I would like to thank Viking Books and Random Things Tours for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Penguin

Published - Out Now

Price - £22 hardback £11.99 Kindle ebook

It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West's spy war with the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only on a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumour in Whitehall – unconfirmed and a little scandalous – that George Smiley might almost be happy.

But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Susanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead. But in his absence the shadows of Moscow have lengthened. Smiley will soon find himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come, and strike at the heart of his greatest enemy

We are perhaps used to spies and detectives being brought back to life mainly through the James Bond franchise but also in thrillers we have new takes on Sherlock Holmes fairly regularly so it’s not surprising that George Smiley too has now returned. Indeed, as Nick Harkaway is the son of John Le Carre (also known as David Cornwell) there is a better claim than most to the character. What for me is the question is can we still find in such new tales something both enable to read but also still speaks to us as readers in the 2020s to make a story relevant and for me the new absorbing tale Karla’s Choice brings together questions of honour versus ruthlessness and also a theme of fathers and sons finding out how far they will for one another.

It’s 1963 and the Cold War has resumed after the events of the Cuban missile crisis. George Smiley though has left the Circus a shadowy spy agency following a tragedy in Berlin that pushed the limits of his loyalty to the country. Susanna Gero is a Hungarian refugee who has started a new life in London working for for a popular literary agent Mr Banati, also from her homeland. But she finds the office mysteriously empty and a strange man arrives who announces he was on a mission to kill get employer but feels his vanishing is a sign from God to change careers. Susannah eventually attracts the Circus’ attention and then everyone is wondering why Banati appears to have attracted the anger of the Soviet agencies. Control sees this as a chance for Smiley to be recalled back but this investigation is about to reveal a new more dangerous phase of the Cold War is beckoning.

I am an irregular reader of Le Carre novels so cannot say if this is this matches the style and approach of the originals in all ways but what I can say is that this was a compelling and tension-rocketing read. Harkaway provides a fascinating key mystery - who was Banati? Then we slowly uncover this man’s present and past life uncovering mysterious predating the Cold War and going further back in Eastern Europe’s history. Banati is revealed also to have been a spy in London and this triggers questions as to what he is doing, why has he fled and why Russian spy agencies want him to be killed. It’s a simple mystery that grows in depth and complexity and as the title suggests brings into the tale Karla - a powerful spy that Smiley novels have explored in a later decade but here more of an unknown force. This novel though is about to explain why he is so feared for what he is capable of doing.

What we have is a tale that helps explain what the Circus now is and also how spying works. Less Bond like agents and more multiple departments within the Circus all filled with fascinating flawed characters using their skills to aid the U.K. even if their offices are falling apart and feel like they’ve had constant budget cuts. It’s less glamour and more people who just cannot stop what they do partly out of loyalty to their country but also that they both enjoy it and find it’s a game hard to stop playing. Smiley is one such character who has left after the events of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold where he found the lack of decency in the agenda of Control pushed him too far and now a mystery that appeals to him (and apparently the permission to find an honourable solution to the events) is too hard to resist. Everyone but him seems to realise he is coming back and we see the two sides of Smiley - a man desperate to have a happy relationship with his wife and a man who is just very good at seeing the bigger picture and random connections are now in conflict and we suspect we can see where this now goes. For new readers this is also a way of reopening the character so we see a man who can be very often underestimated as drab and middle aged but hides within a sharp mind, ruthlessness and a touch of kindness that makes him hard to take your eyes off when he is on the page.

Harkaway also refreshes the reader one at spying is in a pre-computer and internet age. We have the Bad Aunts who can piece together documents and histories using their memories and language skills. Agents using double agents, intimidation, identities and sometimes a combination of bribery or threats. I did like how Harkaway fleshed out the roles women had in this world and all of them never felt two dimensional but also are integrparts If the Circus. It’s very human and Harkaway makes the reader feel the danger especially as we move into occupied Berlin and sense things can very easily go wrong it’s just a few people up against an army. Tensions rise and rise then in the final act things really do go off the rails and help put this story into the context of the later stories in Smiley’s life. There is a sense the moves here will have an impact for years to come.

the other aspect I really enjoyed was this theme of fathers and sons. We have Smiley who while childless is grieving the loss of the agent Alec almost like a father. In Banati a child becomes quite key and we also see how the rest of Smiley’s agents obey and want to impress a man they see almost father like. The theme explores how far you may go to protect a family member even when you’re playing one of the biggest and most dangerous games in the world. In contrast we have Susannah who interestingly gets to play a daughter like role to both Smiley and Le Carre and gets torn between the two and perhaps acts more out of kindness than any hidden agendas both men may have. The story is about how far a sense of human kindness can live in such an often brutal world.

Karla’s Choice was a fascinating read bringing this shadowy world from the past back to life. Filled with interesting characters and unusual tense scenes it’s a mystery for us to solve and then becomes a desperate aim to try and do the right thing. I really enjoyed this and hope we revisit the world again. Highly recommended!