Perfect Spy [Hardcover]

John Le Carre (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1986 | ISBN-10: 034038784X | ISBN-13: 978-0340387849 | Edition: First Edition

Magnus Pym, ranking diplomat, has vanished, believed defected. The chase is on: for a missing husband, a devoted father, and a secret agent. Pym's life, it is revealed, is entirely made up of secrets.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Le Carre's new novel overshadows The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and his other bestsellers. The author's intense feelings, linguistic artistry and stinging wit draw the reader into the story of Magnus Pym, traitor. Epic in scope and length, the narrative moves backward and forward in time, recording crises-ridden events from the viewpoints of numerous characters. Primarily, the revelations are in an epistle Pym addresses to his young son Tom. The writer is holed-up in a remote country cottage where he tries to explain his crimes to the boy before pursuers find him. For years a trusted agent in British Intelligence, Pym has been giving England's and America's vital secrets to a contact in Czechoslovakia. Now Jack Brotherhood, the spy's mentor in the honorable organization, sadly agrees with colleagues that Pym is guilty. The proof is his disappearance, coincidental with data gushing from CIA computers and sent by U.S. agents to their opposite numbers in London. Determined to minimize the damage of Pym's treachery and create a coverup if possible, Brotherhood takes charge of a team searching for the betrayer. As the lives of everyone involved in this netherworld of espionage become tragically immediate to the reader, Le Carre again masterfully chronicles the dangerous game-playing world of international espionage. 350,000 first printing; BOMC main selection.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Le Carre's latest commences with the sudden disappearance from his posting and family in Vienna of elegant British master-spy Magnus Pym. The narrative immediately splits and alternates: one voice, dubious, insistent, tells of the diligent and urgent race among ex-agent wife Mary, co-worker Jack Brotherhood, and ubiquitous Czech agent "Sergeant Pavel" to find the possible defector; the other voice (Pym's own), ruminative, wry, relates the colorful history and amoral motivations behind the successful spy. By the time the two voices converge in the present, the comprehensive character Pymas seen by others and by himselfstands alone, ready to carry out his decision. Not a spy novel in the usual sense, then, but a skillfully manipulated, complex, and probingly written study spiced with lively anecdotes. To be savored. BOMC main selection. Rex E. Klett, Anson Cty. Lib., Wadesboro
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 463 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton; First Edition edition (June 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034038784X
• ISBN-13: 978-0340387849
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,660,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John le Carre was born in 1931. 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: Tinke, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honorable Schoolboy, and Smiley's People. His novels include The Little Drummer Girl, A Perfect Spy, The Russia House, Our Game, The Taileor of Panama, and Single & Single. John le Carre lives in Cornwall.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So much more than just a spy novel, December 29, 1999

By 

Doug Vaughn - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Perfect Spy (Hardcover)

This book is so much more than just another espionage thriller. It is really a character study of the central figure and a very satisfying psychological investigation into the anticedents of a spy's character. Magnus Pym was the perfect spy because of the way he was raised; specifically, the way he learned to perceive the world as he came to understand his father - a con man of great charm (based on Le Carre's own father) who always acted as though truth was whatever he wanted it to be at the moment. Maybe the title actually refers to the father and not to Pym. Perhaps?

Le Carre's use of language is always a pleasure, and here it is put to excellent use in recreating the world of Pym's past. The main plot of finding the missing Pym becomes less important than the subplots - often involving past events - and the overall structure of the novel is less driven by unknown outcomes than is a typical 'spy' story.

One is left with a great sense of sadness after finishing this book but no disappointment. Very original and very satisfying.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The End Before the Beginning, February 16, 2003

By 

ransome22 "ransome22" (Washington DC area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Perfect Spy (Hardcover)

It seems that nary a used book sale is complete without a copy of A Perfect Spy holding court on crowded shelves with works of obscure fiction. Having often come across it during my own browsing, I finally picked up a copy (for free) to see if I had been missing out. I intend no harm with the statement, but the book was worth the price. I now see a measure of reason behind the myriad discarded copies.

One might call this work a genre-bender as it is less a work of fictive espionage than it is a psychological profile of the protagonist, Magnus Pym. It is, at its core, an extended work in character development. At the beginning of the novel, spy Pym takes up residence in a seaside home to write his memoirs, and his disappearance causes a flurry of panic within the American and British intelligence communities. The grand majority of "the action" has already taken place, however, and is cryptically recounted in hindsight as Pym explores the influence of his father's business shenanigans upon his own character, chosen vocation, and penchant for deception. His style is so cryptic at times, and clarification from le Carre so wanting, that the reader can easily be left behind searching for clues as to time and context. It is a task to keep one's bearings as the narrative often shifts from past to present with little warning, while minor characters not seen for chapters surface suddenly with little hint as to where they were last seen. The name Wentworth, for example, surfaces within the first 100 pages then largely disappears for the rest of the novel until assuming a major role at the very end. There are some 150 to 160 major and minor characters in this book, some of which appear in both Pym's reminiscing and in the narrative present. The story is an unusual one as Pym's reminiscing seems to be preparing the reader for a more dynamic present. But by the time the reminiscing and the present intersect, the novel has ended.

John le Carre is a gifted writer and story teller, but it seems this story has proven too difficult even for even him to tell, at least in the way he has chosen to tell it. A Perfect Spy is not a poorly written book, but it can be a bewildering one -- and one which seems to end just as it is getting started.

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough to get through, but rewarding in the end., February 20, 2001

By 

Matthew Culbreth - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Perfect Spy (Mass Market Paperback)

Whew. It literally took me three years to read this book. I would start the book and quit reading by page 80, 90, sometimes 100. I never had the resolve to get past those first few chapters.

"A Perfect Spy" is as close to an autobiography as I think we'll get from LeCarre. While his later "Single and Single" touched on the same things, I greatly preferred "A Perfect Spy". It's a much darker, much more emotionally draining novel than "Single".

What a sad, disappointing, mesmerizing, depressing, ultimately satisfying novel LeCarre has written for us.

It's too tough to talk about the book without giving some spoilers, so all I'll say is that the story picks up gradually. The first bit is a bit tough, in my opinion, because of the flashbacks to the Magnus's childhood. Keep reading. It becomes clear later why you are spending time there.

What a story. I had a previously enjoyed "Tinker, Tailor" the most of his books, but I think "A Perfect Spy" might replace that. I'm off to finish the rest of the Karla trilogy now, but I'll always be thinking of Magnus, and how wonderfully he was written.