This guy's books are amazing. They're great thrillers and wonderful explorations of the human condition. It's almost as good as reading Graham Greene. Best Title of le Carre's has to be The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

Le Carre writes circles around soooo many other writers. His works are not only great thrillers-- but great novels about loneliness, about tired men with tattered ideals making one last attempt at doing good.

In my opinion, his best book is The Tailor of Panama.

He comes the closest of any living writer to understanding the human condition. How we are all flawed and wishing to do the right thing is often obscured by having to do other things. I have all his book, two of which are signed and I think A Perfect Spy is his most complete work. But I re-read them all.

I love Mystery books. Ones where they give you clues and some people it could be. They are so cool. I love reading the Authers books.

I thought John Le Carre passed away in 1998. I hope I was wrong! I love his style. Can you update on the author? Wade Powers

LeCarre is alive and well as of this post!

Here is some recent news from CNN:

Bestselling espionage-thriller writer John Le Carre has admitted he was a longtime agent of Britain's intelligence services, according to a report in the Times of London.

"I really believed at last that I had found a cause I could serve," Le Carre, 69, says in a TV documentary.

Le Carre, whose real name is David Cornwell, is the author of a series of bestsellers, including "The Russia House," "The Honourable Schoolboy," "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," and "Smiley's People." His latest work, just out in the United States, is "The Constant Gardener."

Single & Single was my first taste of a LeCarre novel. It was excellent. Although the blueprint of the 'mystery' was fairly simple, and I analyse this more than anything, the book just flowed for me because he captivates you with his characters...which is a nice thing for me to say because I usually couldn't care less about character development. In his case it doesn't appear as if he's doing character development just for the sake of doing it, which is all too often obvious in other mystery authors.

3.5 cyanide pills out of a potential 5!

Following the good experience with my first read of a LeCarre I proceeded to a second. I have to admit my great disappointment in The Little Drummer Girl. The beginning had plenty of promise but that was it but absolutely nothing of substance happened for the following 200 pages. It picked up a little after that but never approached the potential set up at the beginning. A 500, or so, paged book with a 100 page story. Too bad.

1 cyanide pill.

If anyone has any firm information on corruption in the Government service as set out in The Night Manager,I would like to receive it. Thanks