Karla's Choice

May 1, 2024

Harkaway (Angelmaker) takes up the reigns from his father, John le Carr�, setting his newest in the decade between the action of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. George Smiley thought he was done with the Circus, but Control pulls him back. Soon he's in East Berlin, chasing a devious spy. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2024 Library Journal

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2024
Harkaway, who's John le Carr�'s son, slips this spy tale into the 10-year gap betweenThe Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1963) andTinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974). In London in the early spring of 1963, a Hungarian assassin named Miki Bortnik shows up at a literary agent's office to kill a man named Laszlo B�n�ti, on instructions from the Thirteenth Directorate (think KGB). But the repentant killer confesses to B�n�ti's assistant, Susanna Gero, that God has told him not to do it. In any case, B�n�ti has disappeared. Susanna tells MI6, who naturally wants to know what the Soviets are up to. Meanwhile, George Smiley has retired from the Circus (MI6) and is spending his time with his wife, Ann. "There was a rumour--unconfirmed and a little scandalous--that George Smiley might almost be happy." Control (the head of British Intelligence) orders that Smiley be persuaded to deal with the case. Although it would be a temporary assignment, Smiley at first demurs, saying, "Let the old dog sit by the cooker." But he ultimately agrees, much to Ann's quiet exasperation. She knows he loves her, but the Circus is his "grey mistress." B�n�ti is discovered to be a Soviet agent known as R�ka, and now he's on the run. Smiley's nemesis is the unseen Soviet Intelligence officer known as Karla, a dark presence in three previous le Carr� novels. The best intelligence work is slow, and "spying is waiting." The novel proceeds at a pace to match as it immerses the reader in a world of dread and drear, "shadows and sorrows." A Cold War yarn befitting the world of le Carr�.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 19, 2024
George Smiley returns in this terrific spy saga from John Le Carré’s son, Titanium Noir author Nicholas Cornwell (writing under the Harkaway pseudonym). In 1963, Hungarian publisher Laszlo Bánáti fails to show up at his office in London. Instead, a Soviet assassin arrives, telling Bánáti’s assistant, Susanna Gero, “I am here to kill your Mr. Bánáti... but I have changed my mind.” Gero cleverly manages to bring the would-be assassin to British intelligence, who task the happily retired Smiley with finding Bánáti and figuring out why the Soviets want him dead. Smiley plunges behind Soviet lines, launching a labyrinthine mission that puts him back on the trail of his old nemesis, Karla, head of the KGB, and fills in narrative gaps between Le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Longtime Smiley fans will delight in the enormous cast of familiar characters, the thoughtful meditations on the morality of espionage, and the lived-in tradecraft. Harkaway brilliantly channels his late father’s voice, and in the process delivers an essential new chapter for Smiley and Karla. Agent: Jonny Geller, Curtis Brown U.K.