#21 in Spy & espionage
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- 396
- Pages
- about 7 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 0 weeks on the list
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Our view
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” is a spy novel made of patience and paperwork, absorbing precisely because so little is spelled out. George Smiley hunts a Soviet mole through interviews and files, and le Carré leaves the reader to assemble what matters. Most readers find it hard to follow, with its service jargon and loaded silences, yet report being pulled along all the same. It is a book for people who like to earn their answers.
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
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 1974 spy novel by the author and former secret intelligence officer John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of the taciturn, ageing spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. The novel has received critical acclaim for its complex social commentary—and, at the time, relevance, following the defection of Kim Philby. It was followed by The Honourable Schoolboy in 1977 and Smiley's People in 1979. The three novels together make up the "Karla Trilogy", named after Smiley's long-time nemesis Karla, the head of Soviet foreign intelligence and the trilogy's overarching antagonist.
Reading order · George Smiley series
Full order & progress →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.1 across 292 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 67% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Spy & espionage average of 7.6. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.3 | 11 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 8.1 | 281 | 96% |
Frequently asked
How long is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?
It has 396 pages — longer than 76% 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 7.3 and 8.1, closest to this book.
