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A Legacy of Spies Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

John le Carré (Author), Tom Hollander (Narrator), Penguin Audio (Publisher)
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Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré, read by Tom Hollander. This is the first novel in over 25 years to feature George Smiley, le Carré's most beloved character.

Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London. The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London and involved such characters as Alec Leamas, Jim Prideaux, George Smiley and Peter Guillam himself are to be scrutinised under disturbing criteria by a generation with no memory of the Cold War and no patience with its justifications.

Interweaving past with present so that each may tell its own intense story, John le Carré has spun a single plot as ingenious and thrilling as the two predecessors on which it looks back: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

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  1. Book 9 of 9
    George Smiley Novels
  2. Listening Length
    8 hours and 28 minutes
  3. Author
    John le Carré
  4. Narrator
    Tom Hollander
  5. Audible release date
    7 Sept. 2017
  6. Language
    English
  7. Publisher
    Penguin Audio
  8. ASIN
    B06XFZ8QKT
  9. Version
    Unabridged
  10. Program Type
    Audiobook
  11. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 8 hours and 28 minutes
Author John le Carré
Narrator Tom Hollander
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.co.uk Release Date 07 September 2017
Publisher Penguin Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B06XFZ8QKT
Best Sellers Rank 8,833 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
54 in Political Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
58 in Military Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals)
93 in Espionage Biographies

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
20,852 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the characters well-crafted and universal. They also appreciate the good pace and marvelous service. Opinions are mixed on the writing style, plot, and detail. Some find the writing nice and engrossing, while others say it's not as interesting as the author thinks it is.

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PacingCharactersWriting stylePlotLevel of detailOriginality
25 customers mention ‘Pacing’18 positive7 negative

Customers find the pacing of the book good, with a couple of slow phases. They also say it was read immediately, with prompt delivery. Customers also mention that the service was totally acceptable.

"...As always, well-paced; well-observed; authentic feeling; and a storyline that draws your interest and caring along...." Read more

"...Trots along at a good pace, the characters and plot are real and believable.Well worth a read...." Read more

"...the endless memos and explaining of the memos to investigators very slow, and as others have said, the ending just peters out...." Read more

"Slow burn and twisting plot,really enjoyable I would recommend highly.I have enjoyed all John le Carre works that I have read" Read more

22 customers mention ‘Characters’17 positive5 negative

Customers find the characters well-crafted, superb, and chillingly recreated. They also appreciate the universal themes of courage, loyalty, truth, lies, and love.

"...Impenetrable in places but nice turn of phrases, nicely woven characters and dialogue. Would appeal to Smiley die hard fans." Read more

"...However, I did enjoy the procedural detail, the portrayal of believable characters, and dialogue that illustrated how duplicity can lead to a..." Read more

"...As usual, Le Carre's characters are complex, loveable and unpredictable with this book illuminating a new light on a couple of favourite old faces...." Read more

"...The new characters lack the depth he normally achieves.I’m disappointed but still a great fan." Read more

164 customers mention ‘Writing style’103 positive61 negative

Customers are mixed about the writing style. Some find it nicely written, clever, and beautifully wrought. They also say it's a brilliant read, engrossing, and peppered with great quotations. Others however, say it’s not as interesting as the author thinks it is, has long rather tedious sections, and peters out at the end.

"...But it works well. The writing is pacy and lucid. The book makes for a good read...." Read more

"...the reworking of past events through new eyes does not bring as much ingenious pleasure because there is little reorientation done for the reader...." Read more

"...which Le Carre's work of the 60s had countered.. The review is peppered with great quotations, but one of the best reads;-'......." Read more

"...As with all the best Le Carre novels it is complex and multi layered, only slightly undermined by an ending which is a little lame." Read more

147 customers mention ‘Plot’102 positive45 negative

Customers are mixed about the plot. Some find the narrative sweep powerful, complex, and tight. They say the book gives a different perspective on those events and is a gripping read. However, others say the story ends abruptly, weighs the story down, and the plots are too simple.

"...A Legacy" makes for a very satisfying tie up of the Smiley/Circus sequence of novels. Perhaps not Le Carre's very greatest, but up near them" Read more

"...There is a lot to like in this book - in fact I found it to be a gripping read for most of it's modest length...." Read more

"...The story does end a bit abruptly, at least for my taste, with very little about Smiley himself, although he, his influence and the consequences of..." Read more

"...It is a gripping read and I feel I shall have to re-read it at least once to understand all the various nuances but in the meantime, I have a few..." Read more

16 customers mention ‘Level of detail’7 positive9 negative

Customers are mixed about the level of detail. Some mention that the writing is perfect and has a ring of truth to it, while others say that the characters have too much unnecessary detail and the plot is fairly minimal. They also say that structure isolates the reader from events and provides stunning details of earlier operations.

