Book Shorts. Reviews in a Nutshell.
FEATURED REVIEW
Karla’s Choice.
By Nick Harkaway A John le Carré Novel.
Karla's Choice, a novel by Nick Harkaway features the John le Carré's British spy-master character, George Smiley. The story is set in the time period between two of le Carré's novels, "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" (1963) and "Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy" (1974). Nick Harkaway is the son of John le Carré who died in 2020.
Karla's Choice is a spy-thriller that captures, the intrigue, jargon and nuance of le Carré's meticulous writing style, while continuing the story of the Circus (as the British Secret Intelligence Service is known in Le Carré's books) with George Smiley pulled out of retirement for this purpose. The story centers around Susanna, a Hungarian woman that works for Ferencz Róka, a literary agent who in fact is a Soviet operative that has disappeared. Karla’s Choice has great characters, dialogue and suspense. It is detailed, sometimes slow and methodical, just like a good le Carré read.
Review by Barry Novick
January 12, 2025
So many books, so little time. Right, right - we’ve all heard it many times. Hummingbird's new BOOK SHORTS will present book reviews you can read in a minute and capture the essence of the story, thumbnail reviews that hopefully will entice you into your next read. I read constantly. My tastes vary, so I’ll review books that I love, not necessarily current books. Other HB contributors will review books that follow their interests, both newly published and past. All in all, we’ll review books we think are captivating, compelling, unputdownable. If you’re looking for a good book to take to the beach, make that long commute shorter, or curl up with, hopefully our reviews will help you find it. Lynda Bernard
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