A review by bit101
The Looking Glass War by John le Carré

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

From the start, you see where this is all leading and it's like watching a car wreck in slow motion. At points you almost get buoyed into believing things might be OK by the characters' optimism, but not for long. The brief interludes with Smiley and Control bring you back to earth and remind you that The Department is just cosplaying and fooling themselves into believing they know what they are doing. It's all pretty depressing, especially for a man of a certain age. But brilliantly done.