"...This has always struck me as a lazy form of exposition, and not as interesting as the author thinks it is..." Read more

"...The characters in his books are well-developed and believable, and the plots are complicated, without being impenetrable or pretentious - it's no..." Read more

"...end when he makes a fleeting appearance, and his contribution to the plot is fairly minimal...." Read more

"...novels of the past and our 'hero' Smiley, this is a wonderful opportunity to revisit a range of past events through the eyes of the always..." Read more

9 customers mention ‘Originality’0 positive9 negative

Customers find the book very dated and a recap of the past. They also say it's not a Le Carré classic and hard to grasp in which era the story takes place.

"...This is certainly not a Le Carré classic, and if it is his last book, not the way I hoped he would have bowed out." Read more

"...out and continuing to read becomes a Sisphyean task with its endless past references. I gave up...." Read more

"...It may have some good reviews, but it was not even nostalgic, just very boring, monotonous and a struggle to finish...." Read more

"Usual stuff well written but hard to grasp in which era we are in the story Clever back story of other books but could be just lazy" Read more

John Le Carré at his best !
5 out of 5 stars
John Le Carré at his best !
George Smiley is Alec Guinness, and Alec Guinness is George Smiley. Period
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Top reviews from United Kingdom

Graham Mummery
5.0 out of 5 stars The Legacy of the Cold
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 August 2018
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John Le Carre established himself as possibly the greatest writer of spy fiction with his third novel "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" The novel offered a very different picture of the intelligence world to that of the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming with considerably more realism. In it also Le Carre portrayed an intelligence operation where there were no real heroes, and it had a tragic ending with the two main characters caught up in the ruthless machinations of their political masters. Alec Leamas and Liz Gold shot dead on the Berlin Wall. In the same novel, Le Carre's most famous character, George Smiley, also appears as a minor character.

Smiley has appeared in a number of Le Carre's novels, sometimes as a principal protagonist as in the first two novels or "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy," in others as a minor character. He makes an appearance in this novel and his presence is felt. But the main character in "A Legacy of Spies" is another character who will be familiar to Le Carre readers namely Peter Guillam who is the narrator here.

Writing in the first person is to my knowledge is new to Le Carre. But it works well. The writing is pacy and lucid. The book makes for a good read. Guillam has been recalled to London in Smiley's absence to deal with a fall out from the events described in "the Spy." Firstly from children of Leamas and Liz, and secondly from political masters with different values to those of the Cold War looking to expose the "sins" of the past.

There has always been an element of Le Carre being a moralist in some of his novels, even if this is not worn on the sleeve. This usually concerns the morality of politics and spying, not to mention matters of loyalties and betrayal. At the end of it Smiley voices a commentary on this which might be that of the whole Cold War. But at the same time the novel progresses as a story. Those wanting just a good read will not be disappointed either.

The novel could be read in isolation. But at the same time what is given here is a tying up of threads in the novels where Smiley appears . Much of it adds background to the events and characters described in "The Spy" and links them into events and characters in the later novels. "A Legacy" makes for a very satisfying tie up of the Smiley/Circus sequence of novels. Perhaps not Le Carre's very greatest, but up near them
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Mark Pack
4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable, even a must, read for long term fans of Smiley and co but not a good starting place for those new to their world.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 November 2017
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A Legacy of Spies by John Le Carré reminds me of the work of three other authors. First, Terry Pratchett's final Discworld novel, Raising Steam. The similarity here is a brilliant novelist, whose reputation was made with earlier novels, returning to familiar characters late in their career.

As with Pratchett, Le Carré does not hit his previous heights but for long term fans he does provide a satisfyingly low-key return to old favourites. In A Legacy of Spies George Smiley does return, but only tangentially to the plot. His presence is to be welcomed by the reader rather than his actions generate tension for the reader. Indeed, it is one of the weaker parts of the novel that it has little in the way of dramatic tension driving the plot. The plot is rather an incidental device to justify the retelling of events and its resolution is both simple, brief and only little related to those retellings.

