The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

Rating:
Summary: The thinking man's Forsyth / Clancy / Deighton.
Review: Pure joy. A novel written for those more interested in the human side of espionage than all that James Bond gimmickery. If you enjoyed this you must try the Smiley trilogy

Rating:
Summary: amazing end
Review: I had to read The spy who came in from the cold for school.At first I thought it would be a boring story,but than the main-character falls in love,and I started to like the story. Especially the sad ending was great! The whole spy-situation is sometimes difficult to understand,but the love-story isn't! And it tells you something more about the wall in Berlin. So,I think everybody should give the book a try!

Rating:
Summary: Twist and Turn
Review: This was a good twist and turn novel, becuase you never know the whole story until the very end. On top of that Le Carre manages to make it seem plausible. If you are looking for an action/spy thriller, don't read this. It is geared for intrigue and stealth more than anything else

Rating:
Summary: Excellent story of Berlin just after the Wall was built.
Review: LeCarre does a pretty good job of making a complex story somewhat followable. Some parts are confusing, everything is the opposite of what you think it is, sometimes the opposite of that, but it all comes together in the end. One helluva surprise in the end. Worth reading just for the end

Rating:
Summary: Probably the only readable le Carre.
Review: This is a good one, but when you read others, don't put your gun nearby, because you may be bored to death and may try to kill yourself. Le Carre's books are only good for retirees to read on the beach and provided them with continuous nodding times. The narrative of his books are typical diary style, developed into self-convinced and self-righteous plots and scenarios but got nothing to do with the real world. Yet his logic is far better than that of Len Deighton's

Rating:
Summary: Very good book with classic Le Clarre ending
Review: I liked the book, as I have liked most of Le Clarre's novels. He writes books that you do not realize are good until you have finished the book

Rating:
Summary: A Classic.
Review: A classic cold-war spy thriller. It doesn't get any better than this-

Rating:
Summary: A Different "Better"
Review: I've just started reading again about 4 months ago. I've stayed with fiction and have seen some ups and downs in the books I've read. I confess, I look around here to see what books avid readers recommend, and I compare that with my taste to pick one.

So, when I saw John LeCarre's name in another review, I checked out the book titles and found this one. Let me tell you, I'm quite happy I decided to read it!

As one reviewer before me put it, this is NOT your typical protagonist. Entertainment (books and novels, for the most part) follows a simple guideline, it seems. Cool protagonist, disliked antagonist, predictable ending. Not this one.

Alec Leamas is an aged "case worker" for the Circus (basically London's spy agency) who's just come up short on his last assignment, and expects to be discarded after his last failure. What he finds is one more voyage into the fray.

LeCarre's character development is pretty good, and the sense of feeling he gives the protagonist is genious. As said similarly in the book, the reader is between the carrot and the stick. LeCarre gives moments of shock, panic, and rarely a sense of comfort.

To my best guess, this is what it feels like to be a spy. Something rarely found in spy novels these days. A good purchase for someone to add pages of intellect to their library.

For another good one, check out Robert Ludlum's "Gemini Contenders."

Rating:
Summary: a masterpiece
Review: THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD is the quintessential cold war espionage novel. For four decades, this early LeCarre tale has served as the benchmark for 'spy thriller' writing. Reading it fresh in 2004, it's easy to see why.

Though THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD was only LeCarre's third novel, his strengths as a storyteller are fully evident here. The opening chapter alone serves as a narrative tour-de-force, swiftly and adroitly introducing the reader to the central characters, their impossible situation, and the hopeless, duplicitous world they inhabit. It is beautfully mirrored by the final chapter, in which the consequences of protagonist Alec Leamas' weakness becomes excruciatingly, tragically clear.

In terms of both style and structure, this early work seems to take its cues from Grahame Greene's '50s novels -- particularly THE QUIET AMERICAN. As in Greene, LeCarre's descriptions here are spare and succinct, with characters and situations quickly sketched in razor-sharp detail. Like Greene, this writer shows that sacrifice of innocents at the hands of arrogant ideologues has become mundane. He reveals the tragic complicity of all-too-human agents like Alec Leamas. Yet LeCarre does not share Greene's belief in personal redemption: His characters take it for granted that they live in an amoral labyrinth in which treachery and triple-cross are simply routine.

Economy and intelligence are hallmarks of this work. Dialogue is terse, sharp; plot complications are introduced with a minimum of fuss. LeCarre sketches his players deftly, in medias res, as they run the gauntlet. Consequently, this 224-page novel can be read in two sittings, yet its characters and situations seem fully realized -- and its tragic conclusion hits with tremendous impact.

THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD is an early work, by a writer still looking to more experienced hands for models. It would be almost a decade before LeCarre truly came into his own, with TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY. Still, it's clear that this novel is more than just a superlatively crafted 'spy thriller', more than just a classic of the genre. Forty years after its first publication, LeCarre's tragic tale has lost none of its power: THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD remains an extraordinary masterwork, by a supremely gifted and intelligent writer.

Rating:
Summary: Probably one of the best spy novels
Review: I didn't actually read the book, but I listened to an audio version. This is one of the best spy novels ever. It takes time to build, but the ending is shattering. As a reader, you find yourself playing out complicated fact scenarios from each character's point of view. From one point of view, the facts reveal one truth; from another the same facts reveal a completely different story. Which one is true? More importantly, which one will the characters believe? If what you like about spy novels is the tortured logic spies use ("If you know that I know that you know that I know...."), this is what you are looking for.