Happy birthday tot he master of spy craft, John le Carré
As the clock ticks past October 19th, we find ourselves in the shadows of a world cloaked in espionage and intrigue. It’s a world readers first came to recognize through the masterful writing of John le Carré. As the architect of the spy novel, his words have pierced through the veils of secrecy and deception to illuminate the complex tapestry of the human motives that lie beneath the surface of geopolitics.
Raised in the Underworld, Educated with the Elites
John le Carré, born David John Moore Cornwell on October 19, 1931, lived a dangerous, and secretive life. It provided him with a wealth of inspiration for his writing, and was a reflection of his own interesting and unique life.
He grew up in Poole, Dorset, England, where his con-artist father became the primary parent when le Carré’s mother left the family when he was still a boy. But his natural talents and intellect led him to study at the University of Bern in Switzerland and later at the University of Oxford, where he excelled in modern languages.
A Double-Life
After finishing his education, le Carré worked as a spy for Britain’s foreign and domestic intelligence services, MI6 and MI5, throughout the 1950s and 60s. His experiences in Cold War espionage later heavily influenced his writing, providing him with a behind-the-scenes look into spycraft that thrilled readers from the start. His ability to take the scenarios that were whispered between spies in the shadowy corners of Europe were provocative and mysterious, earning him a reputation as the “Literary Spy Master.”
The Literary Spy Master
Le Carré breakthrough novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, was published in 1963 to critical acclaim and quickly becoming a bestseller. Today, it is often considered one of the best spy novels of all time. With plots that cleverly incorporate the thrills of cloak-and-dagger espionage tropes, his readers are kept on the edge of their seats until the very last page.
A New Kind of Spy
Le Carré is famous for his complex characters, particularly the spy George Smiley, who appears in several of his novels, including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. With the intention of creating a character to rival the popular James Bond character of his contemporary Ian Fleming, he created a bookish looking, polite, and self-effacing spy whose inner cunning, excellent memory, mastery of spycraft, and occasional ruthlessness provides ample room for the unexpected when other characters underestimate him. Smily is held in high-esteem around the world, and, as Britain’s top newspaper, The Guardian, once called him, is “the sort of spy [Britain] believes it ought to have: a bit shabby, academic, basically loyal, and skeptical of the enthusiasms of his political masters.”
Le Carré’s World of Espionage
Le Carré continued to write well into his later years, publishing notable works like The Constant Gardener and A Looking Glass War. He received numerous literary awards throughout his career, including the British Book Award and the Somerset Maugham Award, and many of his novels have been adapted into successful films and television series, further cementing his influence in popular culture.
A New High-Stakes Genre
John le Carré passed away on December 12, 2020, at the age of 89, leaving behind a legacy as one of the greatest spy fiction writers of his time.
Le Carré’s works continue to resonate with readers even today. His novels reflect the complexities of international politics and human relationships through cerebral and intellectual characters and his themes of morality, betrayal, and the complexities of the Cold War and post-Cold War espionage applicable to today’s genre. His body of work presents a more nuanced view of intelligence work compared to traditional spy novels, and they continue inspired more authors of geopolitical thrillers to come out of the shadows and into the light.
Happy 93rd birthday, John Le Carré!
Interested in the world of espionage? Check out these high-stakes thrillers by Chanticleer’s authors who shines a light on the global underworld with riveting plots and unstoppable characters.
Jake Fortina and the Roman Conspiracy
By Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke
Winner of the CIBA Global Thriller Grand Prize
Talk about a ripped-from-the headlines thriller in Jake Fortina and the Roman Conspiracy!
In this multinational geopolitical thriller by Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke, a power-crazed Russian oligarch wants to usurp the current Russian dictator to take his place as the head of the government. He forms his own paramilitary force to steal priceless paintings from a Vatican church with plans to resell them for billions to fund his campaign. But why stop there? He also explodes illicit small-scale atomic weapons to further destabilize the Russian leader and cast himself as the country’s new czar.
Meanwhile, a crazed U.S. right wing military adjutant buys loads of AK-47s from the Italian mafia to arm U.S. paramilitary groups intent on enforcing their own far-right views in America.
Double Takedown
By Kevin G. Chapman
In Double Takedown, book six in the Mike Stoneman series by Kevin G. Chapman, we follow two NY homicide detectives as they unravel a murder at a theater in an intricate dance of high-stakes suspense.
Two years after the pandemic shut down the world, NY homicide detectives Mike Stoneman and his partner Jason Dickson are at a charity ballet for an evening out with their wives. When an audience member suddenly dies during the performance, they soon realize they are spectators to a murder.
At first nothing looks suspicious about the death of Alex Bishop, lead actor in a moribund Broadway show, Godfather: The Musical. But with the cause of death uncertain, questions begin to swirl. Mike and Jason pick up the case to find out exactly what caused this mysterious death. The show’s director/producer had a motive and opportunity, and when the detectives find incriminating evidence on his personal laptop, the case is quickly closed. Or is it?
Revelations
By Dave Lager
First Place Winner of CIBA Series Award
Ro Delahanty bears heavy weights on her shoulders—a decades old conspiracy, the complexities of polyamorous love, and troubling family secrets—all of which she will begin to face inRevelations,book 6 of Dave Lager’sRo Delahantyseries.
The wealthy, powerful Pribyl family is up to something sinister in their new scrap shipment business, Ro is sure of it. But she has to prove it to herself before she can even start to convince anyone else. And as much as she’d like to dive head-first into that mystery, she has many more problems to solve as a Fort Armstrong County Sergeant Deputy.An unsanctioned party threatens to become a dangerous mob, setting fire to a half-constructed house. Ro’s bold, decisive nature comes under fire from a rival at the Sheriff’s office. Worse, a major change in that office could upend the foundation of Ro’s life and even rob her of the comradery she and her colleagues rely on.
Identified
By John Wilander
West, a young man, spent 15 years in prison for hacking government systems. His mother, a highly visible activist against his imprisonment, is also trying unsuccessfully to get her health insurance to pay for her fight against a deadly medical condition. In Identified West believes the government is responsible for illegally blocking her insurance and vows to find out who’s behind the effort and put his mom back on the insurance rolls.
This is no easy task. Cybersecurity is now a fully linked global enterprise called the G20S, an expansion of today’s G20 nations. Virtually every form of human activity across the world can be logged by the system. It will take a small crew of talented hackers who call themselves the Survivors to develop unique hacker tools for West to break into the system, find the guilty, and get his mother insured. At every point, success could slip out of their grasp.
Veterans Key
By Richard Bareford
Veterans Key opens in 1935 as hundreds of derelict vets of the Great War are working in ramshackle government relief camps bridging a gap in the Overseas Highway connecting Key West with the mainland.
One hot August morning, two striking co-eds, Cindy and Ella, step off a train in Islamorada to be greeted with the crude cat-calls of beery veterans. What happens next is unexpected. Cindy singles out Fred, a soft-spoken, muscular vet drinking a Coke. He offers her a sip. She accepts, flirts, and invites him to her hotel in Key West for an amorous rendezvous.
Dealing love and betrayal in equal measure, the protagonists of Veterans Key embark on a course of events that will keep readers guessing.
Thank you for joining us in celebrating the master of literary espionage, John le Carré!
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Thank you again to the authors who wrote these wonderful books, and to John le Carré, who inspired so many to explore the darker side of thrilling literature!
The Gertrude Warner Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Middle Grade Fiction. The Gertrude Warner Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).
