The Taper Man

Name: The Taper Man
Price: 34.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780241795316

A Novel of John le Carré’s Circus

Nick Harkaway

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Viking
05 November 2026

Espionage & spy thriller

Nick Harkaway's bestselling take on George Smiley is back, and this time the iconic spy is on the trail of a traitor right at the top of American intelligence...

It is 1965, and the Cold War has never been colder. The Circus - the secret centre of British intelligence - has one prize asset left in Moscow- a senior Red Army officer with access to the enemy's deepest secrets. But when a British agent is shot in Helsinki, George Smiley uncovers a Soviet operation that imperils this irreplaceable source.

The trail leads Smiley not to Berlin or Vienna, but Los Angeles - the most foreign place he has ever known. There, in the murky heart of US intelligence, a Communist sleeper agent - a 'Taper Man' - is poised to expose Britain's operative in Moscow. To save him, Smiley must navigate an America riven with political tension, all while his spy in Leningrad, Roy Bland, risks everything in pursuit of a Russian defector who holds the final piece of the puzzle.

The Taper Man, the latest novel by Sunday Times bestselling author Nick Harkaway, is a gripping return to the shadow world of John le Carre. Elegant, tense and morally intricate, it is an extraordinary and timely continuation of one of literature's greatest espionage legacies - and a landmark work of modern spy fiction.

By: Nick Harkaway
Imprint: Viking
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 40mm
Weight: 700g
ISBN: 9780241795316
ISBN 10: 0241795311
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 05 November 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Nick Harkaway is the acclaimed author of Gnomon, The Gone-Away World, Angelmaker, Tigerman, Titanium Noir and Karla's Choice. He is the son of John le Carre, and has a unique insight into his father's work. The Guardian writes of Harkaway that 'his great gift as a novelist is to merge the pace, wit and clarity of the best \""popular\"" literature with the ambition, complexity and irony of the so-called \""literary novel\"" - a rare combination which le Carre himself also achieved.' He lives in London with his wife and two children.

Reviews for The Taper Man: A Novel of John le Carré’s Circus

Harkaway has done an extraordinarily good job with his father’s legacy * The Telegraph * Le Carre’s legacy is in good hands – Smiley is back with a vengeance! -- Ian Rankin Harkaway is a fine writer and he has resurrected his father’s books brilliantly * The I *