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UPDATE 1-18-18 ... For espionage thrillers, this is as good as it gets. The setting is the Cold War, and both the Britain and Russia are tired but still engaging in lethal combat by spy. One central theme that I did not appreciate before this re-read is that the primary conflict, even when Le Carre tells the story from a British POV, is not between British spies and the Russians, but between Russia and America, with British spies taking sides, not always as expected. The conflict between personal and patriotic motives plays out dramatically in each of the major characters.

I can't close without a word of pity for poor Smiley, whose wife has apparently become a promiscuous tramp. Was this transition described in one of the other Smiley books? In any case, it is extraordinary for the lead character to suffer this fate.

UPDATE 12-25-17 ... reading again ... for my course at Oxford this summer ... British spies in fact and fiction ... there is always something new in this magnificent book

I just re-read this after many years. It is still terrific. I think everything I can think of to say has already been said in the many fine reviews others have already offered.