Philip pullman reckons a perfect spy is one of the finest novels of the twentieth century while philip roth said it was the best english novel since the war other philips also speak highly of it it begins with the arrival of a man in a sma. A perfect spy 1986 by british author john le carre is a novel about the mental and moral dissolution of a high level secret agent. The perfect spy is a masterpiece of its genre le carre is renowned for his skill and expertise in creating characters and scenarios in this spy thriller arena and the perfect spy is as near perfection as is likely to be achieved for this type of novel. A perfect spy is a magnificent novel whose most remarkable achievement is to immerse us at once in two parallel dramas each totally gripping the two together producing a force field in which suspense breeds suspense