Vicki Rock’s review of Karla’s Choice

“Karla's Choice: A John le Carré Novel,” by Nick Harkaway, Viking, 320 pages, Oct. 22, 2024.

It is spring 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus, the British overseas intelligence agency. He is living a more peaceful life.

But Control has other plans. Mikhail Bortnik, a Russian agent, has defected, and the man he was sent to kill in London, Laszlo Banati, is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Susanna Gero, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead. It is to only take 48 hours at the most.

Soon, he is back in East Berlin, and on the trail of his most devious enemy’s hidden past. Tom Lake, another agent, is helping Smiley. Susanna comes along because she knows Laszlo.

This is set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in the George Smiley saga, “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” written by John le Carré, the pen name of John Cornwell. Nick Harkaway is the pen name of Nick Cornwell, his son.

While it starts off slowly, it soon builds the suspense. It is character driven. You don’t have to be familiar with the John le Carré books to enjoy it, but his fans will agree that his son was the right person to continue the series.

I rate it four out of five stars.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a