MI6 chief Richard Moore tweeted: “On #WorldBookDay, the first after John le Carre’s death, I thought a 24 hour poll to judge his best spy book might be a fun and fitting tribute to the great man.”
He then listed his four favourites:
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Smiley’s People
- Our Kind of Traitor.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was comfortably ahead around lunchtime on Thursday after 624 votes.
Decades ago, the existence of the Secret Intelligence Service was not even publicly acknowledged.
But gradually it has emerged from the shadows and Mr Moore, who as MI6 head is known as ‘C’, has taken this to a new level by going on Twitter.
Le Carre died in December after suffering from pneumonia.
Some of the author’s other best-selling novels include The Night Manager and The Little Drummer girl, both of which were made into TV adaptations.
Several of his books were made into films including The Tailor Of Panama, filmed in 2001 starring Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis; The Constant Gardener, filmed in 2005 starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, filmed in 2011 starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy.
