Ranking Every John Le Carré (including Karla’s Choice)

I have a long history with the British espionage novelist David Cornwell, better known by his penname John Le Carré. I was introduced to him in high school thanks in no small part to trying to impress a guy in reading Tinker Tailor Solider Spy in anticipation of the 2011 film. After years apart from Le Carré’s prose, his death in 2020 prompted me to return to his works. Over the subsequent four years, I endeavored to read every single book of his — fiction and nonfiction.

With this year’s publication of Karla’s Choice — the first novel to feature Le Carré’s most famous character, George Smiley, not written by Le Carré but instead by his son, Nick Harkaway — it felt time at last to unveil what I believe to be the definitive ranking of all of Le Carré’s works, from worst to best.

29. A Delicate Truth

The writing is there — Le Carré’s prose is rarely trite — but the character and suspense are not. I found a sizable portion of Le Carré’s post-9/11 War on Terror related stories to be some of the least engaging for me with this one being square at the bottom thanks in no small part to an abundance of terrorism related cliches and frankly all too small stakes to propel a whole book. To also indicate the degree to which A Delicate Truth is at the bottom of my rankings, it’s the only Le Carré book I don’t have a physical copy of (though frankly, since I have all the rest, I should probably just get a used copy just to have it and round out the whole collection).

28. Absolute Friends

Another post-9/11 mystery, this one feels extremely similar to another one of Le Carré’s stories, Our Game, and is perhaps one of the most forgettable ones of his. Not wholly bad but nothing wholly original here either.

27. The Little Drummer Girl

Many of Le Carré’s stories have pretty far-fetched plots, but none can top The Little Drummer Girl for overall ridiculousness. Diving into “the theater of the real” in which an actress is lured into playing her most dangerous part as an undercover Mossad agent infiltrating a Palestinian terrorist group is just an unbelievably ludicurous setup, I was almost enamored with its audacity. It’s messaging on Israeli-Palestinian relations becomes sadly watered down by the end and the usual Le Carré bite just isn’t there. A terrific start that nosedives fast less into “the theater of the real” and more into “the theater of the absurd.”

26. Silverview

Quaint. Le Carré’s only posthumously published novel, Silverview has low stakes, small scale, and is wholly reminiscent of his first books, for better or worse. A tad directionless, I couldn’t help but still enjoy the memorable and witty banter throughout that make Silverview a subdued but strangely fitting close to Le Carré’s writing career.

25. A Murder of Quality

Speaking of some of Le Carré’s earlier writing, here we have his second ever published book, and the one arguably least like any of his others — despite featuring his most noted character, George Smiley. This is virtually a cozy mystery read, even down to the idyllic countryside setting, which was fun for a while until the ending came which left a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth.

24. Karla’s Choice

Now we have the latest book on this list, the first “A John Le Carré Novel.” I approached Karla’s Choice with plenty of trepidation for several reasons, the primary being the uncertainty about Nick Harkaway as a writer (having not read his work before). I can confidentially say, he is a strong and eloquent writer and doesn’t try to mimic his father’s prose, which could have ended disastrously if done poorly. You have some true standout scenes here and pieces of tension perfectly ripped out of a classic Le Carré yarn. However, this often felt like a “greatest hits” playlist of the spy master. The hallmarks are there: Smiley, the Cold War, running agents, Berlin, Karla, the Circus names and faces you know and love (and loathe). I wondered at times, who is this for? Le Carré devotes (of which I’d say I’m one of them) may find this overly sentimental and even nostalgic while also being a Smiley outing which ultimately feels extraordinarily familiar to countless other, arguably better Smiley entries. New readers may be completely overwhelmed by the reliance on prior knowledge to events found in previous entries, namely The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, and not glimpse some of the subtle nods to future entries like Tinker Tailor Solider Spy. Ultimately, this is a well written and tense Cold War espionage thriller, yes. But it still feels somewhat out of place amidst the other Le Carré stories thanks to its “greatest hits” feel throughout and lack of bite and political commentary that is otherwise so prevalent in Le Carré’s stories. A mixed bag that has some great scenes for the character of George Smiley but one which I can’t imagine revisiting anytime soon or thinking about too much in the future.

