Karla’s Choice

Taking up the mantle of the great John le Carré seems like an impossible task. The iconic espionage novel author’s style was unmistakable: seemingly simple sentences that were somehow stained with nicotine, le Carré’s gimlet-eyed cynicism seeping through on every page. Nick Harkaway, author of tech thrillers and essays on digital culture, might seem like a somewhat out-of-left-field choice. But Harkaway has another credential: He’s actually le Carré’s son. He might be the only writer in the world capable of not only continuing his father’s legacy, but taking it somewhere entirely new.