“Not a page of this book is without intelligence and grace.” —The New York Times
The mole has been purged from the Circus, and George Smiley, newly-made chief of the agency, has both rebuilding and revenge in his sights. To fully eradicate the threat, Smiley must trace back the treachery to its very roots.
When his investigation leads him to Hong Kong—and what appears to be a dead end—Smiley enlists Jerry Westerby, an international sports journalist and “occasional” Circus asset. In the Far East, Westerby will have to untangle a web of corruption spread across a region with a reputation for testing loyalties and allegiances.
The Honourable Schoolboy, sequel to the best-selling Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, continues Smiley’s hunt for the Soviet spymaster Karla. With a richly drawn plot and characters that are destined to be “burned on the brain of the reader” (The New York Times), the sixth George Smiley novel serves as both thriller and gripping examination of the costs of espionage.
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"Another absorbing tale of espionage and the men who perform it. I like Le Carre's George Smiley books. The harsh, furtive world the characters inhabit is well portrayed: it's not one I would like, where the facade of good cheer and civility can crumble into violence and betrayal at any moment. Le Carre did work for one of the intelligence services but his career was ended by Kim Philby's betrayal. I guess one of the things I like about these books is that the morally ambiguous world of the Circus and Karla seems so plausible, though one does have to wonder if MI6 really does have a staff of so few people." — Andrew (4 out of 5 stars)
"Another absorbing tale of espionage and the men who perform it. I like Le Carre's George Smiley books. The harsh, furtive world the characters inhabit is well portrayed: it's not one I would like, where the facade of good cheer and civility can crumble into violence and betrayal at any moment. Le Carre did work for one of the intelligence services but his career was ended by Kim Philby's betrayal. I guess one of the things I like about these books is that the morally ambiguous world of the Circus and Karla seems so plausible, though one does have to wonder if MI6 really does have a staff of so few people."
All the good things are there: the Balkan complexities of plot; the Dickensian profusion of idiosyncratic characters; and above all, le Carré’s glistening social observation.”
" A masterpiece . I particularly love the descriptions of people such as ' she walked through leaving a vapour trail of gin'. "
" A slow-burn of a book. "
" Having a bit of a Le Carre fest. I quite enjoyed it. the time period is interesting and it kept my interest up to the last section where I thought the plot was a bit too creaking. "
" A waste of time. Awful writing, awful story. The second part of the Triology of Smiley - Karla of cold war era , this book sucks. That such bad story telling was sandwitched between two of the best cold war spy novels "Tinker tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley's People" makes it unforgivable. "
" I really enjoyed this book up until the last quarter of it. One of the main characters (I won't say who to prevent spoilers) just seemed to have completely lost it. I couldn't understand his motivation for some things and the things/people he was worrying about I just couldn't feel sympathetic toward. It was very frustrating because it was a drawback from an otherwise great book. "
" Most disappointing of the trilogy. Could have been much better executed. "
" A tad confusing at first but impossible to put down. And once you get the hang of it, absolutely amazing! "
" I got more into this one than Tinker Tailor; good one to take on a trip. "
" Another triumph "
" Le Carre at his best. Absolutely. "
" Jerry Westerby, who made a small appearance in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy reappears in full force as The Honorable Schoolboy. Standard John Le Carre prose: slow, meandering, and good. "
" Now that is a long read! Le Carre's prose carries it, though, as two separate stories unfold in parallel, only to diverge and clash at the very end. Enigmatic and labyrinthine in the best Le Carre tradition, a wonderful book. "
" Le Carre's best, in my opinion. Incredibly complex spy novel with a genuinely tragic climax. A model of its kind. "
" Brilliant, thrilling read. "
" Couldn't really get into it. "
" I love the earlier Le Carre. This takes place just after Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. It takes a while (and some flipping back to previous pages) to pick up on nicknames and such, but it's a fun read. "
" Why do I suffer listening to this authors books! "
John le Carré, the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (1931–2020), was an English author of espionage novels. Eight of his novels made the #1 spot on the New York Times bestsellers list between 1983 and 2017. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, his third book, secured him a worldwide reputation as one of the greatest spy novelists in history. Numerous major motion pictures have been made from his novels, as well as several television series. After attending the universities at Berne and Oxford, he taught at Eton and spent five years in the British Foreign Service, serving briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. Being a member of MI6 when he wrote his first novel, Call for the Dead in 1961 in Hamburg, it necessitated the use of a nom de plume, by which he continued to be known. His writing earned him several honorary doctorate degrees and the Somerset Maugham Award, the Goethe Medal, and the Olof Palme Prize.
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.
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