The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, John Le Carre

Number 3 in the George Smiley series, probably the best known of the lot, just before listening to the audio of this we watched the Richard Burton / Claire Bloom movie version again after discovering  it on one of the streaming service subscriptions in one of those late night, can't be bothered going to bed hunts for something to distract.

Here this series definitely heads into espionage thriller territory, away from the slightly more crime thriller stylings of the first two. Having said that, this is thoughtful, considered, introspective espionage thriller, not just because the character of Alec Leamas, the Spymaster with no spies left, is a man with little hope left, except the chance of revenge.

Recalled to London, Leamas is offered one final chance - to rid the world of his Eastern bloc opposite number, a ruthless killer, the man who found and murdered all of the spies that Leamas once controlled, the man who is dangerous even to those on his own side. Deep cover for Leamas, there's something so wonderfully cunning, so very British (I'm thinking 1956 and The Man Who Never Was type cunning) about a plot that sees a washed up spymaster descend into abject poverty and failure, alcoholism and homelessness all designed to lure communist agents into attempting to turn him - to give him access to the one man that he wants / needs to get close to.

The depiction of the descent of Leamas in this novel is pitch perfect - the whole idea is cleverly conceived, written and executed, and the dry, ruthless manner in which Leamas, and his controller George Smiley operate is really well done - mind you, in this outing Smiley is slightly off camera, the concentration is on Leamas, as well it should be.

Brilliantly paced, the prose is pointed, sparse and beautifully pitched and the audio version of the book worked in ways that the film, which I also really enjoy, won't. There's more detail, more subtle descriptive elements than were needed in the visual version, which was dark, broody and beautifully shot, with Burton playing such an understated increasingly seedy version of Leamas to perfection.

Having read this first as a teenager, mildly obsessed with the Cold War, spy thrillers and espionage in general, it's not surprising that the skill of Le Carre means all these years later it's still intriguing, cleverly done and the novel at which point the George Smiley series became such a favourite.