Call for the Dead

Finished reading 2025: Call for the Dead (George Smiley #1) by John le Carré 📚

Just finished Call for the Dead by John le Carré. Really enjoyed it. It’s exactly my sort of thing: pre-internet England, spies and spycraft, the dull administration and obsessive attention to detail, rather than the sexed-up James Bond version (though I enjoy that too).

I wanted to be a spy when I was a kid. Not sure I would now, but there’s a certain romanticism to it in these books. Late nights, pubs, members’ clubs, codes and procedures. Maybe what I really want is the life of a well-connected Oxbridge graduate with quiet access to secrets. I dreamt of being important, having some kind of hidden status, of knowing things others didn’t. Probably not an uncommon fantasy. I look forward to making my way through the rest of the series.