The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

This Cold War novel follows Alec Leamas, a tired British intelligence officer whose network in East Berlin has been destroyed. Called back to London, he is offered one last operation, which requires him to appear to be a bitter, washed-up man who might sell secrets to the other side. As the plan unfolds, he is drawn into a dangerous game involving an East German intelligence officer and a young woman he meets along the way. The book strips away the glamour of spying and shows it as a cold, morally murky trade. It made le Carré an international success and remains a landmark of the genre.