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in what context?

Tui told Marshall to call Harry, but no one knows who he is, a name from no where. Smiley and gang, at least to my last page read, he has not surfaced again, and I have about 100 or so pages to go......likely finish on Sunday.

Up early on a Sat, Feliks!!!!

Yup, 5am ish. These are rough times in New Amsterdam. My conscience must be bothering me.

Marshall--I find him mentioned around page 420; during Jerry's interview with Tiny Ricardo. They're referring to Charlie Marshall. Charlie, not Harry. That's why he disappears from your view. Charlie Marshall was a confederate of Tiny's and part of the story Jerry had to unravel earlier, to figure out how to get to Tiny. He's supposed to be finding out about the rendezvous (and he is) but for personal reasons he's also tracing the history of Liz Worth. Charlie and Tiny gave her to Drake Ko as a dividend during their drug deal. Ko is going to use Tiny again soon, and Jerry wants to use Liz to learn when and where.

When Jerry disappears, Tui tells Smiley & Co to talk to Charlie because that's the route Jerry took; its a 'tracing of the relationships' that Smiley needs to do if he wants to predict what Jerry's going to do.

Finished. Great story woven through the efforts of many stories within stories. The writing is excellent in it's descriptions of characters, and the "landscape" in which the story is told. I was amused by the line of Lizza's drinking mother who "left a vapor trail" as she walked down a hallway. The story in typical JC style leaves the reader often in the shadows of the story with little clues for the reader to absorb in their own way. My biggest disappoint? The ending. I just thought it fell short of 500 pages of lead-up. Therefore, it only gets a four rating from me.

Bravo. So you feel you can encounter clues or no, you are not given any clues?

I was shocked by the ending scenes. They still resonate with me. Machiavellian, Shakespearian. A Pyrrhic victory in the grandest sense.

Feliks wrote: "Bravo. So you feel you can encounter clues or no, you are not given any clues?

I was shocked by the ending scenes. They still resonate with me. Machiavellian, Shakespearian. A Pyrrhic victory in t..."

Oh, there were quite a few clues along the way, enjoyed them when discovered, some obvious, some, not so much.

Just somehow expected more of a climax to the story, to me, it just sort of ended with a dull thud.

David, will you be reading the third book?

Thinking of purchasing Strangers on a Bridge: The Case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers. Has anyone read it?

I know of it; and have seen it referenced in other works of research. It was a travesty that we had to give up Abel. That was a ten year period of numerous prisoner exchanges ...we came out behind.

Adam Hall described it well though; when he said how vital the practice of 'exchange' is...for if not, then countries would send agents on nigh-impossible missions knowing they weren't getting their men back anyway; and they'd also crack/kill the ones they captured as a matter of course. It would be a free-for-all, a shooting gallery.

Jim wrote: "David, will you be reading the third book?"

Yes, on my bookshelf, along with most of LC's books. However do not know when as I skip around. Just picked another Jonathan Kellerman read when I finished schoolboy.

I wish I could read 'Smiley's People' again and feel it the way I did the first time. There's a lot of wisdom in that little novel. Surprisingly brief story compared to 'Schoolboy' which immediately preceded it. But a lot of insight to human nature.

Smiley's character is wonderfully calming to someone of my temperament. He's deeply an academic, something which only slowly emerged over the series. He believes in measured, carefully-considered thought. His subject was Romantic German poetry, of all things. But Smiley ran a network in Germany during WWII as well. This gives him internal reserves of both resourcefulness and determination.

In 'Smiley's People' perhaps the single best set-piece is the way he demolishes the Russkie (played by Michael Lonsdale in the mini-series) under interrogation. You wanna see superb acting, rent that series. That is two heavyweights pitted against each other.

I also admire Smiley's conservatism. There's a wonderful scene set in Paris in the BBC tele-movie where Smiley has to join Guillam in Guillam's car and it's a Porsche. Typical Guillam. Smiley reacts two ways which I love: first, he appears never to have seen a Porsche before; and second is his response: "What a revolting little car!" before he forces himself to climb in. Love that. A Porsche 911, "revolting"!

