood Sport deviates from Francis's winning formula, it may be off-putting to some loyal fans. Others will enjoy the variation on his usual themes.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

This counts as one of my books for the Audio Book Challenge, hosted by Teresa's Reading Corner.