“Karla's Choice: A John le Carré Novel,” by Nick Harkaway, Viking, 320 pages, Oct. 22, 2024.

It is spring 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus, the British overseas intelligence agency. He is living a more peaceful life.

But Control has other plans. Mikhail Bortnik, a Russian agent, has defected, and the man he was sent to kill in London, Laszlo Banati, is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Susanna Gero, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead. It is to only take 48 hours at the most.

Soon, he is back in East Berlin, and on the trail of his most devious enemy’s hidden past. Tom Lake, another agent, is helping Smiley. Susanna comes along because she knows Laszlo.

This is set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in the George Smiley saga, “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” written by John le Carré, the pen name of John Cornwell. Nick Harkaway is the pen name of Nick Cornwell, his son.

While it starts off slowly, it soon builds the suspense. It is character driven. You don’t have to be familiar with the John le Carré books to enjoy it, but his fans will agree that his son was the right person to continue the series.

I rate it four out of five stars.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Skeptics take note. Put aside reluctance to read a George Smiley novel not by John Le Carre'. This is a BRILLIANT continuation of the George Smiley series and you should at least give the first chapters a try. No, it's not written by John Le Carre'. He's dead. His son Nick Harkaway had the blessing of his dad and he also has the creativity and skill to write this.
The novel takes place in the interim between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Readers of the latter will see the character from The Circus before the revelations of Tinker, Tailor and that is, to me, a fascinating perspective. Like all George Smiley novels, the the plot has multiple strands, but familiar ones to loyal readers: Families, both found and by blood, multiple identities, and of course the Cold War espionage conflict. When Karla's "choice" is revealed near the end, I challenge you not to get a chill. Leading up to that, there is a chase that goes on for several chapters where George Smiley emerges as something of an action hero! I read this thanks to NetGalley and Viking Penguin, and I will read it again once I purchase it on release date.
And yes, I will shelve it with all of John Le Carre's novels, because Karla's Choice is a wonderful addition to the Annals of the Circus.

Brilliant! I don't know what possessed Harkaway to dare to undertake this project, but I'm glad he did. To say it was a risk is an understatement. In his own Author's Note he acknowledges that there are those who will automatically hate him for trying and those who will automatically love him for the same. As an avid LeCarre fan, I came with a healthy dose of skepticism which evaporated as Smiley's voice crept in my ear. It's a wonderful story, with characters we know well. Interestingly, it doesn't extend the Smiley story, s much as slot in some missing pieces. A brave effort and exceedingly well done.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Viking for an advance copy of this new thriller set in the world of espionage created by John le Carré, and his famed character George Smiley, written by his son, Nick Harkaway.

When my father passed away many things in my parents home were showing signs of their age, their unworkability, and a few cases their unsightliness. My father was in no way a master craftsman of any type, but he was good with both tools, his brains, and had an Irish stubbornness that made things work. Or he made them work, just don't look to close. A year or so after he died I began to stop in an see what I could do. At the time YouTube wasn't the video instruction library it would come to be, so most of my knowledge came from numerous How-To books, magazines, questions to my friends who knew things. And I looked at what my father had done, and tried to remember helping him, learning a vocabulary of new words, and times when it was just my Dad and myself. As I did things, I learned how the sausage was made, sometimes copying things, sometimes trying new things, and as in the living room I remade, found myself proud of what I had done. I hope Nick Harkaway feels a sense of pride, for in working in his father's world, making new adventures for characters long thought retired, Harkaway has made something familiar, something new, and something quite good. Karla's Choice: A John le Carré Novel is a new adventure featuring old characters set at the height of the Cold War, with old enemies plotting, morals being compromised, and a battle not between good nor evil, but entrenched bureaucracies fighting for who knows what.

A young woman arrives at the London publishing firm she works at, and is surprised to find that her boss, a Hungarian exile like herself is not already at his desk, which is very unlike him. A knock on the door brings a man who exclaims that he is there to murder her boss on orders from his employers, but has not decided to do so. This little mystery is enough to entice George Smiley back to his old job at the Circus, a branch of British Intelligence. Smiley had left when his last mission had led to the sacrifice of a friend, and vowed never to return. However Smiley has a feeling this story is much bigger than what it seems. And soon, working with many familiar names from other le Carré works, Smiley begins to follow little breadcrumbs that seem to be telling a story, a story that might lead him to Karla, his opposite number in Russian intelligence, a man willing to do anything to keep his secrets.

I have read quite a few things by Nick Harkaway in the past, but did not realise the family relationship between Harkaway and le Carré. However it does seem fitting for espionage authors to have different names. My first thought, as a long time bookseller, upon seeing the continuing adventures of George Smiley, was ughh. Authors never seem to die, they always have more books stashed away in vaults, or desks. Just stop and let new authors make legacies. However I have enjoyed Harkaway so at least it will be good. Highly recommend Titanium Noir. I had no idea about the family relationship, and probably wouldn't have cared. Until I read this. One this is a good novel, one that fits the detached writing of le Carré perfectly, the sadness of failed relationships, the lack of trust. The setting is perfect, the little mentions the gear shift being too big for Smiley's hand, the stores, the little things. And the plot where instead of saving the world as in some spy books, they are just trying to solve a question. Who was this man, and why is so important to be killed by his own people? Also a large part of the story is about fathers and sons. Even father figures and mentoree. One can read a lot into it, but I am not Freud, so I won't touch it.

This is not just a good spy story, this is a good le Carré story. The introduction is interesting in that Harkaway discusses how his father lost the Smiley voice in his writing, from the various portrayals of Smiley in movies and television. Actually the introduction alone is worth the book, I found that and the acknowledgments very informative and interesting. Not just an author aping a style for publisher bucks, this was a real labor of love, and a labor I want to read more about. A father's legacy can be hard to live up to. I hope Harkaway is proud of what he has done.

I had worries which were very soon assuaged. An admirable outing into the world of Smiley, and I would happily read more.