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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780743431675
ISBN number: 0743431677
Label: Scribner
Manufacturer: Scribner
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 160
Printing Date: February 01, 2002
Publishing house: Scribner
Sale Popularity Level: 42019
Studio: Scribner
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Product Description:
John le Carré classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him -- and his hero, British Secret Service Agent George Smiley, who is introduced in this, his very first novel -- unprecedented worldwide acclaim.
George smiley had liked Samuel Fennan, and now Fennan was dead from an apparent suicide. But why? Fennan, a Foreign Office man, had been under investigation for alleged Communist Party activities, but Smiley had made it clear that the investigation -- little more than a routine security check -- was over and that the file on Fennan could be closed. The very subsequent day, Fennan was found dead with a note by his body saying his career was finished and he couldn't go on. Smiley was puzzled...
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Rated by buyers 
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With all the hype about the Karla trilogy, which is much deserved, the early Smiley novels get overlooked. I don't think it's fair. Call for the Dead is an excellent read that I would recoomend as much as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Rated by buyers 
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This 1961 novel begins with a history of George Smiley. He was married in middle age to the beautiful Lady Ann Sercomb; then quickly divorced. Smiley was very ordinary looking and unremarkable. Who knew he was an intelligence officer? His very first assignment was as a teacher in Germany before the war. He looked over the students to recommend suitable subjects (for recruitment as agents). In 1939 he became the commercial agent for a Swiss small-arms manufacturer and traveled to Germany and Sweden. This job ended with the war. The Cold War brought him back. He had interviewed a member of the FO, who later killed himself. Smiley will be questioned about this; what happened? Smiley is sent to interview Fennan's widow Elsa. Smiley takes the 8:30 am call from the exchange. But he suddenly realized this was requested by the dead man! The widow can't remember this. Smiley, suddenly alert, finds a stranger at his home, but escapes this trap. Now he is worried. Smiley consults the policeman who he met earlier. The clues lead to a scrap dealer and more information. Smiley figures out the connection between Fennan's death and his assault (Chapter VIII).
What if that scrap dealer can't identify anyone? The policeman continues investigating in Elsa's activities. More information is uncovered. Smiley learns what caused this problem (Chapter XII). They learn that Mundt had fled the country. Why? Smiley thinks of a solution to explain the known facts (Chapter XIV). They set a trap, and Dieter turns up (Chapter XV). There is action, and the hero wins. Chapter XVII has the summary of the events, and a surprise. This novel reflects the politics and outlook of the 1950s. The use of a fifty plus man as the hero was unusual.
There are problems in this story, weaknesses in the plot. There is the question of the pistol: who owned it and the ammunition, given the British ban on pistols. If the FO has its own security there was no need for a letter; diplomats know discretion. The observation of Fennan was not "coincidental"; I think Elsa noticed something and called Dieter. Killing Fennan was pointless if someone else had the guilty knowledge.
Rated by buyers -
This is the Le Carre novel that introduces many of the characters that will dominate his better-known books (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Spy Who Came In From the Cold). This is basically a straight ahead mystery thriller (without all that much thrill, and a little too much mystery). It doesn't have the polished writing of Le Carre's later work, nor the brilliant dialogue that is my favorite aspect of his writing, but it is worth reading for its introduction of George Smiley.
Rated by buyers -
This is the very first book written by LeCarre and the very first to introduce the character George Smiley. It is also the very first book that of LeCarre's that I have read. The book reads like a very first time effort. The plot at times is difficult to follow, the character development is hit or miss and the overall feeling I was left with at the end was content -- nothing great, but nothing terrible. I certainly plan to give LeCarre more chances, as I often like to read authors works chronologically -- and from reviews and friends feedback, I am sure that I'll find some of his other books more enjoyable.
Rated by buyers -
My father has been trying to get me to read John Le Carre's George Smiley novels for years, promising me that my appreciation for spy stories would never be the same. I resisted, instead choosing Daniel Silva, Graham Greene, or Robert Littell for my spy yarns. But eventually I half-relented, very first picking up Le Carre's spectacularly bitter "Absolute Friends," which I didn't think much of. But then I snagged "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold," and I saw what all the fuss was about.
So I naturally jumped to the very first book in the Smiley series - I hate reading books out of order - and "Call for the Dead" simply doesn't do all that much for me. It's a brief book - 151 small pages in the hardback edition - that has a very basic plot. Smiley conducts an informal investigation of a fellow intelligence officer to confirm that the officer's university infatuation with communism was just that. Smiley never really suspects the man of anything, and issues a report to that effect after assuring the officer that nothing will happen to him.
Imagine Smiley's shock when the subsequent day the officer turns up dead, an apparent suicide, with a typed suicide note stating that the Smiley interview had crushed him. While Smiley's superiors intend to use the scandal to put Smiley out to pasture, Smiley smells a rat and conducts his own investigation.
"Call for the Dead" is a detective story wrapped inside the espionage world. Despite the book's short scope, there's plenty of misdirection and murder, but the book really reads like a pilot episode of a TV show that has promise, but has not yet hit its stride.
I'm sure that I will revisit "Call for the Dead" after reading the other Smiley novels ("Tinker Tailor," etc.), and I will catch some nuances that I failed to appreciate this time around. But for now, put "Call for the Dead" on the shelf with the "non-classic-but-entertaining" entries into the spy genre.
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