Smiley's #1 ethic: "it's an honor to be given the opportunity to serve your nation." Not bad. It's also why I feel 'Schoolboy' is the best of the series. It's really the only episode where Smiley goes on the offensive for once. He runs an operation against the Bloc. He takes the battle to them, instead of always reacting defensively. In "Smiley's People" --he gets the winning hand at last--but only by accident. Hence, Karla's disgusted expression when he finally meets him again.

Starting "Smiley's People" now! Have yet to watch the BBC series but have seen the movie (TTSS) released in 2011-ish. LeCarre's writing is like no other, it has a calming effect and allows me to appreciate all that is going on around me. I am a self described "Watcher"

Bravo. I hope you're reading these in order. Remember, 'Smiley's People' is the last in the series. You'll get the best effect if you've read the others, in advance. That's because all the characters obey psychological reality; in 'Smiley's People' George Smiley is weary and tired from all he's been through over the years.

It's true though that these novels (really, all novels before the internet) come from a tradition of people being attentive and sensitive to what's going on around them. That's how people behaved. With alertness. Not everyone, of course (the less perspicacious you were, the less you ever noticed). But astute people always kept their eyes open and didn't take these nonstop 'breaks' from being human... which everyone does these days.

Just started Le Carre's biography. Already 100 pages in. His childhood is fascinating mainly because of his old man who seems a bit of a chancer (putting it mildly). Can't wait to read more

Doubledf99.99,

You'll like it. The second book in Rabb's Berlin Trilogy is good as well. Stay clear of book three which -- unaccountably -- shifts to the Spanish Civil War.

Nooilforpacifists wrote: "Doubledf99.99,

You'll like it. The second book in Rabb's Berlin Trilogy is good as well. Stay clear of book three which -- unaccountably -- shifts to the Spanish Civil War."

Yep I read your comment on the goodread site for the kindle.

Have been off the grid but have been reading my way along... Picked up and enjoyed Bridge of Spies: A True Story of the Cold War and The October Circle. Loved The Company and thought October would be similar. Was very different but just as intriguing. Check it out!!! Am currently reading In the Woods as I am in need of a good murder mystery.

I finally found an opportunity to give my attention to


The Fate of Admiral Kolchak

written by Peter Fleming, exotic adventurer - elder brother of Ian.

Very much looking forward to it (after the time I just spent with Bruce Lockhart and George Hill).

Just started reading an old one, THE DECEIVER by Frederick Forsyth. It features short incidents in the past career of agent Sam McCreary as he fights forced retirement or worse... a desk job. Great storytelling, pace and detail.

I wasn't aware of that title...haven't followed Forsyth's later career

I just ordered three of Alistair Maclean's books ("Where Eagles Dare," "Guns of Navarone," and "Ice Station Zebra"). I know, I'm late to the party.

1) Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews



2) Slow Horses by Mick Herron



3) Midnight in Europe: A Novel by Alan Furst



4) Red Joan by Jennie Rooney



5) The Secret Lovers by Charles McCarry



6) The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming



7) The Midnight Swimmer by Edward Wilson



8) The Spy Bazaar by Michael Alcroft

Let us hear your opinion of that McCarry book when you get a chance.

I finally have my hands on ...Admiral Kolchak!

Adrian McKinty often straddles the line between crime and espionage, incorporating elements of both.



I started this awhile back and got distracted. Need to give it another go.



Not sure if this counts as espionage or if it's merely a tough-guy book that jumps around a bit, like a Bond movie.

After my great good luck with
Memoirs Of A British Agent and Go Spy the Land--which describe the Bolshie takeover from the inside--there's yet another figure on the scene during those days which has been mentioned, Arthur Ransome. Yet another (suspected) Brit spy on hand during events. I'm looking for his autobio to hear what he as to say.

Today, I almost purchased Len Deightons 'unnamed spy/secret file #7' (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Spy) but decided to hold off. Harry Palmer, always great but I'm just not in the mood at the moment.

These other nonfiction titles have been on my list for a while now too, except that they are Stalinist spies and rather less interesting:
The Last Card
The Case of Colonel Abel
Stalin's Spy: Richard Sorge And The Tokyo Espionage Ring

By the way guys, sorry for not keeping the pace of the group more lively lately. I'm struggling with burnout from the internet in general.

