George Smiley Series

This series plunges readers into the tense world of Cold War espionage, following the enigmatic George Smiley. He navigates a complex landscape of betrayal, political intrigue, and moral ambiguity with quiet brilliance. Each story explores the intricate nature of human relationships and the profound sacrifices made in the name of duty. Prepare for a journey of suspense, psychological depth, and unforgettable characters.

Recommended Reading Order

1
Call for the Dead
John le Carré
126 pages
5 hours of reading
3.8(1187)Add rating
George Smiley had liked the man and now the man was dead. Suicide. But why? An anonymous letter had alleged that Foreign Office man Samuel Fennan had been a member of the Communist Party as a student before the war. Nothing very unusual for his generation. Smiley had made it clear that the investigation, little more than a routine security check, was over and that the file on Fennan could be closed. Next day, Fennan was dead with a note by his body saying his career was finished and he couldn’t go on. Page Numbers Source ISBN: B000H305PK
2
A Murder of Quality
John le Carré
3.6(696)Add rating
John le Carré's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him -- and his hero, British secret Service Agent George Smiley -- unprecedented worldwide acclaim. George Smiley was simply doing a favor for Miss Ailsa Brimley, and old friend and editor of a small newspaper. Miss Brimley had received a letter from a worried reader: "I'm not mad. And I know my husbad is trying to kill me." But the letter had arrived too late: its scribe, the wife of an assistant master at the distinguished Carne School, was already dead. So George Smiley went to Carne to listen, ask questions, and think. And to uncover, layer by layer, the complex network of skeletons and hatreds that comprised that little English institution.
3
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
John le Carré
272 pages
10 hours of reading
4.1(87243)Add rating
Alex Leamas is tired. It's the 1960s, he's been out in the cold for years, spying in Berlin for his British masters, and has seen too many good agents murdered for their troubles. Now Control wants to bring him in at last but only after one final assignment.
4
The Looking Glass War
John le Carré
3.7(513)Add rating
Uncertain evidence suggests that Soviet missiles are being positioned close to the German border. Film of the Soviet troop movements has gone astray and a courier is dead. An intelligence unit, living in the shadow of The Circus is authorized to put an agent over the frontier.
5
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
John le Carré
4.1(844)Add rating
British agent George Smiley ferrets out a mole in the Secret Service and begins his epic game of international chess with his Soviet counterpart, an agent named Karla. By the best-selling author of The Honourable Schoolboy. Reissue.
6
Ctihodný školáček
John le Carré
600 pages
21 hours of reading
Po románu Jeden musí z kola ven je Ctihodný školáček druhým počinem autorovy volné trilogie spojené tajemným sovětským superšpionem „Karlou“... Je rok 1974 a George Smiley se snaží postavit britskou tajnou službu přezdívanou Cirkus znovu na nohy, poté co její pověst a síť kontaktů zničil dvojitý agent Bill Haydon. Úzký tým jeho spolupracovníků přijde na to, že v Hongkongu operuje vážený obchodník Drake Kao ve prospěch Karly a tím britské kolonii škodí; ale agenti objeví i to, že Drake má v rudé Číně bratra Nelsona, vysoce postaveného státního úředníka, a že se bratři mají v Hongkongu tajně setkat. O únos a vytěžení Nelsona usiluje i CIA, sice spolupracovník Britů, ale jen občasný a málo spolehlivý. Aby operace únosu proběhla úspěšně, Smiley najme spícího agenta Jerryho Westerbyho, jemuž se sice přezdívá „ctihodný školáček“, protože jako šlechtic vychodil ty nejlepší školy, ale jeho otec zbankrotoval. Jerry se tedy živí jako člověk na špinavou práci v nebezpečných situacích.
7
Smiley's people
John le Carré
334 pages
12 hours of reading
4.4(706)Add rating
From the author of THE HONOURABLE SCHOOLBOY, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY and THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, a Cold War thriller in which George Smiley, chief of the British Secret Service, prepares to engage in his final battle with his Soviet counterpart.
8
The Secret Pilgrim
John le Carré
3.8(265)Add rating
The Cold War is over and Ned has been demoted to the training academy. He asks his old mentor, George Smiley, to address his passing-out class. There are no laundered reminiscences; Smiley speaks the truth - perhaps the last the students will ever hear.
9
A legacy of spies
John le Carré
4.0(667)Add rating
This is the first novel in over twenty-five years to feature George Smiley, le Carr�'s most beloved character. Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London. The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London, and involved such characters as Alec Leamas, Jim Prideaux, George Smiley and Peter Guillam himself, are to be scrutinised under disturbing criteria by a generation with no memory of the Cold War and no patience with its justifications. Interweaving past with present so that each may tell its own intense story, John le Carr� has spun a single plot as ingenious and thrilling as the two predecessors on which it looks back: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.