The Circus has already suffered a bad defeat, and the result was two bullets in a man's back. But a bigger threat still exists. And the legendary George Smiley is recruited to root out a high-level mole of thirty years' standing - though to find him means spying on the spies. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is brilliant and ceaselessly compelling, pitting Smiley against his Cold War rival, Karla, in one of the greatest struggles in all fiction.

From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion to Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, le Carré has always written from the heart of modern times. In this, his first memoir, le Carré is as funny as he is incisive, reading into the events he witnesses the same moral ambiguity with which he imbues his novels. Whether he's writing about the parrot at a Beirut hotel that could perfectly mimic machine gun fire or the opening bars of Beethoven’s Fifth; visiting Rwanda’s museums of the unburied dead in the aftermath of the genocide; celebrating New Year’s Eve 1982 with Yasser Arafat and his high command; interviewing a German woman terrorist in her desert prison in the Negev; listening to the wisdoms of the great physicist, dissident, and Nobel Prize winner Andrei Sakharov; meeting with two former heads of the KGB; watching Alec Guinness prepare for his role as George Smiley in the legendary BBC TV adaptations of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley’s People; or describing the female aid worker who inspired the main character in The Constant Gardener, le Carré endows each happening with vividness and humor, now making us laugh out loud, now inviting us to think anew about events and people we believed we understood. Best of all, le Carré gives us a glimpse of a writer’s journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life and heart to his fictional characters.

George Smiley has become chief of the battered British Secret Service at a time when the betrayals of a Soviet double agent have riddled the spy network. Smiley wants revenge. His method is attack, the quarry Karla, the battleground Hong Kong, and the choice of weapon, the Honourable Jerry Westerby, Eastern hand, passionate lover and seasoned, reckless secret agent. So begins the terrifying game ...

本书是约翰·勒雷的成名代表作－－英国资深间谍亚历克·利玛斯亲眼目睹自己最得力的手下被识破，并当场遭到枪杀之后，心生倦怠，准备退休。但想到自己辛辛苦苦在东德建立起来的间谍网被个个击破，“此恨难消”，毅然接下最后一次任务，潜入东德、孰知却陷入了扑朔迷离的危机中……

哈瑞本是个混迹伦敦的骗子，辗转来到巴拿马后，凭着过去所学成为裁缝。因为深谙聆听闭嘴的重要，颇得上流社会主顾的信赖。原本以为就这样可以抹掉不为人知的过去，没想到，在一个最平常不过的星期五，一个从地狱来的客人找上门，让他打探巴拿马运河主权易手前夕的各方动静。为了自保，哈瑞开始编故事…… 他能量巨大，上得总统办公室，下得反对派囚牢。给总统试装，他可以聆听连政府发言人都不知晓的元首真心话，从过去的狱友那里，他大胆判断巴拿马正酝酿着一场大风暴。这位敏锐的小道消息收集员，出色的八卦分析家兼传播大师，将会导演出怎样惊心动魄的未来？

本書從主角平恩已消逝的英國光榮家世寫起，平恩自述一個完美間諜的海海人生：為了能親自向兒子湯姆解釋自己不是叛徒，平恩再三躲避跨國的追蹤，但證明自己清白的證據已經消失，如何證明自己不是叛國賊？另一敘述主線則是去追查平恩的朋友、上司、家人，平恩到哪裡去了？當平恩失蹤時，對於他們來說，到底「誰」是平恩？當平恩逐漸被描繪出來，讀者也探索了完美間諜的一生。 這本書不只是間諜小說，擁有更多非間諜的角色，因為它想要觸碰的是「間諜的心靈」。勒卡雷回顧人生況味：當舞台已經落幕，台上的丑角卸下戲服，能否真能脫去此中的酸甜滋味？

