A sample of some of the reviews Karla's Choice has been receiving in the press:
The New York Times, Podcast
'What it's like to write a new John le Carré novel.'
Listen to the podcast here
The Spectator, Saturday 9th November
In the Books of the Year II section of The Spectator magazine, Andrew Lycett writes:
'I inwardly groaned on hearing that Nick Harkaway was taking up his father John le Carré's mantle to write a George Smiley 'continuation novel'. But Karla's Choice (Viking, £22) is brilliant - every bit as suspenseful and knowing as the original, and often more humourous.'
The Mail
'Smiley returns thanks to John le Carré's son, who slots his nimble series continuation into the missing decade between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. When a Hungarian emigre literary agent goes missing and a Soviet assassin turns himself in, Smiley is summoned back into the field for a sage that feels uncannily close to the original books in atmosphere and tone.' Hephzibah Anderson
Literary Review, Tuesday 5 November
'The claustrophobia and paranoia peculiar to the game of spy versus spy are every bit as vividly conjured here as in his father's books,' writes D D Guttenplan in his review. Read the full text here
The New European
'Karla's Choice ... is a terrific book: a spy thriller that, in the best traditions of le Carré's work, uses the secret world as a stage upon which to explore the human condition.'
'Harkaway's prose, like his father's, is pleasingly spare, but dappled with striking turns of phrase'
Matthew d'Ancona reviews Karla's Choice for The New European. Read the full article here
Independent, Saturday 26 October
Nick Cornwell steps into his father John le Carré's footsteps with spy thriller 'Karla's Choice'
Click here to read Jill Lawless's article
Tortoise, Friday 25 October
'Harkaway proves an attentive pupil in this satisfying addition to the Smiley canon, which slots between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with canny nods to both.'
Claire Allfree reviews Karla's Choice here
Richard Osman
In the podcast 'The Rest is Entertainment: Fame, Fortune and Marina's New Show', Richard Osman talks about Karla's Choice: 'This book is unbelievably brilliant ... it's just beautiful from start to finish. It's an extraordinary achievement. I really, really strongly recommend it if you're a fan of Smiley and a fan of le Carré.' (Minute 39:30)
Express, Thursday 24 October
'Harkaway really has done his father proud,' writes David Barnett.
Read the full article here
The Economist, Thursday 24 October
'In his author's note, Mr Harkaway poses a question that is central to the success of a continuation novel: "Does it feel right?" The answer here is a resounding yes. Karla's Choice could have been a crude pastiche and a dull drama. Instead it is an accomplished homage and a captivating thriller. It may be a standalone story, but with luck Mr Harkaway will continue playing the imitation game.'
Click here to read the full review
The Guardian, Thursday 24 October
'A new story about cold war spymaster George Smiley written by John le Carré's son expertly evokes the atmosphere of the originals.'
'What a treat it turns out to be to wander anew the fusty, crumbling warren of the Circus ...'
Steven Poole's review can be read in full here
The Observer, Sunday 20 October
Anthony Cummins praises the novel: 'John le Carré's son does him proud in an excellent spy thriller about a Soviet agent that faithfully bridges two of his father's classic tales.'
'A loving tribute to a complicated father ... as well as an excellent novel in its own right, and only the first of a new series, at least to judge from a broad hint dropped in the end matter. I can't wait.'
Read the full review here
Sunday Times, Sunday 20 October
David Mills reviews Karla's Choice, urging readers to read the book by saying if you haven't read le Carré before, Karla's Choice has all 'the right flavours to make a perfect introductory taste.'
Click here to read the review
Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 20 October
Mick Brown meets Nick Harkaway and David Farr to discuss the return of George Smiley. The paper also features a wonderful review by Jake Kerridge: 'Is this new 'le Carré' novel even better than the master himself? In Karla's Choice, which fills in George Smiley's missing years, Nick Harkaway has done an extraordinarily good job with his father's legacy.' Read the full review here
i, Sunday 20 October
'John le Carré's son has resurrected his father's books brilliantly. In writing Karla's Choice, Nick Harkaway might have made a reckless move - but he pulled it off,' writes Nick Duerden.
Click here to read more
The Guardian, Saturday 19 October
'There was eye-watering fear': John le Carré's son on writing a new George Smiley novel'
Nick Harkaway was a successful novelist in his own right when his brother's asked him to continue their late father's spy series. Alex Clark of The Guardian visited the author at his London home to find out how it all came about.
Read the full article here
The Times
Johanna Thomas-Corr investigates the resurrection, reanimation and repackaging of old books and the characters within them.
'The piece is partly inspired by the publication next week of Karla's Choice, a George Smiley reboot by Nick Harkaway, the son of John le Carré. Early reviews (see David Mills's piece this Sunday) have praised Harkaway's ability to authentically capture his father's characters and their psychology, suggesting that more continuations, reboots and spin-offs will be on their way.'
Le Carré's literary agent, Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown Group, says literary estates are 'the most interesting part of publishing at the moment...That doesn't just have to centre around dead writers. If you think about the hundreds of great books that have been published and not made an impact or are no longer being read, they all can be reinvented.'
Click here to read more.
The Washington Post
'With Karla's Choice, Nick Harkaway comes in from the cold'
Sophia Nguyen interviews Nick Harkaway and explores the how and why he came to write the next George Smiley novel, Karla's Choice. Read the full article here
The New Statesman
David Sexton writes: 'The story is intricately interwoven with the existing books, looking back constantly to The Spy Who Came in from the Cold ... His back-story expertise is impeccable.'
'He has fun with the clipped reports, the mangled English in the dialogue, those placing capsule descriptions ... Harkaway assiduously plays up to expectations.'
For the full article, click here
The Scotsman
We're delighted to share this great review from The Scotsman's Stuart Kelly:
'... it is absolutely first rate, as both a homage to le Carré and as a work in its own right. Harkaway has made the clever decision to write a canonical intercalation, a literary February 29th. It takes place in 1963, between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but has to take into consideration other works (especially A Legacy of Spies). It requires Phillipe Petit levels of tight-rope walking, balancing what the reader knows and what the characters know at that specific time...'
To read the full article, click here
The Big Issue
Paul McNamee looks at Karla's Choice and is pleased with what he finds -
"It’s a great book, completely consumable. It has John Le Carré’s dash, that odd ability to immediately hook you into a world that should be alien but immediately feels familiar and one that you just want to stay in. You can smell the Circus and its closed dank rooms in 1963. The book understands that what Le Carré was doing, what the best of great world genre writers like him and Simenon and Ambler and Matsumoto did, was not simply tell stories, but create worlds, into which we link and sink forever."