Call for the Dead

“He hated the Press as he hated advertising and television, he hated mass-media, the relentless persuasion of the twentieth century.”This is George Smiley, [a:John le Carré 1411964 John le Carré https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1606816199p2/1411964.jpg]'s indelible creation. A man who would love nothing more than to subsume himself in the world of obscure seventeenth-century German poets but has somehow found himself working for the Security Services i.e. MI5 ferreting out foreign spies at home after having run his own abroad before, during, and after the war. [b:Call for the Dead 18715700 Call for the Dead (George Smiley, #1) John le Carré https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1384805979l/18715700.SY75.jpg 1176737] was Le Carré's first novel and he he's already quite the contender. His prose is clean and precise. With a few perfectly structured sentences he gives us Smiley's world in all its oppressive grey and yet ... A passing familiarity with post WWII European history might not come amiss and I'd also highly recommend the audio by [a:Michael Jayston 599335 Michael Jayston https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1325394940p2/599335.jpg]. It was excellent. I've been a fan of film adaptions of this world and going back to the blueprint is a good thing. I'll definitely continue.