23. Call for the Dead

Despite this being Le Carré’s first, this was the very last book of his I read. Strangely enough, I felt George Smiley as a character was more thoroughly realized here than in the successor text. Here we have clean prose, a hint of irony, and the nature of duality. Not as refined as some of his later writing, but all the Le Carré’s hallmarks are here.

22. Single & Single

This may have my absolute favorite start to a Le Carré book. Which makes it so frustrating that the rest of the book plots along at a pretty standard and predictable pace. Only so high thanks to its astonishingly good and tense opening chapter which really is a knockout.

21. The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life

The first of two nonfiction books on this list, here we follow snippets of David Cornwell’s life. I’m generally not a memoir reader so approached with trepidation and ultimately found the end result here a bit distant (which shouldn’t be too surprising given everything else Le Carré has written). However, I found The Pigeon Tunnel to really only offer fleeting glimpses at the man himself and having read all of his fiction work, found the fiction to be more illuminating and penetrating than the nonfiction, which still felt heavily guarded.

20. The Russia House

Whenever Le Carré dives into the inner workings of international publishing and its nexus with espionage, I instantly become intrigued. While this one plodded along with a familiar beat as some of his others, the ending here was a triumph.

19. The Honourable Schoolboy

Devotes of Le Carré’s may find this ranking one of the most shocking on this list given it’s the sequel to one of Le Carré’s best and most famous works, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy. But The Honourable Schoolboy is nearly 200 pages longer and feels it. This is Le Carré’s longest book and the intricate pacing and plotting of so many of his other books are almost entirely absent here. Ambition drips with each page, yes, and the China setting is one of Le Carré’s best, but there’s simply too much here. Too many characters, too many plotlines, too many lofty ambitions, that the book becomes a chore to get through. 100 pages could have been cut to make for a far greater overall story.

18. Our Kind of Traitor

This was one of my first Le Carré books and this would be a great entry to recommend to those who haven’t read his work before. Fast-paced, filled with twists, and Le Carré’s mastery of tense usage to make the past and present collide in the best and most sophisticated ways possible.

17. The Mission Song

There’s plenty of discussion today about authors writing protagonists of different races than them, and I approached The Mission Song with a bit of reservation knowing the protagonist — Salvo — is Irish-Congolese. However, I should have trusted Le Carré’s to handle this with surprisingly deftness. Salvo is one of Le Carré’s best protagonists in my eyes and while this is often compared to one of Le Carré’s other African focused stories, The Constant Gardener, I found The Mission Song to be more akin to Ian Fleming’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. However, this isn’t higher on the rankings because the story just isn’t as captivating as it should be and nowhere near as intricate or engrossing as it should have been.

16. A Private Spy: The Letters of John Le Carré’s

The second and final nonfiction book here, this collection of letters throughout David Cornwell’s life is edited by his son Tim Cornwell, who sadly passed away shortly after finishing this collection. Perhaps it’s the more removed aspect from Tim Cornwell’s part that makes A Private Spy more illuminating than The Pigeon Tunnel. This is also substantially longer, covering the entirety of Cornwell’s life, up to his own death in 2020. In choosing to learn more about Cornwell the spy, the father, the husband, the writer, the man, this is what I would recommend.

15. The Tailor of Panama

An aspect of Le Carré’s writing that’s often overlooked is his humor. He can be absolutely hilarious. This is even in his most cynical and depressive books, but occasionally, he will write an entire book almost in a farcical tone. This is the case with The Tailor of Panama which I described in my initial review for this as being “bananas.” This is Le Carré going full Doctor Strangelove, with a raucous and ridiculous ending that does repeat a common theme amongst his works — there’s plenty of blundering idiots out there.

14. A Most Wanted Man

Taken to the opposite extreme of The Tailor of Panama, A Most Wanted Man finally is a post-9–11 story that I could latch onto. A gut-punch of an ending along with some terrific pacing making this an easily accessible and enjoyable Le Carré outing.

