Spy chief George Smiley may intend to retire, but his active, intelligent mind is not so easily laid aside. So when British Secret Service asks him to go just one more round, his response is predictable—especially as it involves the brutal death of one of Smiley's loyal cohorts in the underground world of espionage. The man was killed just when he had information of utmost importance to pass on to his spy chief.

Smiley's opponent in this conclusive

The preceeding novel in the George Smiley series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ended with the devastating unmasking of a double agent at the heart of the British Secret Service. Now, in The Honourable Schoolboy, George Smiley-who has assumed the unenviable job of restoring the health and reputation of his demoralized organization-goes on the offensive. Salvaging what he can of the Service's ravaged network of spies, summoning back

January 1988. The Moscow-Paris express train rattles through the Russian night carrying Bernard Samson and his grievously sick companion, Jim Prettyman, home. But for Samson this is just the beginning of another long and dangerous journey. Anger and suspicion sparkle like snowflakes on the cold night air. Communists still rule Russia. Polish soldiers have taken control of the Warsaw palaces. The Eastern Bloc is crumbling like hard clay, and everyone's