The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

Alec Leamas is tired. It's the 1960s, he's been out in the cold for years, spying in the shadow of the Berlin Wall for his British masters. He has seen too many good agents murdered for their troubles. Now Control wants to bring him in at last - but only after one final assignment. He must travel deep into the heart of Communist Germany and betray his country, a job that he will do with his usual cynical professionalism. But when George Smiley tries to help a young woman Leamas has befriended, Leamas's mission may prove to be the worst thing he could ever have done. In le Carré's breakthrough work of 1963, the spy story is reborn as a gritty and terrible tale of men who are caught up in politics beyond their imagining.

'The best spy story I have ever read'

Graham Greene

'Superbly constructed, with an atmosphere of chilly hell.'

J B Priestley

'He can communicate emotion, from sweating fear to despairing love, with terse and compassionate conviction. Above all, he can tell a tale. Formidable equipment for a rare and disturbing writer'

The Sunday Times

'A masterpiece, the best espionage novel ever written.'

John Banville

'The plot of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is assembled with more precision than a Swiss watch. The heartless way in which Alec Leamas is manipulated; Control's ruthless playing of Mundt and Fiedler; and of course the dramatic ending on the Berlin Wall, immortalised in the film starring Richard Burton. My favourite le Carré, it gets better with each re-read.'

Jon Stock, The Daily Telegraph

Alec Leamas

Hans-Dieter Mundt

Jens Fiedler

Liz Gold

Control

George Smiley

Peter Guillam

Karl Riemeck

Berlin, Germany

London, UK

Netherlands