13. A Small Town in Germany

This is one of the Le Carré books that has grown on me with time. Le Carré called this one “not the eyesore I always imagined it to be” in later editions Introduction, and I can understand why. The ambition is there. The word “small” may be in the title, but this is anything but. Exacting dialogue, cynical and beleaguered characters and clear, rising stakes. However, the ambitions of this become frustrating as the story progresses, not quite able to live up to its lofty goals. Still, the admirable effort has left an indelible impression with me in the months since reading it so for that, A Small Town in Germany rises in my ranks.

12. Smiley’s People

The concluding chapter of the “Karla trilogy,” Smiley’s People is everything one could hope for in a taut Cold War mystery. A return to form after the missteps taken by this book’s predecessor, The Honourable Schoolboy, this is The Spy Who Came in From the Cold with Smiley as its lead and expanded upon. The master manipulator and his adversary coming to blows at long last in this intricately and meticulously plotted tale. A satisfying conclusion to the villainous Karla that’s fitting for everything readers come to expect with Le Carré’s work. It doesn’t end with explosions or a high-speed Aston Martin chase, it ends as so often in life all great things do — with a whisper in the cold.

11. The Secret Pilgrim

This is the closest thing you can find to a short story collection from Le Carré (though to some degree the same could also be said about The Pigeon Tunnel but unlike that one, this is entirely fictional). Adventures and misadventures in the Circus through the eyes of our protagonist, Ned, this is a smart and creative read that manages to toe the line between too much of a departure in also featuring George Smiley while offering something fresh.

10. A Legacy of Spies

And here we are, entering the top ten and we conclude George Smiley’s missions. A direct link through the eyes of recurring character Peter Guillam, a Smiley protégé, from the Cold War to the 21st century, here we wax stoically about the state of the European Union, espionage, love, and loss. Very much in line with Smiley’s People only with the added benefit of seeing Smiley in the 21st century. Looking squarely at the events of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, this in many ways is what Karla’s Choice tried to be but couldn’t. Why? It’s managed to stake itself in the contemporary world. Le Carré didn’t really look back in his writing. He’s not a historical fiction writer. When discussing events and people of the past, as A Legacy of Spies does, Le Carré knows, we’re only viewing these events through the lens of the presence, not being fully teleported back to the actual dates and people. They are all but memories, legacies, which reverberate today, but cannot be, and will not be, duplicated.

9. The Looking Glass War

The Looking Glass War was met with heavy criticism and derision upon its release back in 1965. A direct reaction to the wild success of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, this explores the most unglamorous sides of espionage. Reminiscent of one of my favorite films, “In the Loop,” Le Carré would strike back against the initial criticism and call this one of his most courageous novels. I can see why this one would have ruffled some feathers, especially given the historical context, but the sting of the satire has likely lessened with time as those most barbed by the critiques are, frankly, becoming but remnants of history. A fear persistent throughout this book, and a rose-tinted nostalgia which, though no longer applicable towards the Second World War, is still relatable as we in younger generations cling to our own forms nostalgia through our media consumption and adoration of pre-established intellectual property. But I digress. In a rare instance, I actually would have liked this to be a hair longer to flesh out some of the supporting characters (especially the female characters which here felt painfully one-note, a critique I don’t often find in other Le Carré books but was very evident here). The Looking Glass War is often hilarious, tragically so, and infuriating (in the best of ways) in its depiction of incompetence and self-aggrandizing. Of all the books on this list, this may be the one that continues to rise the most in the future.

8. The Naïve and Sentimental Lover

Hear me out! This is often characterized as the worst Le Carré novel ever. This is, without question, his biggest departure writing wise. There are no spies, there’s no espionage, there’s barely any globetrotting or mystery. This is a domestic, character study more than anything which critiques capitalism and the concept of the “middle class script” which so many of us feel destined to embody. An area of Le Carré’s work which I haven’t talked about is his fascination and keen understanding of queer characters, coding, and writing, all the more striking given his own heterosexuality. Unlike his contemporaries, Le Carré writes these characters grappling with their own confused state of identity with empathy that’s frankly often not even accurately captured well-enough by contemporary writers. Here, he excels as the trio of primary characters find themselves drawn to, repulsed by, and fascinated with one another, much like how spies shield their own identity and put on a façade professionally and even personally. Hallucinatory debauchery as well makes me wonder, what would Le Carré’s career be like if this had taken off? What other weird, tragic tales could we have enjoyed?

