A #1 New York Times Best-Seller

This is the first book of John le Carre's 'Karla trilogy' and features British master spy George Smiley. Somewhere at the very highest levels of British Intelligence there stands a double agent, a 'mole,' implanted deep in its fabric, perhaps decades ago, by Moscow Centre. He can only be one of five men--brilliant, complicated men, proven in action--who have worked closely together through the years, respecting and depending on each other, despite the central imperative of their profession to trust no one. Of these five, it is George Smiley, perhaps the most brilliant and complicated of them all, who is tapped to dig out the mole and destroy him. And so Smiley embarks on his blind night walk, retracing path after path into his own past--its aliases, covers, sleights of hand--burrowing into the dust of unresolved episodes. John le Carre's 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--unprecedented worldwide acclaim.

約翰·勒卡雷，原名大衛·康威爾，1931年聲譽英國。18歲被英國軍方情報單位招募，擔任對東柏林的間諜工作；退役後在牛津大學攻讀現代語言，之後於伊頓公學教授法文與德文。1959年進入英國外交部，同時開始寫作。1963年以第三本著作《柏林間諜》一舉成名，知名小說傢格林盛贊：“這是我讀過的最好的間諜小說！”從此奠定文壇大師地位。

勒卡雷一生得奬無數，包括1965年美國推理作傢協會的愛倫坡奬，1964年的英國毛姆奬、James Tait Black紀念奬，1988年獲頒英國犯罪推理作傢協會（CWA）終身成就奬，即鑽石匕首奬（另外在1963年與1977年兩次獲頒匕首奬），以及意大利Malaparte Prize等等。2005年，CWA更是將其最高榮譽“金匕首奬中之奬”授予勒卡雷。至今已齣版20部作品，已有11部被改編為電影和電視劇。

勒卡雷以親身經曆，加上獨一無二的寫作天賦，細膩又深刻地描寫神秘而真實的間諜世界，塑造齣一個個有血有肉的人物。兩難的道德處境、曖昧的善惡定義，內容富含這裏，情節引人入勝，讀來欲罷不能，不愧為享譽全球的大師級作傢！