Nick Harkaway steps into his father John le Carré's footsteps with spy thriller 'Karla's Choice'

LONDON (AP) — George Smiley, the subtle fictional spymaster navigating treacherous Cold War currents, is back.

And so, somewhat surprisingly, is his creator, John le Carré.

Four years after the spy writer’s death at the age of 89, comes a new thriller, “Karla’s Choice.” Billed as “a John le Carré novel,” it was written by Nick Harkaway, whose qualifications for the job include seven published novels, a lifetime of reading le Carré — and the fact he is the late author’s son.

After decades avoiding his famous father’s shadow, like Smiley trying to leave the intelligence agency known as the Circus, he was drawn back in.