Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Set in the gray world of 1970s British intelligence, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy follows George Smiley, a discarded veteran of the Circus, as he is quietly recalled to investigate a long-running Soviet penetration of his own service. Working from old files and reluctant witnesses, Smiley reconstructs a hidden history of careers, betrayals, and a single traitor with a code name drawn from a children's rhyme. John le Carre, who had served in MI5 and MI6, writes spycraft as bureaucracy, friendship, and slow ruin rather than action. The novel introduced characters and an inner world that would carry through his Karla trilogy and reshape the modern espionage genre. It is widely regarded as the finest English spy novel of the postwar era.
Also by John le Carre
What you might want to know about Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A retired British intelligence officer is brought back in to hunt a Soviet mole at the top of the Circus.
Gladwell has named Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as his entry point for new spy thriller readers and a model of how patient, intelligent plotting can carry a thriller.
No. Tinker Tailor stands on its own, though Smiley appears in earlier novels and continues through the Karla trilogy.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was written by John le Carre, published in 1974 by Penguin Books.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is 416 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
