Where A Looking-Glass War disappointed, A Small Town in Germany restored my interest in Le Carré.
The “small town” is Bonn, the sterile capital of West Germany in those rebuilding years. Chasing down a possible defector from the British Embassy in the midst of a resurgence of German nationalism awakens the ire and interest in the security officer charged with the task. We never meet the target of the chase, but his life and motives and the full explanation of what’s going on behind the scenes emerge. Not what I expected, and all the better for it.
I’m still going to take a break from post-war espionage, though.