I Read Books: The Honourable Schoolboy

The Honourable Schoolboy

In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy George Smiley uncovered a Russian mole at the highest levels of the British Secret Service. Now put in charge as caretaker chief, the service crippled, he attempts to make something of the wreckage.

By back-tracking, going through the files where the mole acted, they discover clues to what the Russians, especially Karla, Smiley’s arch-enemy, were up to. One of these was a money-trail leading to Hong Kong. The local secret service outpost had recently been shut down there, so Smiley activates Jerry Westerby, an “Occasional” – a journalist who worked with the secret service, now living in retirement in Italy. The Occasionals had not fallen under the mole’s purview so it’s hoped that he is unknown to Karla.

What follows is a slightly awkward combination of a tour of various south east Asian cities during the final days of both the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War searching for people who know what the money trail is about, and bureaucratic manoeuvring and research back in London. If I say the latter is better then it’s not that the exotic travelogue with occasional violent action is actively bad, just not especially novel.

Read This: An exciting spy thriller
Don’t Read This: Possibly too exciting as Le Carré’s strengths are in finding drama in high stakes office politics