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I'm going to state the obvious and say John le Carré is a really good writer.

This was my first le Carré novel, and I can see why he's considered such a master of the spy genre. The story itself was thrilling, but what I most appreciated were his thoughtful descriptions. The writing was so insightful that it was easy to become invested in the fate of the characters.

A quick plot summary: George Smiley is a retired British spy. He was forced out during a reorganization of the Circus, a nickname for the intelligence service. One day he's approached and asked to discreetly investigate a mole in the agency, someone who's been giving state secrets to Russia. George sets to work, getting help from some trusted colleagues. It was exciting watching George uncover the mole. Even though I knew the ending because I had seen the movie, it was still thrilling. Now that's good writing.

But this wasn't just a book about finding a double agent � no, this was book about friendship, love and loyalty. It's about having a purpose in life. And it's about betrayal.

They shared no harmony. They had lost all calmness in one another's company; they were a mystery to each other, and the most banal conversation could take strange, uncontrollable directions.

Besides Smiley, my favorite character in the book was young Bill Roach, a student at a prep school. Roach is a good watcher, and quietly observes things others don't notice. For example, Roach observes some odd behavior by the school's new teacher, Jim Prideaux, which suggests he has some secrets. Here's an (abbreviated) early exchange between Jim and Bill that first showed me how well le Carré could write his characters:

"What are you good at, Bill?"

"I don't know, sir," said Roach woodenly.

"Got to be good at something, surely; everyone is. How about football? Are you good at football, Bill?"

"No, sir," said Roach.

"What's your best thing, then?"

Now this was an unfortunate question to ask of Roach just then, for it occupied most of his waking hours. Indeed he had recently come to doubt whether he had any purpose on earth at all. In work and play he considered himself seriously inadequate; even the daily routine of the school, such as making his bed and tidying his clothes, seemed to be beyond his reach. Also he lacked piety: old Mrs. Thursgood had told him so; he screwed up his face too much at chapel. He blamed himself for the break-up of his parents' marriage, which he should have seen coming and taken steps to prevent.

Damn, that's a good introduction of a character. Rereading it, it's no wonder my heart went out to young Bill so early in the book. Speaking of strong introductions, check out this one for Smiley:

Unlike Jim Prideaux, Mr. George Smiley was not naturally equipped for hurrying in the rain, least of all at dead of night. Indeed, he might have been the final form for which Bill Roach was the prototype. Small, podgy, and at best middle-aged, he was by appearance one of London's meek who do not inherit the earth. His legs were short, his gait anything but agile, his dress costly, ill-fitting, and extremely wet. His overcoat, which had a hint of widowhood about it, was of that black loose weave which is designed to retain moisture. Either the sleeves were too long or his arms were too short, for, as with Roach, when he wore his mackintosh, the cuffs all but concealed the fingers. For reasons of vanity he wore no hat, believing rightly that hats made him ridiculous.

My one criticism of the writing is that the reader has to quickly adapt to the spy jargon, much of it made up by le Carré. I thought it was interesting he was inspired to write this novel because of Kim Philby, a real-life double agent. I recently read Ben Macintyre's book on Philby, A Spy Among Friends, which made me keen to read Tinker, Tailor. And now I want to read the rest of the George Smiley series.

John le Carré is such a popular writer that I hardly need to say this, but I highly recommend this novel to anyone who likes spy thrillers.

Favorite Quotes
"He imagined that, like himself, Jim had had a great attachment that had failed him and that he longed to replace. But here Bill Roach's speculation met a dead end: he had no idea how adults loved each other."

"He would set up as a mild eccentric, discursive, withdrawn, but possessing one or two lovable habits such as muttering to himself as he bumbled along pavements. Out of date, perhaps, but who wasn't these days? Out of date, but loyal to his own time. At a certain moment, after all, every man chooses: will he go forward, will he go back? There was nothing dishonourable in not being blown about by every little modern wind. Better to have worth, to entrench, to be an oak of one's own generation."

"There are always a dozen reasons for doing nothing ... There is only one reason for doing something. And that's because you want to."

"There are old men who go back to Oxford and find their youth beckoning to them from the stones. Smiley was not one of them."

"He was of that pre-war set that seemed to have vanished for good, which managed to be disreputable and high-minded at the same time."

"I have a theory which I suspect is rather immoral ... Each of us has only a quantum of compassion. That if we lavish our concern on every stray cat, we never get to the centre of things."

"Sitting is such an eloquent business; any actor will tell you that. We sit according to our natures. We sprawl and straddle, we rest like boxers between rounds, we fidget, perch, cross and uncross our legs, lose patience, lose endurance."

"If there's one thing that distinguishes a good watcher from a bad one... it's the gentle art of doing damn all convincingly."

"Survival, as Jim Prideaux liked to recall, is an infinite capacity for suspicion."

"He wondered whether there was any love between human beings that did not rest upon some sort of self-delusion."