The best John le Carré novels

Ted Scheinman is a doctoral candidate and freelance writer based in Chapel Hill.

He has read all 23 of John le Carré’s novels...and ranked them for Slate. Number 2 and #3 in Scheinman's reckoning:

The Honourable Schoolboy beats out Tinker, Tailor at No. 2 for the simple reason that it contains le Carré’s finest prose. The first chapter, in which the novelist sketches the Hong Kong press corps in the vivid curlicues of classic English burlesque, could practically be Dickens.

Read about the best of le Carré’s novels.

The Honourable Schoolboy appears among Joss Ackland's six favorite books and Jeffrey Archer's top ten romans-fleuves.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is on John Mullan's list of ten of the best pairs of glasses in literature and among Jon Stock's top ten John le Carré novels, Jeffrey Archer's top ten romans-fleuves, Robert Baer's five best books on being a spy and Stella Rimington's six favorite secret agent novels; Peter Millar includes it among John le Carré's best books.

--Marshal Zeringue