His memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, was published in 2016 and the last George Smiley novel, A Legacy of Spies, appeared in 2017. At the end of the Cold War, le Carré widened his scope to explore an international landscape including the arms trade and the War on Terror. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, secured him a worldwide reputation, which was consolidated by the acclaim for his trilogy Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. He published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961 while still a secret servant. A spell of teaching at Eton led him to a short career in British Intelligence (MI5&6).

At sixteen he found refuge at the university of Bern, then later at Oxford. The son of a confidence trickster, he spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld. For six decades, he wrote novels that came to define our age. It was basically three hours of people talking with no climax or interesting events.John le Carré was born in 1931. There was no suspense, no strong connection made to the main characters, no music or emphasis on certain plot points to delineate an interesting story worth listening to. However, in this production the writers seemed to completely miss the point of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed the dramatisation of 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold'. I am normally a big fan of John le Carre's work. This purchase was a complete waste of money. What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?ĭisappointment. Would you be willing to try another one of Tom Baker’s performances? What made it poor was that the interesting elements of the story have been completely lost through a monotonous and lack luster adaptation, which is the fault of the writers. The acting was fine - no real problems there. I am a huge fan of 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold' which I thought was done very well, but this production of 'The Russia House' was very sloppily done as far as adapting le Carre's work to radio drama.

Providing the basics of storytelling such as a story arc, climax, etc. Making an effort to connect the main characters with the listener. What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?Īttention to the actual story.

The russia house john le carré