Karla's Choice
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Karla’s Choice
Nick Harkaway
Penguin Random House
Review: Karen Watkins
Lovers of espionage thrillers are in for a treat in this setting in the height of the Cold War with spies drenched in their craft and idiosyncrasies.
British author David John Moore Cornwell, better known by his pen name, John le Carré, died in 2020 but his spy thrillers are not lost thanks to his son Nicholas Cornwell, aka Nick Harkaway.
Set in 1963, Hungarian publisher Laszlo Bánáti, who is also a Soviet agent known as Róka, vanishes just as a Russian agent arrives in London with instructions to kill him.
George Smiley, who retired to rekindle his marriage to Ann, is lured back by Control, head of the Circus (MI6) to investigate the sudden disappearance.
Investigating the case, he draws in Bánáti's assistant, another Hungarian émigrée, Szusanna Gero, attempting to find out what has happened to her boss.
A manhunt across Europe leads to a boy whose identity remains a well-hidden secret and to Moscow Centre's spymaster, Karla.
The style and story are complicated to read with a huge cast of characters, sometimes with their first name, at others their surname. The book could benefit from a list of characters, their position and alternative names. Circus characters include Toby Esterhase, Jim Prideaux and Bill Haydon from previous le Carré thrillers.
And then there’s the spy trade terminology, phrases and code words – babysitters, handwriting and product. And some of the many plot elements are too implausible or don’t really work.
While the novel stands on its own, familiarity with le Carré’s earlier George Smiley instalments, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, would help understand the background and lingering impacts of past betrayals and Smiley's history with Karla.
I sympathise with Harkaway for the pressure and stress associated with writing in his father’s shadow, and from a writing perspective he does well.
From Budapest to East Berlin, Harkaway sets the tone as he weaves together intricate plot threads with slow-burn tension against hand-to-hand combat and street gun battles.
Harkaway was born in Cornwall, England in 1972.