Call for the Dead: A George Smiley Novel

John le Carré

Oct 2012 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

The first of his peerless novels of Cold War espionage and international intrigue, Call for the Dead is also the debut of John le Carré's masterful creation George Smiley.

"Go back to Whitehall and look for more spies on your drawing boards."

George Smiley is no one's idea of a spy—which is perhaps why he's such a natural. But Smiley apparently made a mistake. After a routine security interview, he concluded that the affable Samuel Fennan had nothing to hide. Why, then, did the man from the Foreign Office shoot himself in the head only hours later? Or did he?

The heart-stopping tale of intrigue that launched both novelist and spy, Call for the Dead is an essential introduction to le Carré's chillingly amoral universe.

Ratings and reviews

Excellent book, if a bit rougher from the later Smiley novels. You can really feel LeCarre figure out how he should approach the storytelling. The conclusion is a bit too formal, and it's good that he changed it up in later novels. I found it easier to read than Tinker, Taylor. If you're a Smiley fan this is worth your time.

The prose in this novel is amazing. Le Carre has unique skills to shove as much information into a page but not let bog down the story. Just read the first chapter. You will be hooked and begin to consider Mr. James Bond has a depressing alcoholic compared to the calculating Smiley.

A good, simple spy novel. Very well written, but it may not blow you away as the level of espionage is not too deep. Nevertheless a good enjoyable read.

About the author

John le Carré was born in 1931. For six decades, he wrote novels that came to define our age. The son of a con man, he spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld. At sixteen he found refuge at the university of Bern, then later at Oxford. A spell of teaching at Eton led him to a short career in British Intelligence (MI5&6). He published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961 while still a secret servant. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, secured him a worldwide reputation, which was consolidated by the acclaim for his trilogy Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy, and Smiley’s People. At the end of the Cold War, le Carré widened his scope to explore an international landscape including the arms trade and the War on Terror. His memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, was published in 2016 and the last George Smiley novel, A Legacy of Spies, appeared in 2017. He died on December 12, 2020.