- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Sceptre; New edition edition (20 July 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340766468
- ISBN-13: 978-0340766460
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 766,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
'Intelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard' -- Sunday Telegraph 'Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense. Excellent writing' -- THE OBSERVER
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Sunday Telegraph
‘Intelligent, thrilling, surprising . . . makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
His name's Smiley. George Smiley...,
By
This review is from: Call for the Dead (Paperback)
This is the book which started it all; the gripping series of intrigue, betrayal and an examination of human nature which has become the ultimate espionage collection.
This is the first of Le Carre's books and it contains the secret origin of George Smiley AND a rippingly good little espionage mystery. It introduces Mundt, too, who becomes rather more important in later novels. Le Carre set out to provide an antidote to Ian Fleming's James Bond, and Smiley truly is the thinking person's hero; a man who considers everything, fluffs sudden decisions, can be nakedly human when it comes to the woman he loves -- and chillingly calculating in achieving his other goals. It's also a really taut thriller, not like modern gargantuan monsters of 900-odd pages. Back in 1960-something, Le Carre could cram an encyclopedia of insight into a single sentence. It's also fascinating to find that although written nearly half a century ago, 'Call For The Dead' is just as compelling as modern fiction can be. As a fan of 'period spy stories', the books of Alan Furst being high on that list, I'm delighted to discover that the originals are every bit as good. Two hours of reading bliss. 9/10
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read if you like his work.,
By
This review is from: Call for the Dead (Paperback)
As always, meticulous plotted with some strong observations in terms of character. I wrote this review in disgust at one of the reviewers on here who thought that it was too far fetched that a spy would join an amateur dramatic society to meet with a contact. They should stick to James Bond, which is far removed from the real world of esponiage. Le Carre's spy writing generally does not embellish on the technical wizardry of the CIA, instead relying on character and human nature to sell itself to the reader. It is far more realistic than other novels, showing that spying is more mundane than the stereotypical Hollywood or James Bond image. This is what makes Le Carre's work more humane, and that is true of Call for the Dead, which delves deeply into the pysche of the dead man and his wife. One of the most memorable bits of the book for me is the way that Smiley deals with someone in his house who has been sent to murder him; almost the anti-Bond you might say! Well worth the purchase price.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive debut.,
By
This review is from: Call for the Dead (Paperback)
The first of Le Carre's novels, this marks the fictional debut of George Smiley. This is a downbeat and perhaps slightly parochial tale played out in an early-sixties London really still recovering from World War 2. Smiley is at the nadir of his career; moved sideways into security clearing civil servants. Why does one of the men he interviews commit suicide? The investigation leads Smiley back through his own past as an agent and through the early Cold War.A novel which has much to say about post-war Britain, about the frailty of human relationships in the Great Game of espionage, but its main interest is in the way it establishes the character of George Smiley. A few inconsistencies with the later novels - in particular, Peter Guillam is presented as a near-contemporary of Smiley's, whereas he is later reinvented as a younger man. On the whole, an excellent debut, setting the tone for the later novels.
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