Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: B+

John Le Carre was once a British intelligence officer (read: spy), and although he has gone on record as saying he was an awful spy he has obviously retained enough of the experience (and his own literary mastery) to write about spies with nuance, humanity, and wit. This opening novel in the Smiley Trilogy is the story of one retired spy, George Smiley, who has been called back to sniff out a mole in Britain's spy network, known as Circus. The mole is being run by Smiley's soviet counterpart/arch-nemisis Karla and the subtle shadings of competition that flavor Smiley's descriptions of Karla are a reminder of the soul behind the dashing facade that now represents a modern-day spy. The story is itself a cold-war spy thriller and chugs along more than it races. What populates the pages of the story however are completely different: Characters that even Dickens would be proud to call his own, these are resplendent manifestos of anarchy, knocking down spy-steroetypes on every page. With writing that is both byzantine and sprawling and with a maddening knack for making even the slightest of dinner table conversation seeming chillingly sinister (i.e. code names seem to replace everything normal about "Circus") Le Carre shows he has a steady hand and a sharp mind to boot. His dry, acerbic commentary on the world in the throes of Cold War-hysteria is knowing and nessecary for a story of this scope. The biggest strength of this story however is its conclusion. A thriller with a thrilling ending? Characters that don't sip martinis? Slap me silly and call me crazy. This is one enjoyably frozen novel.