Top ten John le Carré novels

John le Carré has published over twenty novels. In October 2008 on BBC Four he told Mark Lawson that his best novels were The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Tailor of Panama, and The Constant Gardener.

For the Telegraph, Jon Stock named his ten favorite le Carré novels, including:

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1963)

The plot of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is assembled with more precision than a Swiss watch. The heartless way in which Alec Leamas is manipulated; Control's ruthless playing of Mundt and Fiedler; and of course the dramatic ending on the Berlin Wall, immortalised in the film starring Richard Burton. My favourite le Carré, it gets better with each re-read.

Read about the other novels on Stock's list.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is among the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five top books on The Cold War, Charles Cumming's best books, and Keith Jeffery's five best books about Britain's Secret Service.

--Marshal Zeringue