The Looking Glass War

They looked up and the times had changed and in the cold war where the Soviets were twenty years ahead in spy craft.Bating Britain to bleed them, the Soviets had their effort to hold against them in the press. In James Bond British spies are near supermen, in Le Carre they are inept and pitiful.

With an unabridged audio book that you just might spend your week with stuck in traffic on the freeway, it's not just the wonderful story you choose. Wolfram Kandinsky nails his characters in this great espionage thriller. Best is his portrayal of Leiser, the Polish defector and former agent who is sent back into a hostile East Germany. From the begining we "know" it isn't going to work; but Leiser is a pro... if anyone can, he can! Almost all LeCarre's stories are gems, but after you hear this one I'm sure you'll agree it's the best since The Spy Who Came in From the Cold! I don't just think it is the story; it's the reader who makes the story really come to life, and who makes this Books on Tape edition a stand out!

I read "Looking Glass War" several years ago and was jolted at how realistic the people and the departments seemed. The tragedy of the story stayed with me for a long time.Human ambition, the senselessness of bureaucracy and the infighting among goverment departments --- these are some aspects explored here in a 'spy-story' setting. The interactions seemed very real; the bizarreness of the events very much like real life.Of course this is more of a serious novel than a thriller, as expected of John le Carre. The mood is gray and cluody, and the ending is distressing. The story follows a young employee of an almost-defunct intelligence department. He flies to Scandinavia and finds the local police more savvy than himself. The characters deceive others and themselves in daily-life ways. They prepare to send a poorly-trained man of forty into East Germany as a spy. At the final betrayal, our protagonist cries in anger and shame.Those reading this book for getting kicks out of following the heroic adventures of a glamorous spy, sent to do the right thing by the right side, will be disappointed. There's no clear distinction between good and bad sides. The enemy people (east germans) are all too human. As in life, much is ambivalent.This is not an action-packed thriller to make a feel-good hollywood movie from. Rather, it's an excellent addition to human literature, a testament to the tragedies of individuals caught between government institutions of the twentieth century.

A marvelous, bitter novel of ad hoc espionage and bureaucratic intrigue--though it dates from the Cold War, its ethical concerns are as timely as ever. The quality of writing throughout far surpasses the requirements of genre and the conclusion retains a spine-chilling power. A previous review here demands refutation. A so-called "Reader" insists that "Le Carre knows nothing about espionage, foreign affairs, international relations, spy technology etc." "Reader"'s argument? "In the 1960's Czechoslovakia was surrounded by the world's most sophisticated security perimeter.... To Western espionage, however, this iron curtain was easily permeable; high-tech espionage aircraft and satellites routinely overflew Soviet [sic] territory, mapping government installations with a precision far greater than any earth-bound surveyor.... [I]n [Le Carre's] world the Czech border has a chicken-wire fence guarded by local boys with rusty Mannlichers. Aerial spying is carried out by airline pilots, presumably leaning out of their jets to snap a few candids with concealed polaroids!" A few comments in response: A) The U-2 spy plane and Corona spy satellite were U.S. programs--Britain's aerial espionage technology lagged well behind in the mid-60's. "Reader" imagines a "Western espionage" monolith that did not exist. While the U.S. and Great Britain were, of course, close allies, their interests were by no means identical and their intelligence agencies were not joined at the hip. "The Looking Glass War"--which, of course, concerns (fictional!) operations by British intelligence--includes passages offering explicit rationale for not immediately involving the U.S., thus necessitating the use of relatively primitive information-gathering techniques. B) Aside from the political issues "Reader" seems unconscious of, the technology referred to would have been completely irrelevant to the mission described in the latter half of the book--the identification and detailed description of a well-cloaked arsenal of tactical, medium-range rockets (not the large ballistic weapons the U-2 and Corona excelled at sighting)--"what they look like, where they are, and above all who mans them"...that is, precisely the sort of job for which only an "earth-bound surveyor" would do. C) The suspected rocket site, and thus the critical, climactic action in the book, is located in East Germany. The entire book is concerned with gathering information on and infiltrating East Germany. There is not a single mention of Czechoslovakia in all of "The Looking Glass War." Not one. Did "Reader" even read it? Don't be dissuaded from reading it yourself.

I was surprised when I read the negative reviews on this book... I read it several years ago and found it very believeable. Human greed, the senselessness of bureaucracy and the competition between goverment departments... these are some of the very real things that are explored in the book in a 'spy-story' setting. Of course it is more of a serious novel than a thriller... those reading it for getting kicks out of following the heroic adventures of a glamorous spy will be disappointed. The people are human, with real peoples' weaknesses and faults, and the enemy people (east germans) are all too human. I can understand the average thriller fan's not liking this book.