Hugh Laurie's Bookshelf

'The Spy Who Came In from the Cold' by John Le Carre
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
By John Le Carré

There are few things quite as beautiful as a well-constructed thriller. This, the coldest of Cold War novels, describes the journey of Alec Leamas, burned-out spy, on his final mission behind the Iron Curtain. It has the symmetrical, mathematical precision of a piece of Bach, and to this day, I get all tingly thinking of the line: "And suddenly, with the terrible clarity of a man too long deceived, Leamas understood the whole ghastly trick."