Feliks wrote: "Got a title from our group's genre

Reading le Carre's, The Night Manager. Re-reading his The Secret Pilgrim, because it's a wonderful trek through an agent's career via the conceit of a George Smiley lecture. And also because it's written in the first person, which is the POV I most often use in my own work. To continue, I am forever reading (when will it end, dear gaseous vertebrate?) David Kahn's immortal The Code Breakers, a book so extraordinary it can never be put aside. And finally, Steve Coll is by any measure (specifically my own) the man>

I've finally decided to take the plunge and add Joseph Conrad's well-regarded but little-known, Under Western Eyes to my list. A novel of anarchism and uprising, similar to his 'Secret Agent'.

Also leaning towards investment in the infamous What Is to Be Done? a Tsarist-era novel which set young Lenin ablaze with revolutionary fervor. It is said he read it a dozen times.

Have been suffering thru and will need a serious dose of Deighton to recover... Just ordered a copy of and to wash away the stink.

good stuff!

I wasn't overly impressed with Cairo Affair either.

I'd like to recommend to all Group members this new espionage novel, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction ~

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen




I bought it a local bookstore last weekend and can hardly wait to read it. A brief summary follows...

" 'The Sympathizer' is the breakthrough novel of the year. With the pace and suspense of a thriller and prose that has been compared to Graham Greene and Saul Bellow,

" 'The Sympathizer' is a sweeping epic of love and betrayal. The narrator, a communist double agent, is a 'man of two minds,' a half-French, half-Vietnamese army captain who arranges to come to America after the Fall of Saigon, and while building a new life with other Vietnamese refugees in Los Angeles is secretly reporting back to his communist superiors in Vietnam.

" 'The Sympathizer' is a blistering exploration of identity and America, a gripping espionage novel, and a powerful story of love and friendship."

KOMET wrote: "I'd like to recommend to all Group members this new espionage novel, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction ~

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

[bookcove..."
One of the best books I've read this year.

Does anybody know a good thriller featuring military drones in a substantial way?

Cphe wrote: "Just pre ordered A Legacy of Spies by le Carre.

due out in September."

September won't be here soon enough, hope time starts flying by.

/book/show/2...
/book/show/3...
/book/show/2...

and currently reading: /book/show/1...

Feliks wrote: "Let us hear your opinion of that McCarry book when you get a chance."

Here it is. :)

The Secret Lovers by Charles McCarry



This is the second Charles McCarry novel in the Paul Christopher series that I've read, and it had more twists and turns than any roller coaster I remember holding on to for dear life. It is 1960 and Christopher, a polyglot CIA agent working in Covert Action (CA), has met on a West Berlin street in the wee hours of the morning with Horst Bülow, one of his contacts. Bülow, an erstwhile Abwehr agent (i.e. the German military intelligence arm during the Nazi era), had travelled over from East Berlin with a manuscript that had been spirited out of the Soviet Union. It represents the magnum opus of a celebrated writer who had been in the gulags over the previous 2 decades following his return from Spain, where he had served the Loyalist cause during the civil war there. Suddenly, as Christopher and Bülow part company, a Black Opel appears as if out of nowhere, and in passing, strikes Bülow, killing him instantly. Christopher is shocked, but quickly composes himself and later flies to Paris, where he meets with Pachen, his boss who had flown in from Washington to consult with Christopher.

This sets in train a sequence of events that sees Christopher on the move --- to Rome (where he has a home with his wife Cathy; their relationship represents a study of how a life lived as a spy under deep cover can impact in various ways on a marriage), Paris, West Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and Africa --- to discover the leak that caused Bülow's death. Plus, resolving the matter of what to do with the manuscript, whose publication would be a revelatory and damning indictment of the Soviet system. McCarry assembles here a colorful cast of characters and with great skill, ties together the various threads of the novel into a cohesive and compelling whole. For any reader of espionage novels, he/she will be in for a merry ride --- much as I was.

I've just finished A Spy's Life by Henry Porter and thoroughly enjoyed it. Here's my review: /review/show...

Next to read is Snowball by Ted Allbeury.

Bravo KOMET!

Here's my review of "Tears of Autumn," my favorite McCarry thriller to date (currently reading, "The Secret Lovers".

