Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2024 by the Washington Post, the Guardian, LitHub, Crime Reads, Boston Globe, and AARP
"Nick Harkaway's novel delivers fresh Cold War intrigue for John le Carré’s redoubtable spymaster."
—Wall Street Journal
"John le Carré’s son does him proud in an excellent spy thriller about a Soviet agent that faithfully bridges two of his father’s classic tales. . . Harkaway reproduces his father’s rhythms at the level of sentence and plot alike, with slow-burn tension giving way to agonizing jeopardy as cat-and-mouse games explode into crunching hand-to-hand combat or street gun battles. . . [Karla’s Choice is] a loving tribute to a complicated father (as Harkaway’s dedication seems to acknowledge) as well as an excellent novel in its own right."
—The Guardian
"Karla’s Choice is a Cold War espionage novel taking up the characters that people regard as quintessentially le Carré: the rumpled, melancholy Smiley and his ruthless Soviet counterpart Karla. By writing it, Harkaway hasn’t just crossed into his father’s literary airspace — he’s descending into the heart of the territory and rolling out the landing gear. . . It’s an homage to John le Carré, from the characters to the cadences of his prose. It’s also, undeniably, a document of grief for David Cornwell."
—Sophia Nguyen, Washington Post
"[Karla's Choice] is an accomplished homage and a captivating thriller."
—The Economist
"In Karla's Choice, Nick Harkaway has done the impossible and made it look easy. He's written a new George Smiley novel that reads like a long lost le Carré classic. It's a story as gripping as a hand on the throat, a subtle, blood-chilling work of suspense that promises to both enthrall the le Carré faithful and captivate a whole new generation of readers. I was floored."
—Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman and Horns
"Karla’s Choice is a note-perfect tribute to le Carré. Nick Harkaway has pulled off the remarkable trick of providing the long-term reader with something which is satisfyingly fresh and new, and yet fits seamlessly into the world of Smiley’s Circus in its heyday."
—Mick Herron
"Honestly reads like a lost le Carrè. Smiley is back at the Circus in the safest of hands."
—Richard Osman, New York Times bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club
"Le Carre’s legacy is in good hands—Smiley is back with a vengeance!"
—Ian Rankin, New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus series
"To write in the voice of John le Carré is like trying to fight like Muhammad Ali or paint like Picasso. But in Karla’s Choice, Nick Harkaway pulls it off. It is all here, everything we revered about le Carré—the lyrical grace, the exhausted patriotism, the twists and turns, the characters that burn in your imagination. . . John le Carré is the giant of twentieth century storytelling and in Karla’s Choice, Nick Harkaway has done him proud. Every reader of John le Carré will love this brilliant book."
—Tony Parsons, author of Man and Boy
"Gripping, clever, and full of tension, Karla’s Choice bridges the gap in the Smiley saga perfectly. Fans of John le Carré will not be disappointed."
—Lisa Hall, author of Between You and Me
"A welcome return to Le Carré’s world. Tense and atmospheric, meditative and moving. The familiar elements of le Carré’s prose are present, but the novel is also enriched by Nick Harkaway’s dry wit and sense of humour, and the slightly off-kilter way he has of viewing and describing the absurdities of our world. Fans of le Carré will have much to rejoice about, but so will fans of Nick Harkaway. 'The Legend Returns’' but under Harkaway’s pen, it’s safe to also say that 'A new legend begins.'"
—Tan Twan Eng, author of The House of Doors
"I’m glad to see that the le Carré touch for taut writing and twisted plots lives on. It’s thrilling to be back with old friends and enemies. In the end, Nick Harkaway invests his father’s world with hard-earned insights into family connections, and what they cost. I think Smiley’s tested, essential goodness sings through the pages. I couldn’t put it down."
—S.J. Bennett, author of Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series
"A brilliant and almost uncanny incarnation of le Carré’s voice and world—and an exceptional espionage novel in its own right."
—Will Boyd, author of Any Human Heart
"The legendary Smiley’s return is a classic thinking person’s espionage thriller packed with more secrets, tricks and deceptions than a roomful of triple agents. We have witnessed the rebirth of an icon."
—Scott Mariani, author of The Tudor Conspiracy
"Smiley and his people are back, and thank god for that. Karla's Choice is a beautifully rendered spy story full of familiar characters and authentic Cold War tradecraft. It's the missing chapter of Smiley's battle with Karla that we've always wanted, and Harkaway delivers."
—David Mccloskey, author of The Damascus Station
"Karla’s Choice is a glorious conjuration of a lost era. It’s a book as rich and complex as its cast of characters. But it’s also a feat of extraordinary literary alchemy. Harkaway has summoned Smiley, his colleagues, antagonists, and the dark moral machinations of their secret Cold War institutions back into existence with all the deft emotional precision of the best of Le Carré, but in so doing he has given us something wondrously new: a giddying, compulsively fierce novel that is very much his own. I read it twice in as many days and am about to pick it up and read it again."
—Helen Macdonald, internationally bestselling author of H is for Hawk
"What a novel . . . It's an amazing achievement: the echt voice of Le Carré, flowing flawlessly through the pen of his son. A great spy-story, worthy to be ranked with classic Le Carré."
—Adam Roberts, author of Jack Glass
"George Smiley returns in this terrific spy saga from John Le Carré’s son, Titanium Noir author Nicholas Cornwell (writing under the Harkaway pseudonym) . . . Longtime Smiley fans will delight in the enormous cast of familiar characters, the thoughtful meditations on the morality of espionage, and the lived-in tradecraft. [In Karla’s Choice,] Harkaway brilliantly channels his late father’s voice, and in the process delivers an essential new chapter for Smiley and Karla."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The best intelligence work is slow, and 'spying is waiting.' [Karla’s Choice] proceeds at a pace to match as it immerses the reader in a world of dread and drear, 'shadows and sorrows'. . . A Cold War yarn befitting the world of le Carré."
—Kirkus Review
2024-08-30
Harkaway, who’s John le Carré’s son, slips this spy tale into the 10-year gap betweenThe Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1963) andTinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974).
In London in the early spring of 1963, a Hungarian assassin named Miki Bortnik shows up at a literary agent’s office to kill a man named Laszlo Bánáti, on instructions from the Thirteenth Directorate (think KGB). But the repentant killer confesses to Bánáti’s assistant, Susanna Gero, that God has told him not to do it. In any case, Bánáti has disappeared. Susanna tells MI6, who naturally wants to know what the Soviets are up to. Meanwhile, George Smiley has retired from the Circus (MI6) and is spending his time with his wife, Ann. “There was a rumour—unconfirmed and a little scandalous—that George Smiley might almost be happy.” Control (the head of British Intelligence) orders that Smiley be persuaded to deal with the case. Although it would be a temporary assignment, Smiley at first demurs, saying, “Let the old dog sit by the cooker.” But he ultimately agrees, much to Ann’s quiet exasperation. She knows he loves her, but the Circus is his “grey mistress.” Bánáti is discovered to be a Soviet agent known as Róka, and now he’s on the run. Smiley’s nemesis is the unseen Soviet Intelligence officer known as Karla, a dark presence in three previous le Carré novels. The best intelligence work is slow, and “spying is waiting.” The novel proceeds at a pace to match as it immerses the reader in a world of dread and drear, “shadows and sorrows.”
A Cold War yarn befitting the world of le Carré.
