sawyl | Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Having listened to the radio version and watched the TV series, I've finally returned to the original of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for the first time in something like twenty years. I'd actually intended to read it at Christmas but, when I couldn't find it on the shelves, I read The Honourable Schoolboy instead.

The famously convoluted plot begins when a missing agent turns up unexpectedly with evidence for the existence of a mole at the heart of British Intelligence. Unable to investigate openly, the Minister presses a retired George Smiley into service to investigate his former colleagues at the Circus. As he digs into the details, Smiley uncovers links between his own mole hunt and the disastrous final operation that brought down his former mentor.

Interestingly, the book is structured very differently from both the adaptations. Both the TV and radio versions open with events of Operational Testify, giving the plot a big initial impetus and setting the events of the mole hunt in context. But in the book the events of Testify only come to light when Smiley starts to look into Control's final operation as Chief of the Circus, giving a slower start to the plot but allowing for a nice moment of revelation later on when everything snaps together and also means that the reader's knowledge grows in lockstep with Smiley's, rather than leading it as in the adaptations.

I also noticed just how much of the dialogue had been lifted stock from the book and used in the dramatisations. Given the quality, I'm not surprised. I was particularly pleased to discover the wonderful flashback scene in which Control realises that Alleline has supplanted him and that he has been reduced to sniping from the sidelines, comes straight from the original.

As a novel it's a classic; probably the best, most satisfying spy novel around.