"The Spy Who Came in from the Cold"

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (John le Carre)

The top Amazon user review for this book starts by asking what is to be said about it; I don't know that I have much to say myself, partly because the book is quite short and partly because it's difficult to get in depth at all without spoiling the book's plot. (Cue 150 more words of book review)
What I can say is that for me the book doesn't live up to its reputation as a masterpiece. I think I put this down to a case of Seinfeld is Unfunny - I'm sure le Carre's extremely realistic, drab setting was a revelation when this book was first released to a public fed on Bond novels. Reading it now, though, after this style has become extremely popular, what's left is a well-written but not particularly engaging little story that didn't really make much of an impact on me.  I also was not a fan of the ending, which makes perfect sense given what we'd seen of the characters up until that point, but still came off to me as a bit heavy-handed (I half expected the last sentance to be "It's GRIM, get it??? See what I did there??") Given how short the book is, it's pretty easy to recommend, but I wouldn't pick it up expecting the masterpiece its reputation suggests.

Grade: B+