Call for the Dead
Published on 3. November 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-0-14-119828-6 (ISBN)
Description
The first of his peerless novels of Cold War espionage and international intrigue, Call for the Dead is also the debut of John le Carre's masterful creation George Smiley.
After a routine security check by George Smiley, civil servant Samuel Fennan apparently kills himself. When Smiley finds Circus head Maston is trying to blame him for the man's death, he begins his own investigation, meeting with Fennan's widow to find out what could have led him to such desperation. But on the very day that Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man. Do the East Germans - and their agents - know more about this man's death than the Circus previously imagined? Le Carre's first book, Call for the Dead, introduced the tenacious and retiring George Smiley in a gripping tale of espionage and deceit.
If you enjoyed Call for the Dead, you might like le Carre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.
'Intelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard' Sunday Telegraph
'Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense' Observer
After a routine security check by George Smiley, civil servant Samuel Fennan apparently kills himself. When Smiley finds Circus head Maston is trying to blame him for the man's death, he begins his own investigation, meeting with Fennan's widow to find out what could have led him to such desperation. But on the very day that Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man. Do the East Germans - and their agents - know more about this man's death than the Circus previously imagined? Le Carre's first book, Call for the Dead, introduced the tenacious and retiring George Smiley in a gripping tale of espionage and deceit.
If you enjoyed Call for the Dead, you might like le Carre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.
'Intelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard' Sunday Telegraph
'Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense' Observer
Reviews / Votes
Intelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard. * Sunday Telegraph * Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense. * Observer * The greatest spy novelist of all time ... astounding works of the imagination. -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph * Brilliant, popular, intelligent, thrilling, suspenseful, angry, original, masterful writing. Can't be topped. -- Armando Iannucci An extraordinary writer who brought literary lustre and lived insight to the spy yarn. -- Ian Rankin One of those writers who will be read a century from now. -- Robert Harris His Smiley novels are key to understanding the mid-20th century. -- Margaret Atwood What Joseph Conrad started, John le Carre enshrined and made modern. That is the real achievement of his great novels and why they will endure ... we should see him as our contemporary Dickens. -- William Boyd * New Statesman * Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense * Observer * Intelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard * Sunday Telegraph *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
125 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-14-119828-6 (9780141198286)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
John le Carre
Call for the Dead
E-Book
11/2011
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€8.99
Available for download
Person
John le Carre was born in 1931. For six decades, he wrote novels that came to define our age. The son of a confidence trickster, he spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld. At sixteen he found refuge at the University of Bern, then later at Oxford. A spell of teaching at Eton led him to a short career in British Intelligence (MI5 & 6). He published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961 while still a secret servant. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, secured him a worldwide reputation, which was consolidated by the acclaim for his trilogy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. At the end of the Cold War, le Carre widened his scope to explore an international landscape including the arms trade and the War on Terror. His memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, was published in 2016 and the last George Smiley novel, A Legacy of Spies, appeared in 2017. He died on 12 December 2020. His posthumous novel, Silverview, was published in 2021.