Second, A Legacy of Spies reminds me of Len Deighton's trilogy of trilogies featuring Bernard Samson. It too saw past events repeatedly returned too and comes with a morally ambiguous ending. The espionage part of Deighton's plot wrapped up easily but the lives of the characters left in a more complex state. As with Deighton, too, there is a handful of plot inconsistencies - in his case across a nine volume (later ten volume with a prequel) series, in Le Carré's case with his previous stand out hit, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

Which brings me to the third author this novel reminds me of, Anthony Price. Although successful in his time, Anthony Price never had the same fame as John Le Carré, perhaps because the complex and ambiguous dialogue of his books lent themselves poorly to successful TV or film adaptation.

But for my money, his version of the plot device powering A Legacy of Spies was rather better. In A Prospect of Vengeance Price took the same approach as seen in A Legacy of Spies: writing a novel in which the events of an earlier novel are returned to years later thanks to the investigative digging of outsiders into the past. However Price uses this device to present the reader with radically different potential interpretations of the past events. The plots of the two novels fit together as pleasingly as an insanely complicated wooden puzzle.

For John Le Carré, however, the reworking of past events through new eyes does not bring as much ingenious pleasure because there is little reorientation done for the reader. What's more, the one moment where a major such twist seems to be on offer with characters believing something at odds with what we were told in the previous novel (see spoiler footnote below if you wish) seems, I think, to be just a plotting inconsistency as nothing is made of it in the end.

This all makes A Legacy of Spies an enjoyable, even a must, read for long term fans of Smiley and co but not a good starting place for those new to their world.

Spoiler footnote: the plot inconsistency mentioned above is about Hans-Dieter Mundt's switch to being a British double agent. In The Spy Who Came in from the Cold this comes during the visit to Britain in which he tried to kill George Smiley and hence the suspicions over how easily he escaped Britain when supposedly the British state was in full pursuit of him. But in A Legacy of Spies his switch comes on a subsequent visit to Britain, his previous successful escape therefore left unexplained. If you treat the earlier novel as correct, then for a moment in the newer novel a very dark turn of events flits into possible view - if Mundt had switched already on his earlier visit, is he able to carry out a murder on his second visit because Smiley has decided the murder is necessary? But this bleakness slips away and instead the switch in the Mundt story looks to be just a plotting inconsistency.
7 people found this helpful
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Bob Hurley
5.0 out of 5 stars A reminiscence
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 July 2024
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Enjoyed this Le Carre, tale from the past. Windfall, a coded spy tale. Looking back on it this was as close to a disaster as there could have been, double agents on both sides exposed unfortunately with the well known outcome. Enjoyable read
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Top reviews from other countries

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Ken Silden
5.0 out of 5 stars great book
Reviewed in Canada on 17 February 2024
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Loving the book
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APT
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful - true Le Carre
Reviewed in India on 16 June 2023
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A trip down memory lane not just for Peter Guillam but for the readers as well. Fantastic and highly recommended.
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MR NICHOLAS MOORE
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Le Carré masterpiece.
Reviewed in France on 15 February 2021
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A wonderful read, fortunately I remembered the BBC production of Tinker Tailor which guided me through this typical complicated convoluted plot and enabled me to put faces to the characters.
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anna maria
5.0 out of 5 stars A Legacy of spies
Reviewed in Italy on 19 June 2020
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Le Carrè, maestro della spy story, ci proietta con questo libro nel passato, nel passato di un periodo oscuro ma affascinante, la guerra fredda. Ritroviamo personaggi ormai mitici, personaggi che ci descrivono che cosa vuol dire a volte barattare la propria anima per un bene più grande. Davvero bellissimo.
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Paratrim1
5.0 out of 5 stars La Piece de Resistance
Reviewed in the United States on 13 September 2017
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John LeCarre invented the Cold War spy novel. From The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, we have the final summation of what the Cold War and its actors were all about. This book was such a delight that I did not want it to end. I knew where it was going, but I wanted to savor the journey. Absolutely top notch entertainment. Beautifully written and nostalgic in a good way. I first read The Spy Who Came In From the Cold in a rather slim mass market paperback when I was at Prep school. The similarities to the experiences of the boys at the British Public Schools was uncanny. Here are the reevaluations of old men who somehow still live in a very different world. The actions of long ago are now being reassessed by the powers that be today. The children of parents who were collateral damage and theynow want justice, or at least some financial compensation. But the men who practiced the art of secrecy and deception will not give it all up. They are still carrying the flame, but of what they are not sure. May John LeCarre continue to write and never get too old to stop. He is the master of the turn of phrase and creates an atmosphere that you can almost taste. Did I say I loved this book? Your bloody right I do!
5 people found this helpful
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