The preceeding novel in the George Smiley series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ended with the devastating unmasking of a double agent at the heart of the British Secret Service. Now, in The Honourable Schoolboy, George Smiley-who has assumed the unenviable job of restoring the health and reputation of his demoralized organization-goes on the offensive. Salvaging what he can of the Service's ravaged network of spies, summoning back a few trustworthy old colleagues, working them-and himself-around the clock, he searches for a whisper, a hint, a clue that will lead him back to his opposite number: Karla, the Soviet officer in Moscow Centre who masterminded the infamous treachery.

Here is John le Carré at his best. Suspense, excitement, the techniques of espionage as only he has been able to make them real for us-together with a growing capacity for sustained action, a grandly conceived and intricately-drawn plot, and profound observation of the Far Eastern landscape. The Honourable Schoolboy is both a supreme entertainment and a major novel.