A Legacy of Spies by John Le Carré, published in hardback by Viking
THERE are two views of John Le Carré’s work: some consider that he has effectively blended high-end literature with his chosen genre, the spy novel; others think him a brilliant genre writer whose works are weakened by his literary pretensions.
There is something in the charges of the more critical: the excellent A Perfect Spy, from the 1980s, and The Honourable Schoolboy, from the 70s, would have been greatly improved by being shorter. His most beloved novels, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy are notable for their economy of style and brilliant plotting.
A Legacy Of Spies is a sequel to these classics, and features the long wished for return of two of his most famous characters, master-spy George Smiley and his man of action protégé Peter Guillam. Though a sequel, readers should be assured, the book can be read on its own. It is a triumph of clever plotting, terse writing and direct storytelling.
While it would be churlish to say it is a return to a form for Le Carré – his books have never been less than readable – suffice to say I read this in one sitting, which has not always been the case.
The story is set in an unspecified year – given the absence of mobile phones, the internet and the appearance of a Rover car, I'm guessing the late 1990s.
It begins with Guillam, called to London from his French retirement by the Secret Intelligence Service (always called 'the Circus’ in Le Carré land) to answer a legal case being brought by the children of Alec Leamas (revealed here as half German/ half Cork man) and Elizabeth Gold, who are killed by the East Germans in the 1960s at the climax of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.
The allegation is that the Circus had consciously sent them to their certain deaths to protect a high-level double agent in East Germany’s Stasi spy agency.
Guillam is sent to review the files from the operation but he is clearly being set up as the fall guy.
The review of the files allows Le Carré to both revisit The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and provide perhaps his most tautly written book in decades. He also demonstrates his brilliant characterisations of public school twits, takes digs at the compensation industry and once more exposes the dark underbelly of the Cold War intelligence wars.
It also ends with a brief coda featuring Smiley, that most English of characters, telling Guillam that the dark deeds he carried out were not for England but to save Europe, a shot across the Brexit bows of Nigel Farage and Theresa May from Le Carré, who revels in being a citizen of nowhere.
For a man who has been writing best-selling novels for more than 50 years and is now in his late 80s, it is a remarkable and enjoyable tour de force.
Robert McNamara teaches History at Ulster University
