I've been reading another John Le Carré novel and it's helped confirm a thought I had earlier: he's a master of writing about bureaucracy. Yes, he write about spies, but as in the United States, Britain's spy agency is a massive government bureaucracy. And for all the intrigue, his stories often revolve around the politics within such bureaucratic organizations. They're stories that revolve around the petty squabbles, budgetary fights, the incompetence of upper management, and the careerism that so often trumps competence, and that sees pedigree repeatedly triumph over talent and hard work. And I think this is a big part of the appeal: the intrigue draws you in, but at the end of the day, he’s writing about our workplaces.

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