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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
This is more of this just not holding up to the test of time and compared to more modern versions in the genre.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
The writing is so good but the neither the characterisation nor the story grip.
4.5 stars. Masterful. I struggled a bit through the first third but the unravelling of the plot(s) was just brilliantly constructed and narrated.
This story was not satisfying in that the Spy doesn't come in from the cold. His final mission, which he was a little manipulated into taking, ends his life. You see his last bit of humanity, turning back for the girl he loved, but shouldn't have, ends up being his downfall again. He knew doing so was suicide, but would he have been able to live with himself if he continued forward.
After the disappointment of Thunderball last year I was pleased to spot this book and snatch it up. I have been meaning to read Le Carré for some time and since I have seen the film of The Spy That Came In Front The Cold I thought it would serve as a good introduction. I am delighted to say that in every way that Thunderball dragged, this book soared. For all the silly glamour of Bond, this book simmers in the seedy underbelly of espionage. But enough of what the book isn’t, now for what it is.
The book opens as Alec Leamas, head of espionage in Berlin, watches in horror as his best double-agent is gunned down trying to cross the border at the wall. With his last major asset neutralised he returns to London, expecting to be put to pasture. But Control has something different in mind for him before he can come in from the cold. What results is an elaborately conceived fall from grace, as Leamas sinks into alcoholism and poverty, then prison, all to signal to East German Intelligence that he is a potential defector. The gambit pays off, and he is whisked off to East Germany to be interrogated. All this is for one goal: to discredit and destroy Mundt, the head of East German intelligence, a man whose brilliance and brutality has wiped out Leamas’ operatives and left London with no choice but to have him removed from the sphere.
From here our plot spins faster and faster, with revelations and suspicions mounting and firm ground shrinking. We know what Leamas is up to, and so does he, but the Germans and London have their own tricks up their sleeves putting everything on the line, including Leamas’ life. There is also a love plot woven into the story, which is a little hollow in a Hollywood way (main male character plus beautiful female character equals love story, regardless of reason, connection, affection etc). It does serve the plot neatly though, and frankly spending much more time establishing it would have slowed an otherwise well-paced book. The action is thick and fast, the dialogue snappy and seemingly realistic, and Leamas makes an excellent lead as the jaded, cynical old bastard who is cracking at the seams but has to hold it together for this one last job.
I was continually pleased with the quality of this book, as if a page-turner this compelling should be trashier and more simplistic. But if there is anything this book is not it is simplistic. Not just in terms of the convoluted plot, but primarily in terms of the politics. This book is an indictment of the whole spy game, as no one here comes out clean and Le Carré pulls no punches when crying out how both sides have blood on their hands. The East and West are held up to the same light, and their politics and practices are paralleled so indistinguishably that you hardly know who to root for. In the end you just give up and root for the characters who seem the least malevolent. The ending was bleak, but so was the whole nihilistic world that these people inhabited. Cold is the perfect way to describe it.
I got this book at the Lismore car boot market at the showgrounds.
The book opens as Alec Leamas, head of espionage in Berlin, watches in horror as his best double-agent is gunned down trying to cross the border at the wall. With his last major asset neutralised he returns to London, expecting to be put to pasture. But Control has something different in mind for him before he can come in from the cold. What results is an elaborately conceived fall from grace, as Leamas sinks into alcoholism and poverty, then prison, all to signal to East German Intelligence that he is a potential defector. The gambit pays off, and he is whisked off to East Germany to be interrogated. All this is for one goal: to discredit and destroy Mundt, the head of East German intelligence, a man whose brilliance and brutality has wiped out Leamas’ operatives and left London with no choice but to have him removed from the sphere.
From here our plot spins faster and faster, with revelations and suspicions mounting and firm ground shrinking. We know what Leamas is up to, and so does he, but the Germans and London have their own tricks up their sleeves putting everything on the line, including Leamas’ life. There is also a love plot woven into the story, which is a little hollow in a Hollywood way (main male character plus beautiful female character equals love story, regardless of reason, connection, affection etc). It does serve the plot neatly though, and frankly spending much more time establishing it would have slowed an otherwise well-paced book. The action is thick and fast, the dialogue snappy and seemingly realistic, and Leamas makes an excellent lead as the jaded, cynical old bastard who is cracking at the seams but has to hold it together for this one last job.
I was continually pleased with the quality of this book, as if a page-turner this compelling should be trashier and more simplistic. But if there is anything this book is not it is simplistic. Not just in terms of the convoluted plot, but primarily in terms of the politics. This book is an indictment of the whole spy game, as no one here comes out clean and Le Carré pulls no punches when crying out how both sides have blood on their hands. The East and West are held up to the same light, and their politics and practices are paralleled so indistinguishably that you hardly know who to root for. In the end you just give up and root for the characters who seem the least malevolent. The ending was bleak, but so was the whole nihilistic world that these people inhabited. Cold is the perfect way to describe it.
I got this book at the Lismore car boot market at the showgrounds.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes