Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

by John le Carre
Category: "Fiction - Adventure"
Pages:355
Year of Publication:1974
Date Added:12/22/2014
Date Read:01/12/2016
Notes:The head of British Secret Service, "Control," sends a spy, Jim Ellis, into Czechoslovakia to help a general defect. When he gets there, the Russians are waiting. The spy is injured and imprisoned and tortured until he's told everything he knows, then sent back to England where he teaches at a boys' school. The Russians make a big deal of the plot and the Control is fired and all his associates, including George Smiley, are retired. But then a spy in Europe brings back evidence that there is a mole in the service. Smiley is brought back undercover to investigate and after reading a lot of files and conducing clandestine interviews, he sets a trap for Bill Hayden, his friend (until Bill had an affair with Smiley's wife) and Jim Ellis's mentor. Hayden is arrested. A deal is arranged to send him to Russia, but somebody (Jim) sneaks into the prison and kills him first.
My Rating: 5

Reviews for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Review - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

OK. I wasn't bored stiff or anything. But for most of the book, Smiley was just sitting alone in a room reading files, which wasn't very interesting. Le Carre has a way of writing that's just on the edge of obscure, but somehow keeps you barely tracking as you read.

Reviewed by Roger on 2016-01-12 16:17:37

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