Smiley's People

The final instalment in the Karla trilogy and of course le Carré managed to end it in style. A return to the style of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - rather than the more action packed The Honourable Schoolboy - a grey man under a grey sky reading files in various government buildings and occasionally interviewing someone.

And it was brilliant, le Carré can ratchet up the tension in a seemingly small conversation like no one I've ever read, and his ability to provide just the right amount of detail describing different cities, professions, and people, never ceases to amaze me.

A brilliant conclusion.

I'm late coming to this book. I'm not quite sure why. Alongside The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, for me this is absolutely masterful.

For my money, this is the best of the so-called Karla trilogy. Tight plotting, tension, extraordinarily well-depicted characters, superlative writing, and at the very end... Karla, Smiley's mythical, remote, ruthless nemesis, suddenly exposed, frail and very human.

A masterpiece in all senses of the word.