Review of The Looking Glass War by John Le Carre
I guess John Le Carre needs no introductions. John Le Carre has this terrific combination of talents. His writing is extremely logical. I guess "The Spy Who Came in From The Cold" is the best example, the plot is perfectly constructed, you will not find any stupid wholes in this plot. The characters in John Le Carre's books are very deep, though they usually come to their demise due to their tragic flaws which they often confuse for virtues. And he is a terrific story teller. Now that's a threesome of talents rarely seen in a single writer.
“The Looking Glass War” was the first book he published after fame and fortune struck him like a lightning having written “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold”. In this earlier book the brilliance of control, the had of the British secret service is everything. It seems as though the British secret service was headed by super computers not capable of making one mistake.
In “The Looking Glass War” John Le Carre decided to show us that things are not always so smooth in the spy business and that Brits do err sometimes.This book marvelously describes the dirty politics of spying. It's full of corrupt spy-politicians who are ready to let everything go to hell, including the brave men who serve their country oversees, as long as their colleagues from a competing spy agency don't over shadow them. It's also a great action and suspense book.
In short - don't miss it. And if by any chance you haven't read “The Spy who came in from the cold”, you better read it first (although there is no problem understanding the plot without having read “The Spy Who Came in From The Cold”).
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