During the Cold
War—when Sovyet was building its influence in the world—‘Control’ was the head
of British intelligence called ‘Circus’. He suspected that there was a Sovyet’s
mole (enemy’s secret agent who
infiltrated intelligence) within the highest level of Circus. He secretly sent
an agent to buy information from a defected Czech General, but Sovyet blew the
operation, and the agent was shot on the back. The mole did exist!
About ten
years later, an eccentric teacher, Jim Prideaux, arrived at a prep school in the
suburban London. His body was military-built, and he liked to be alone. A
student named Bill Roach maintained a close relationship with Prideaux, who
praised him as a very good observer. One mysterious aspect which Bill observed from
his new teacher, was that Mr. Prideaux often sent letters to himself and one of
the teachers. He also saw Mr. Prideaux was maintaining a weapon which he hid
underground his caravan.
Far away
from the prep school, George Smiley—once a close assistant to Control, but was
suddenly forced into retirement—got a surprise visit from an old friend. Peter
Guillam, his ex-colleague in Circus brought him to a secret investigation of
their old adversary: the secret mole—code name: Gerald, which must have been
within the highest level of Circus. And so Smiley must take a thorough
interview and patient investigation from his former friends and colleagues,
whom he used to have personal relationship, and perhaps, even, whom he used to admire.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy turned out to
be a great-genius spy thriller! I love how Carré opened the book with the
school teacher Prideaux and Billy Roach; it made me wondering whether the spy
things would happen in a small prep school. Billy Roach might not have any
relation with the intelligence world, but his existence—and how he saw things
through his eyes—built a solid difference between the real world and
intelligence world, and it emphasized how smooth the spies work among us that
we won’t suspecting anything. It makes you think, are people who are close to
us all these times are really what they told us?
*spoiler
alert*
One small
problem with Tinker is how we must be
groping in the dark for at least the first third of the book, before slowly beginning
to understand what was happening. It is because Carré ‘played’ with mystery,
and only after that lifted the veil little by little. But the final—and probably
the second most important mystery—was not revealed until the end of the book.
And we are left with big question mark: who murdered Haydon? When I came to
think it over, maybe the biggest mystery is not the identity of the mole
Gerald, but who has killed him; another enemy for Circus; another mole?
With puzzles
on my mind, I tried to do small research on the internet; and found analysis
which suggested that the murder was Jim Prideaux, to revenge the betrayal, and
maybe, the people he was working with in Czech—whom were all killed. If that
was true, then Carré has cleverly ended the book in an ironic-tragic-but genius
way. It was ended just like it has been started, with Jim Prideaux and Bill
Roach. It seemed so normal, but what about the gloomy atmosphere which Roach
observed on his teacher’s face after his return from “his mother’s-funeral-absent”?
Did it pointed out to his real feeling after murdering his best and closest friend?
Oh, if that was true, then it became more tragic. And really, Bill might think
he knew his teacher very well at the end, while actually there were much deeper
and darker secrets in him. What do we really know about people’s untold secret?
None…perhaps!
Four and a
half stars for such a brilliant story!
~~~~~~~~~~
I read Sceptre mass-market paperback edition
This book is counted
as:
8th book for 2014 TBR Pile Challenge
75th book for 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
I remember the film was indeed a bit hard to understand, but now I think I must really read the book for more surprises. Lovely review.
ReplyDeleteThanks :) I am curious about the movie. They say it's a bit different from the book.
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