The problem?

The first hundred pages or so did not draw me in. Usually, I’ll plug away. I hate dropping a book unfinished. But I’m going to suspend my usual practice here. I’ve long since moved on to more interesting reads, of which more soon.

The “small town” is Bonn, the sterile capital of West Germany in those rebuilding years. Chasing down a possible defector from the British Embassy in the midst of a resurgence of German nationalism awakens the ire and interest in the security officer charged with the task. We never meet the target of the chase, but his life and motives and the full explanation of what’s going on behind the scenes emerge. Not what I expected, and all the better for it.

I’m still going to take a break from post-war espionage, though.

John le Carré has stated that this novel is his most realistic portrayal of the intelligence world as he knew it and that this was one reason for its relative lack of success.

That makes altogether too much sense. When turf wars and politics mix with intelligence, well, we’re living with the results. So the process is hardly good escapist fun. Le Carré usually manages to nab my attention and interest all the same…but no amount of human touches make this bleak story compelling. I was glad to put it down.

Wonder if Le Carré had any premonition he would be writing novels with Smiley involved one way or another for decades?

Call for the Dead takes place all in England. The interaction between the spy service and the police is delicate, and successful only because of personal connections overcoming institutional edginess (not quite outright rivalry). The Spy Who Came In from the Cold harkens back to these events, expanding on an event (turning an East German agent) that isn’t quite there, but could have been.

Whatever. This mystery turns the pages.

I now have a box of Le Carré awaiting time to turn the pages. One is already completed: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Cold indeed. The spy in question, Leamas, is a hard man, an operator. But it’s only as the story unfolds that you realize the truly callous ones are the ones pulling the strings, like Control, who does indeed control events. Where the old school tie and club exterior might lead you to dismiss the bureaucrats, their actions undercut any softness or uncertainty. Who’s the traitor? Who’s the bait?

After all the back and forth whipsaws you around, the conclusion made sense. Coming full circle, you recognize what’s coming a few pages from the end, at the approach to the Berlin Wall, from the East.

When we reach the place you must get out and run to the wall. The searchlight will be shining at the point where you must climb. Stand in the beam of the searchlight. When the beam moves away begin to climb. You will have 90 seconds to get over.

You have to believe that Leamas recognized the cold justice about to be delivered, too, but he had to try all the same.

John Le Carre is a known entity, but not to me. Smiley’s People is my first Le Carré read, though I did catch a recent movie.

Despite missing the first two books of the trilogy, I fell in with Smiley’s return to old territory and previous fights. For such an inward-looking book, Smiley keeps his distance. While we’re privy to his thoughts, Smiley is always “he” not “I’ — we just happened to be privileged to secret information. Not all, and not enough, but closer to the veil than others. The action picks up throughout the story, and Smiley does move about notably for an old spy (supposedly retired by this time). Still, it’s Smiley’s memories which slow him down the most.

I didn’t lean in at first, but I was eager to finish the book over the Thanksgiving break, so the tale clearly grew on me. I’ll have to decide whether to delve in at the beginning.