The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
by John le Carre
Published in 1963 (I finished it on July 14, 2013)
I wanted something exciting and suspenseful. This does not disappoint. Sure, it’s a little dated, and yet still manages to capture one’s imagination and place him in a dangerous time and place. I didn’t know it when buying the novel, but the author wrote Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and I had just watched the recent move version. It’s exactly the kind of espionage and secret agent drama that works well for me.

The book is easy to follow and contains great moments of excellent, thought-provoking dialogue—some conversations being didactic, but in a believable way.

In the end, it does its job well. It forces you to ponder, to think and consider what values can or cannot be sacrificed when you’re at war. When do the needs of a nation’s security outweigh the trust and values of the individuals? In short, even during a “cold” war, innocence is inevitably lost.

I hope to find more novels like this one.

Note: this was an audio book and narrated by Michael Jason. While I can’t compare the narration to anyone else’s, this is especially well done, with some great accents and characterizations.

So many books … (you know the rest)