#2 in Spy & espionage
Smiley's People
- 388
- Pages
- about 7 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Smiley’s People” brings the “Karla” trilogy to a taut, superbly controlled close. Called out of retirement after the death of an old agent, a former Soviet general who led an Estonian émigré group in London, Smiley follows a trail to his adversary, Karla. Some readers rank it the best of the three, praising its tight plotting and its return to the shape of a mystery; others find the ending forced and the story less absorbing.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Smiley's People is a 1979 spy novel by John le Carré. The novel features a British master-spy George Smiley. It is the third and final novel of the "Karla Trilogy", following Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy. George Smiley is called out of retirement to investigate the death of one of his old agents: a former Soviet general, the head of an Estonian émigré organisation based in London. Smiley learns the general had discovered information that will lead to a final confrontation with Smiley's nemesis, the Soviet spymaster Karla.
Reading order · George Smiley series
Full order & progress →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.6 across 101 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 41% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Spy & espionage average of 7.6. That is how 8.0 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.2 | 9 | 9% |
| Hardcover | 8.7 | 92 | 91% |
Frequently asked
How long is Smiley's People?
It has 388 pages — longer than 72% of the ranked books in Spy & espionage.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Spy & espionage — with scores between 7.5 and 7.8, closest to this book.
