Ratings24
Average rating4.4
From the New York Times bestselling author of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Our Kind of Traitor; and The Night Manager, now a television series starring Tom Hiddleston. Tell Max that it concerns the Sandman… A very junior agent answers Vladimir’s call, but it could have been the Chief of the Circus himself. No one at the British Secret Service considers the old spy to be anything except a senile has-been who can’t give up the game—until he’s shot in the face at point-blank range. Although George Smiley (code name: Max) is officially retired, he’s summoned to identify the body now bearing Moscow Centre’s bloody imprimatur. As he works to unearth his friend’s fatal secrets, Smiley heads inexorably toward one final reckoning with Karla—his dark “grail.” In Smiley’s People, master storyteller and New York Times bestselling author of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Our Kind of Traitor John le Carré brings his acclaimed Karla Trilogy, to its unforgettable, spellbinding conclusion. With an introduction by the author.
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Reviews with the most likes.
For my money, this is the best of the so-called Karla trilogy. Tight plotting, tension, extraordinarily well-depicted characters, superlative writing, and at the very end... Karla, Smiley's mythical, remote, ruthless nemesis, suddenly exposed, frail and very human.
A masterpiece in all senses of the word.
I'm late coming to this book. I'm not quite sure why. Alongside The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, for me this is absolutely masterful.
The final instalment in the Karla trilogy and of course le Carré managed to end it in style. A return to the style of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - rather than the more action packed The Honourable Schoolboy - a grey man under a grey sky reading files in various government buildings and occasionally interviewing someone.
And it was brilliant, le Carré can ratchet up the tension in a seemingly small conversation like no one I've ever read, and his ability to provide just the right amount of detail describing different cities, professions, and people, never ceases to amaze me.
A brilliant conclusion.
Series
9 primary booksGeorge Smiley is a 9-book series with 9 primary works first released in 1961 with contributions by John le Carré.
Series
3 primary booksThe Karla Trilogy is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 1974 with contributions by John le Carré.