If the only thing necessary to the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, how can he keep silent? If a decade of diplomatic life had taught Toby Bell one thing, it was to treat every crisis as normal and soluble. A covert counter-terror operation codenamed "Wildlife" to be mounted on the Rock of Gibraltar. This one is right off the books. The target codenamed "PUNTER". Our boys on land, the American mercenaries by sea. Kit Probyn, Foreign Office upright veteran with a safe pair of hands and no previous experience of the dark arts, to be the Minister's eyes and ears on the ground. His "red telephone". Toby Bell, rising Foreign Office star and the Minister's Personal Private Secretary, has been kept out of the loop. Why? Whispers of private armies, bounty, dicey intelligence, corporate wars. A disgraced Special Forces Soldier who took part in "Wildlife" delivers a message from the dead. The worlds of Toby Bell and Kit Probyn collide. If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, at what point do these two good men become guilty bystanders? A Delicate Truth is a furiously paced story of moral dilemma, personal guilt, bold action and unexpected love.

From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion, to Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, John le Carré has always written from the heart of modern times. In this, his first memoir, le Carré is as funny as he is incisive - reading into the events he witnesses the same moral ambiguity with which he imbues his novels. Whether he's writing about the parrot at a Beirut hotel that could perfectly mimic machine gun fire, or visiting Rwanda's museums of the unburied dead in the aftermath of the genocide, or celebrating New Year's Eve with Yasser Arafat, or interviewing a German terrorist in her desert prison in the Negev, or watching Alec Guinness preparing for his role as George Smiley, or describing the female aid worker who inspired the main character in his The Constant Gardener, le Carré endows each happening with vividness and humour, now making us laugh out loud, now inviting us to think anew about events and people we believed we understood. Best of all, le Carré gives us a glimpse of a writer's journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life and heart to his fictional characters.

☆ 从军情五处的间谍，到英国国宝级小说家。《柏林谍影》作者约翰·勒卡雷的唯一回忆录。 ☆ 他是约翰·勒卡雷，也是大卫·康威尔，近四十个人生片段，狙击一个伟大小说家充满矛盾与挣扎的自我。 ☆ 间谍生涯与小说写作其实是天造地设的一对。两者都要随时准备好去窥视人类的罪过，以及通往背叛的种种途径。 ☆ 有一种鸽子天生就被培养成狩猎游戏的靶子，它们飞越专门修建的漫长隧道，而出口就是猎人们的枪口。 ----------- 服务过军情五处和军情六处，初试写作，就震惊文坛。 这是英国国宝级小说大师勒卡雷的唯一回忆录，记下了他人生中近四十个刻骨铭心的片段，再现一个伟大作家的双重身份和多重自我。他目睹残酷战争与冷血杀伐；他跟着战地记者藏身壕沟，子弹擦着他的耳边飞过；他采访狱中的恐怖分子，却被对方堵得哑口无言；他目睹苏联巨变前后的社会，感慨万千；他见证了布罗茨基获得诺奖的瞬间，也亲历了电影大师弗里茨·朗的失意；他写下骗子父亲与自己既疏离又难舍的亲情，并苦苦思索间谍与作家的异同。 “逃避与欺骗是我童年非有不可的武器。青少年时期，我们都是某种间谍，而我却早已是退役的老兵。情报世界拥我入怀的时候，感觉就像回到家一样。” ------------ 在这本书里，有两个勒卡雷，一个是作为间谍小说作家的他，他写军情五处、军情六处，就像是托尔金写中洲世界；另一个是才华横溢的当代小说家，搜寻着出逃的自我。 ——《卫报》

本書的書名源自英國的一首兒歌，但同時也是書中其中四位主角的代號。故事的重心是要查出誰是潛伏在英國情報局最高階層的一個雙面間諜。這個間諜是10多年前由莫斯科中心安置在英國情報局臥底的。根據情報，這個雙面間諜就是目前在英國情報局身居要職的4位高級情報員中的一個，這四位都是優秀而複雜的人物，他們共事多年，相互依靠，相互扶持，雖然這一行的金科玉律就是永遠不要相信別人。 而奉命要查出這個臥底的雙面間諜的是一個被迫退休的超級情報員喬治‧史邁利。記憶力像電腦一樣好的史邁利，在一團亂絲中一點點理出頭緒來，鑽進塵封的舊檔案裡尋找蛛絲馬跡，最後終於解開俄國情報頭子所設計的「最後一個聰明的結」。