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. Why? Smiley ...
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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. Why? Smiley was puzzled ...
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Add this copy of Call for the Dead to cart. $15.36, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Sceptre.
Add this copy of Call for the Dead to cart. $57.75, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Sceptre.
Recently, I've hit a dry patch in my reading; everything is the 'same-old-same-old' or the dialogue is awful. So, I decided to reread some of my old favorites. I remember loving all of John Le Carre's George Smiley spy stories. Masterpiece Theatre's visual interpretations of the Le Carre stories were superb. It was time to turn back the clock to the Cold War -- when you knew who your enemies were!
What I love about this book is that Le Carre doesn't fill in all the dots, he makes the reader work to understand what is going on in the story. When I got to the story of Dieter, one of Smiley's war-time associates, I remembered the gist of the story. This in no way diminished my enjoyment of the novel.
This book is the opening salvo in a group of marvelous spy novels.
George Smiley Spy Novels
1. A Call for the Dead (1961)
2. A Murder of Quality (1962)
3. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)
4. The Looking Glass War (1965)
5. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974)
6. The Honourable Schoolboy (1977)
