The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

I really do not have much to say about this spy thriller. It was exciting to see how the story fleshed itself out, but the relationship between Leamas and how it ultimately ended up really hit me in the heart.

// A British spy named Alex Leamas must go on one last mission during the height of the Cold War. //

This story has a lot going on. It has through line plots, counter-plots, back-stabbing, and political posturing to name just a few. For me, it was exciting to read how spy's question spy's who are undercover and cannot unveil who they really are or what they know. It was a cat and mouse game of words. I was expecting something like one of my favorite movies The Professional, but what I got was something more akin to My Dinner with Andre where they talk about counter intelligence other than anecdotes about life. That is not a bad thing, its just that some of the chapters felt like info-dumps and I would have liked a bit more buildup.

// “Intelligence work has one moral law—it is justified by results.” //

I feel like I should have read the first two books in the series. Maybe that is where I was missing some of the pertinent information pertaining to the spy network. But it was pretty good. I can definitely see why it's considered a classic. I'll work my way backwards with the series in the future.

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