Charles McCarry is a less well-known spy novelist than le Carre or Deighton, but belongs in the same conversation even if "Tears of Autumn" was the only book he published. McCarry's protagonist Paul Christopher is somewhere between super human (e.g. ability to pick up almost any language--even tonal ones--in a month or two) and all-too-human (e.g. his feelings for his Australian lover). The pace is fast, the settings described in sufficient detail to convince the reader that McCarry knows them firsthand and JFK's assassination is the number one conspiracy of modern times.

Where McCarry really shines is in the nuanced plotting and layered reveals that keep the reader riveted even if the basics of Christopher's take on Kennedy's murder have been known almost from the outset.

"Tears of Autumn" stands alongside the best of spy novels of the modern era

High praise indeed.

McCarry's books have impressed me with their competence and that in itself is perhaps the most glowing thing I can say about him; all the more so because soooo many Americans can not write in this difficult genre at all. Among the hordes of his competitors, he is an author I trust. I don't think I can even name even one other author currently writing today who is as solid. So this is really a rich compliment to pay him.

But on the other hand only one of his books truly thrilled me, and that was 'Secret Lovers'.

'Tears of Autumn' had several fine qualities but struck me more as a 'by-the-numbers' book. It felt 'obligatory'. McCarry is probing a sort of "cold-case" in this yarn. It was a fine East Asian romp, moments of action too; but ...lacked fire.

'Miernik Dossier' I had severe problems with, but I respected what he attempted. It was ingenious and audacious. An 'epistolary' spy tale--everything revealed through correspondence and wires. I just disliked his choice of characters. They didn't evoke sympathy,

'Last Supper' is his magnum opus. A very fine historical retrospective; radical in its way. Huge scope. Inventive and well-drawn. An epic. But just a little lacking in the quality of intimacy. This book should have put him on the same map as the Brits; but it just slightly fell short.

In sum, all of his works have minor failings except 'Secret Lovers' which is the quietest of his explorations. It doesn't shout it's messages. It may even be one of his shortest efforts. But it is the most profound. Though tiny and demure I suggest it is the most significant contribution he's made so far. This is the book which puts him alongside LeCarre and Deighton. In my opinion.

Thanks for reminding us all about McCarry, with your post!

Gents
Is it best to read the first novel in the series or can I go straight to 'Tears of Autumn'?
Cheers

Andrew wrote: "Gents
Is it best to read the first novel in the series or can I go straight to 'Tears of Autumn'?
Cheers"

You can read these out of sequence and not miss a lot. I read "Tears of Autumn" first and it wasn't bad.

You can read them out of order but if you can, try to read 'Last Supper' first. It will convince you of the quality involved here; whereas the other books might put-you-off. For example, 'Miernik Dossier' is slightly unpalatable in a way --so, leave that one for later.

Also 'Last Supper' gives the full backstory on the lead character and the history of his family. So that's a benefit as well to take it as early as possible.

Strongly caution you to read 'The Better Angels' --and everything which comes after this novel--much later in sequence. There is a significant jump in time from the earlier books.

thanks gents...actually i've just got the audiobook of Slow Horses by Mick Herron - seems to have v. good reviews. I will get to Mccarry soon. cheers

I've just finished and thoroughly enjoyed,

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
by Ben Macintyre, John le Carré (Afterword)

/review/show...

Next is: Empire State (Robert Harland #2) by Henry Porter

Well done Melanie. What did JLC have to say in his afterword? How long was that section?
I know Philby has an autobiography; but I'm ambivalent about reading it.

Began reading today (June 5th, 2017) "The Midnight Swimmer" by Edward Wilson, which is set at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.

I've read several of Wilson's other espionage novels and I'm a fervent fan of his work.

Feliks wrote: "Well done Melanie. What did JLC have to say in his afterword? How long was that section?
I know Philby has an autobiography; but I'm ambivalent about reading it."

JLC wrote a few pages about it. One of the little-known facts he mentioned was that Nicholas Elliott was an advisor to Margaret Thatcher.

I can understand your reservations about reading Philby's autobiography. I am curious though as he was such a complex figure, it might reveal more about his personality. In a way, it's a bit like covering your eyes when watching a horror movie!

Or, it might be like tuning-out someone when you know they'll probably bore or repulse you. (I do that all the time, its a necessity in my huge city). Anyway I read plenty of similar first-source material like Philby's story; I may get 'round to him someday..I'm just not in any particular rush..thx...