The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre

Title: The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

Author: John le Carre

First Published: 1963

No. of Pages: 224

Synopsis (from B&N): "For Leamas the espionage business has become an hermetic, enclosed world, detached from outside reality. He has watched his last agent being shot, crossing from East to West Berlin, and his death marks the end of the Circus' East German network. But Control is planning an operation against the head of East German Intelligence. And Leamas is to be the instrument, set in East one last time...."

Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction

Comments and Critique: I read this one with my book club and the word mentioned that really captures the writing style is "detached." Also good would be "spare," "sparse," or "stark." I think this worked, as I don't think you should know too much of what's going on if a spy story is effective. And I didn't have a clue. At only a little over 200 pages, I finished it in 3-4 days -- also good, I think, for the same reason mentioned. Anything more elaborate could potentially get bogged down and you'd be so lost you'd never see daylight again.

I should also say that the movie version starring Richard Burton was quite good. I saw it a while back and, even though I couldn't remember a thing about the story itself (and hence my cluelessness with the story), I remember having the same general feeling. Also, the movie was in black and white, which added to the starkness even more.

Challenges: 999 ("1001 Books"); A to Z (author "L")