7. Our Game

This was one of the biggest surprises to me. Similar dynamics to The Naïve and Sentimental Lover, Our Game features outstandingly complex dynamics between Tim and Larry, his protegee turned enemy, and his mistress, Emma. Taking a deep dive into the 90s-era Caucus states struggles for independence and the influence of the collapsed Soviet Union in these affairs, Our Game is about as twisty as it comes with some outstanding character arcs and journeys. Every act fires on all cylinders here.

6. Agent Running in the Field

The one that started this Le Carré reading quest way back in December 2020. Almost immediately after I’d heard David Cornwell had passed, I bought his most recently published book, Agent Running in the Field, published the year previously. Described as Le Carré’s ‘Brexit Book,’ here Le Carré laments about Donald Trump (oh what Le Carré would say today!), Brexit, Boris Johnson, and the decline of the United Kingdom’s relevance, all while having his spies enjoy some badminton. And what a way to start this journey of devouring the works of Le Carré. Without this book, I wouldn’t be writing this comprehensive ranking, nor would I have read (or in one case reread) 28 other books. A lean and engaging read, not too complex narratively, if I were to start anyone out on reading Le Carré, I would start here.

5. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

This marked the first major success of Le Carré’s career and was his first number one New York Times bestseller. What more can be said about this classic Cold War thriller? At just over 200 pages, this is one of his shortest too and yet all that is packed in here is truly astonishing. A brilliant leap forward in terms of quality between this and his first two books, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold demands keen attention to detail for maximum enjoyment but is endlessly rewarding.

4. The Night Manager

A prickly and oftentimes completely unsympathetic protagonist facing off against a mustache twirling, clean-cut villainous arms dealer that sees some of the most glamorous locations of any of Le Carré’s stories from Switzerland to Egypt. If ever Le Carré was to come close to emulating Ian Fleming, The Night Manager would be it. However, what separates the two is the patience of espionage is felt here. The start may not be for everyone. Over 200 pages of setup to be frank. Yet it’s all integral to understand how this plays out and why the narrative ultimately works so well.

3. The Constant Gardener

One of the more tragic outings for Le Carré, The Constant Gardener not only is an exhilarating read (this was one of his fastest books that I read), but the contempt Le Carré feels towards governments and industries (in this case pharmaceuticals) for their disregard towards the less fortunate is felt in every page. Dripping with social commentary and scathing rebukes, Le Carré’s mastery of animosity has never felt more personal and targeted than here.

2. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

If you want even more detail about the peak of the George Smiley stories, I wrote an entirely other article about perception and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy here. To sum my feelings up succinctly, this is a magisterial read. Complex, nuanced, brimming with sharp dialogue, striking narratives and characterization, and a slow-burn sense of dread and suspense, this is truly Le Carré’s crowning achievement. This is a chess match in literature you can’t help but feel excited to be participating in as you watch pawns and knights move around with precision to find out who is spying on the spies?

1. A Perfect Spy

When I started, and even when I ended A Perfect Spy, it didn’t strike me as ultimately becoming my favorite Le Carré novel. I was impressed and satisfied and knew the quality was there. Yet it lingered. Days and weeks past and I couldn’t stop thinking about this. More so than other books, this one wormed its way into my mind and suddenly had left an irreplaceable impression on me. This wound up being not just an ultimate espionage read, but the most personal and introspective of all of Le Carré’s writing. Here, self-reflection, criticism, and introspection dominate. The relationship between Magnus Pym and his father, Rick, is one of the most complex and fascinating dynamics I’ve found in all of Le Carré’s repertoire, rivaling and even surpassing the sordid and decades-long cat-and-mouse game between George Smiley and Karla. Here, the spy is deconstructed like no one else has ever been able to achieve in literature. What makes a perfect spy? The end conclusion is one that’s authentic and devastating. A Perfect Spy is not just a perfect Le Carré story, but a perfect work of literature.

So, there it is! John Le Carré’s works ranked from worst to best. What do you think? Have you read Le Carré’s books before? Which is your favorite or least favorite? And have there been other authors whose entire bibliography you’ve read? Let me know!