Call for the Dead

By John le Carré

Originally read and reviewed on Goodreads on October 8, 2012

★★★★

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

“Thought alone was valueless. You must act for thought to become effective.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead

John le Carré's first novel, is the first in his series of George Smiley novels. It is a subtle story of marriage, friendship, espionage, guilt, and tradecraft. Le Carré is one of those great genre writers who I believe will be read and studied 300 years from now, if we haven’t all gone the way of unfaithful wives and the DoDo bird.

This short novel foreshadows many of the themes and moral ambiguities of later le Carré espionage novels. George Smiley, one of the great characters of 20th Century fiction, is born. The anti-James Bond. The everyman. The great moral center.