Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

George Smiley, Book 5

By: John Le Carré

Narrated by: Simon Vance

It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?

There’s a mole in the Circus.

Pulled out of (forced) retirement by his old protégé, Peter Guillam, George Smiley must determine who among the high command at the British Secret Intelligence Service is in fact a Soviet spy—one who’s been climbing their way up the ranks for decades. The stakes are high: the mole is behind more than one failed operation and has lain waste to some of their best informant networks.

With scant resources and few allies, Smiley must use every skill at his disposal to identify and destroy a traitor who threatens the very fabric of the Circus.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, following the events of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, introduces Smiley’s Soviet counterpart and nemesis, Karla, the head of Soviet foreign intelligence. One of John le Carré’s most enduring works, the 2011 feature film adaptation (starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth) received three Oscar nominations and won two BAFTAs, including Outstanding British Film.

©2011 John Le Carré (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

Simon Vance is the king of narrators.

The guy could read the god damned phone book for all I give a rip. I WOULD LIKE TO SHAKE HIS HAND SOME DAY.

Alex Guinness’ version is better than the book!

If you hadn’t seen the series or the movie, the characters appeared muddled and events crammed together. Usually a movie can’t come close to the book … this is an exception. Well done screenwriters!

The best of le Carré

The pieces of the puzzle never quite fit together because they never can. That’s the brilliance of the story, Living with unrelenting ambiguity.

A 20th Century Masterpiece

A brilliant and beautiful Cold War novel, filled with very different and very human characters drawn into the 'secret world' of British and Soviet-block intelligence work. LeCarre understood sacrifice, loyalty and courage along with ego, seduction and deceit on both sides of the Iron Curtain. And that even when there is a reckoning day for the traitor, exhaustion and grief follows.
Read wonderfully by Simon Vance.

Classic LeCarré

Marvelous storytelling with in-depth character studies. The narration is as good as the writing.