Call for the Dead

By: John le Carré

Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE FIRST GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL

After a routine security check by George Smiley, civil servant Samuel Fennan apparently kills himself. When Smiley finds Circus head Maston is trying to blame him for the death, he begins his own investigation, meeting Fennan's widow to find out what led him to such desperation. On the very day Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man. Do the East Germans - and their agents - know more about this man's death than the Circus previously imagined?

Le Carré's first book, Call for the Dead, introduced the tenacious and retiring spy George Smiley in a gripping tale of espionage and deceit.

'Intelligent, thrilling, surprising . . . makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard' Sunday Telegraph

'Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense' Observer

'The greatest spy novelist of all time' Jake Kerridge, Daily Telegraph

©le Carré Productions 1961 (P)Penguin Audio 2024

Critic reviews

'Brilliant, popular, intelligent, thrilling, suspenseful, angry, original, masterful writing. Can't be topped.' (Armando Iannucci)

'An extraordinary writer who brought literary lustre and lived insight to the spy yarn.' (Ian Rankin)

'His Smiley novels are key to understanding the mid-20th century.' (Margaret Atwood)