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TINKER,
TAILOR,
SOLDIER,
SAILOR,
RICH MAN,
POOR MAN,
BEGGAR MAN,
THIEF.

Small children's fortune-telling rhyme used when counting cherry stones, waistcoat buttons, daisy petals, or the seeds of the Timothy grass. ---from the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes

And so begins the explosive espionage spy novel by John le Carre, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy taking place at the height of the Cold War and featuring George Smiley. This is the first book of The Karla Trilogy. John le Carre being a former spy and part of Britain's legendary MI5 and MI6, retired from working in espionage to devote himself to writing full-time after the runaway best seller, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. And as such, le Carre is a master at his trade. George Smiley is not ready to retire from the Circus just yet, particularly after a would-be defector tells a shocking tale that a Soviet mole has penetrated the highest level of British intelligence. George Smiley recognizes the signature of his old Moscow nemesis, Karla. With his ragtag group, George Smiley puts into motion a very sophisticated trap for Karla, regarded as the most cunning at the Moscow Centre, so much so that even his name is not a name that Russians understand.

"A mole is a deep-penetration agent so called because he burrows deep into the fabric of Western imperialism, in this case an Englishman. Moles are very precious to the Centre because of the many years it takes to place them, often fifteen or twenty. Most of the English moles were recruited by Karla before the war and came from the higher bourgeoisie, even aristocrats and nobles who were disgusted with their origins, and became secretly fanatic, much more fanatic that their working-class English comrades, who are slothful."

"Yet legends were made and Karla was one of them. Even his age was a mystery. Most likely Karla was not his real name. Decades of his life were not accounted for, and probably never would be, since the people he worked with had a way of dying off or keeping their mouths shut."

When Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was published in 1974, it had relevance as there was in fact, a British spy who defected to Russia after years of spying in the top echelons of the British Intelligence, Kim Philby. And as such, this book is a page-turner and doesn't disappoint. I am looking forward to reading the two final books in The Karla Trilogy.