Karla's Choice, Nick Harkaway

Along with a lot of other readers around the same age, I started out reading Espionage thrillers with John le Carré's George Smiley, Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne, Ian Fleming's James Bond and the novels of Frederick Forsyth and Len Deighton. George Smiley was always a particular favourite, possibly because the tone and feeling of Le Carré's books was always pared back, steeped in foreboding, doubt and regret, which meant KARLA'S CHOICE was always going to be "an undertaking". I can't imagine how it would feel to be the son who takes on his father's most famous work, although the introduction in this novel goes some way to explaining the thought process, commitment, and lifelong experience that informed Nick Harkaway's first attempt at continuing the story of George Smiley and many familiar figures in the Circus.

It was particularly interesting to read, in the same Author's Note, that le Carré always intended there to be more Smiley books, until the 'external Smiley' - as portrayed by actors such as Sir Alec Guinness held sway over the author's own image of Smiley. Stepping into his father's shoes, Harkaway has managed to write a version of Smiley that felt, to this reader, like the original character as written. Helped enormously by the style, setting, and tone of KARLA'S CHOICE that maintained that dark, deep, introspective and doubtful tone that I have always held with me from the earlier books. There are characters here that also populate the original books, and they continue their roles in both the Circus, and in Smiley's life as before, as do the characters from "the enemy", hence the reprisal of Karla, and references to past events such as the death of Alec Leamas. Whilst its not essential to have read THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD to understand fully what happened to Leamas and the affect his death had on Smiley, it would help. And reading the whole of the Smiley series, with KARLA'S CHOICE now included, would be an interesting exercise in understanding the background.

The story here starts out with Smiley retired, attempting to rekindle and repair his marriage to the stoic Ann. He is lured back however, by the wily and manipulative Control, head of Circus, to investigate the sudden disappearance of Hungarian émigrée and publisher Laszlo Banati, just as a Russian agent arrives in London with instructions to kill him. Banati's assistant, another Hungarian émigrée, Susanna, on attempting to find out what has happened to her boss, is pulled into Smiley's investigation, as it expands into a manhunt across Europe. What emerges is the story of a boy whose identity remains a well hidden secret, and re-engagement with Karla, the senior Russian Security service member who Smiley has crossed paths with before. At this point in the story, an understanding of the timelines of the pre-existing Smiley books would help as KARLA'S CHOICE slots into a ten year gap in Smiley's life in the original novels between THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (disregarding THE LOOKING-GLASS WAR in which Smiley had a much smaller role).

Right, so it sounds ridiculously complicated, and it is if you're trying to write a comprehensive analysis of the life and times of George Smiley. If on the other hand, you're reading an Espionage Thriller set in the heights of the Cold War, featuring a British Secret Service steeped in their craft, and their idiosyncrasies, up against a ruthless secret service, but somehow doing a lot of "business" at a personal, face to face level, then it's not. KARLA'S CHOICE just fits right in. The atmosphere of the slightly dotty Circus works, the admirable force of nature that is Connie Sachs, the desperately lascivious Bill Haydon, the forced Englishman persona of Toby Esterhase are all spot on as well. The jargon is perfect (and for those new to this series - the listing here might help:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_Tailor_Soldier_Spy), the atmosphere and the dreariness of everything felt right, and it was difficult, really difficult to pick a misstep. Of course, as the author himself has admitted, there will be reader's who scoff at the idea of the return of such an iconic character, and there will be those who will celebrate. Any reservations this reader may have experienced were washed away in the early chapters, with Smiley's downbeat, cautious, doubtful and deeply regretful voice, his references to the awfulness of the aftermath of the death of Alec Leamas, and his determination, despite the inconvenience to try to keep the world on an even keel.