robertrivasplata 's review for:

The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré

3.0

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This book had many interesting and compelling elements that did not quite mesh. There's the story of Jerry Westerby, following the trail of Soviet intelligence money through British Hong Kong and the collapsing regimes of 1970s Southeast Asia. Then there is George Smiley and his team, maneuvering the Circus through bureaucratic minefields in London, while also looking for clues to Jerry's mystery. While the Smiley-Circus story had some interesting parts, but felt rushed and generally relied on too much explication; it should have either been fleshed out much more, or should have been cut out. The Jerry Westerby story felt much more natural and compelling, and could have stood on its own as a novel or novella. While I enjoyed the Honourable Schoolboy, I can see why the BBC skipped over it and went directly to Smiley's People when they did the Sequel to the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy miniseries.