Book Review: Call for the Dead

He knew how intelligent men could be broken by the stupidity of their superiors, how weeks of patient work night and day could be cast aside by such a man

I didn't know what to expect when I began this book. Perhaps I was too familiar with George Smiley in his later incarnations, where he is fully in his spying prime. But no, this is the very beginning of Smiley - him in his pure bumbling Englishness - we have yet to meet him at his most ruthless. This book is more of an introduction to Smiley and his games; it is a thin book, ‘Call for the Dead’, so it didn't take too long to get through it. It is a taster, I believe, of what is to come.

The general public often assumes that John le Carré was a spy, and his books are based on some of his experiences in the game of espionage. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen. Is it true that he worked for both MI5 and MI6, but what he did during his time with the intelligence services is not fully known? I’m also not sure we want to know what he did, but we can assume that his experiences influenced his writing. It would explain why the mystery had such depth and scope. I love Agatha Christie, but this le Carré mystery was better. After a routine security interview with a member of the foreign office, Samuel Fennan kills himself. Smiley, knowing he will be blamed for the death, starts his investigation and finds several inconsistencies, such as Mrs Fennan’s testimony and an undrunk cup of cocoa. So, who is Samuel Fennan’s killer, and why?

A few bits to note: this book might seem short, but the text was rich in information, it meant that you had to pay attention, this wasn't a novel where you could switch off and relax! No, if your mind drifted briefly, you might have missed a vital clue. le Carré’s writing is very subtle, hiding clues and ideas in seemingly innocuous conversations. It is a brilliantly clever book, the whole point of espionage is that it is quiet and doesn't cause too many ripples in the pond.. whilst the climax of the novel does cause some drama (probably for effect to make the book exciting) in real life espionage wouldn't be that climactic.

I will also note that this novel quite cleverly shows us the onset of the Cold War between the soviet union and the Western Allied powers. This book is set not too long after the Second World War and both powers were equally suspicious of each other, and those suspicions were only growing. This book is our introduction to espionage with the East, and I have a feeling that in subsequent books, it will only snowball. I’m rather excited to see what will happen next.