Call for the Dead, John Le Carre
Call for the Dead, John Le Carre
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Call for the Dead

Author: John Le Carré

Narrator: Simon Vance

Unabridged: 4 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/21/2024

Synopsis

After an unremarkable interview, Circus agent George Smiley determines the subject of a standard security check—a civil servant in the Foreign Office named Samuel Fennan—poses no threat, nor presents any reason for suspicion of espionage. Hours later, Samuel Fennan is found dead by suicide. Suddenly finding himself under intense scrutiny, Smiley realizes the Circus intends to blame him for Fennan's death. Rather than remain idle, Smiley begins his own investigation into the nature of the man's demise. What he finds is a tangled web of secrets that connects not only to East German activity in Britain, but also his own past. The beginning of a body of work that The New York Times calls extraordinary in its breadth, consistency, generosity and wit, John le Carré's 1961 debut introduces one of the most esteemed and iconic spies in the literary canon: George Smiley.

About John Le Carré

John le Carré (1931 – 2020), born David John Moore Cornwell, was a British-Irish author. He spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld; at sixteen, he found refuge first at the University of Bern, then Oxford. After graduating with honors, he taught at Eton for two years before he was recruited into British Intelligence. In 1961, while still an MI6 agent, he published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, which introduced the world to George Smiley. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, spent 32 weeks atop the New York Times bestseller list and earned him a reputation as one of the world’s preeminent spy novelists. Though he declined all British-based honors and prizes, he accepted the Premio Malaparte (Italy) in 1988, the title of Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) in 2005, and the Goethe Medal (Germany) in 2011. Over the course of sixty years, he published over two dozen novels that would come to define an age; his final novel, Silverview, was published posthumously in 2021.

About Simon Vance

Simon Vance is a critically acclaimed narrator who has recorded over eight hundred audiobooks and has received over fifty Earphones Awards. A twelve-time Audie Award winner and frequent finalist, he has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice, an AudioFile Best Voice, and the first Booklist Voice of Choice. A former BBC Radio presenter and newsreader in London, he currently lives in California, where he also pursues stage and television acting.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill

This first George Smiley novel—also the first for John le Carre—is not a spy novel really, but more like a murder mystery with spies in it. You see, Smiley is ordered to conduct a routine security check on Samuel Fennan, and, since he sees no serious concerns in Fennan's past—just a little harmless w......more

Goodreads review by Candi

"He learnt what it was never to sleep, never to relax, to feel at any time of day or night the restless beating of his own heart, to know the extremes of solitude and self-pity, the sudden unreasoning desire for a woman, for drink, for exercise, for any drug to take away the tension of his life." Whi......more

Goodreads review by Jaline

“Call For the Dead” is the first of 8 books in John Le Carre’s series featuring George Smiley. Published in 1961, it is smart, the writing brisk and contained, and the story engaging. Espionage and counter-espionage – who is a spy? – who is being set up? This is a classic, and written by an author w......more

Quotes

His Smiley novels are key to understanding the mid-20th century.

"George Smiley, the quiet spy with a paunch and an adulterous spouse, is voiced affably by Simon Vance. His friendly approach belies Smiley's steel trap of a mind and reluctance to resort to violence." - Audiofile Magazine

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