A Perfect Spy

A Perfect Spy is a 1986 spy novel by British author John le Carré. Described by the author as his most autobiographical work, the story involves the unexpected disappearance of British spy Magnus Pym after his father’s funeral. While hiding from his superiors, Pym reflects on his father’s influence and his lifetime spent lying to the world. A Perfect Spy has been adapted for television and radio. The story explores themes common to the world of espionage, including changing identities and loyalties as well as hollow lives.

This guide uses an eBook version of the 2000 Penguin edition.

Content Warning: This guide discusses acts of violence, including death by suicide.

Plot Summary

A Perfect Spy is split into two non-linear timelines. In the present, Magnus Pym disappears after his father’s funeral. Pym is a high-ranking British intelligence officer stationed in Vienna with his wife Mary. Trained by a man named Jack Brotherhood, Pym now operates a large network of spies across Eastern Europe, particularly in Czechoslovakia. However, Pym returns to Britain because of his father’s death. After the funeral, he travels to a small town in Devon, where for many years he has rented a room from a woman named Miss Dubber. Operating under a false name, he tells Miss Dubber that he plans to work in his room. In between chats with Miss Dubber, Pym begins a long writing project. Rather than writing the novel that he has planned to write for many years, however, he writes lengthy letters to his son, his friend, and other people in his life. In these letters, he reflects on his life. They form the second timeline, in which Pym narrates his own past and reveals the lies he has been telling for years.

In Vienna, Jack notes that Pym has failed to return from Britain, and Mary sits home alone, thinking about her husband and wondering why he hasn’t returned. Her reflections are interrupted when Jack and his team arrive and search her house, asking her questions about Pym. Jack and Mary were once in a relationship, though she left Jack when she met Pym. Jack worries that Pym may have defected, but given the loyalty he feels to the man he trained, he’s desperate to be proved wrong. In the bedroom of Tom—Mary and Pym’s son, who is currently away at boarding school—Jack’s people find a hidden stash of equipment. They suspect that Pym has been sending important information to the Czechoslovakians. Jack leaves two agents named Fergus and Georgie to watch Mary while he continues his pursuit.

Pym begins writing his letters. Often, he refers to himself in the third person and directly addresses the intended recipients of the letters. His life story is also the story of his father, Rick. From a young age, Rick established himself as a charming con man. Rick’s misadventures introduce Pym to the world of duplicity and lying that becomes his future as a spy. Rick steals funds from a church charity and is sent away from his hometown. He has a child with Dot, Pym’s mother, but has many other women around him. One is a Jewish German woman named Lippsie who fled German because of the Nazi party’s rise to power. She develops a close bond with young Pym. Rick’s criminality means that his fortunes ebb and flow. When Pym is young, Rick is arrested and spends time in jail. Pym is sent to boarding school, and his mother is sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment of a mental health condition. Lippsie takes a job at the boarding school, but for reasons unknown to Pym, she kills herself by jumping from a high tower. Her death has a big impact on Pym. Rick is released from jail and occasionally visits Pym. He gives him presents, depending on his current success, and continues to run various schemes. He hopes that his son will become a lawyer.

In Vienna, Jack quizzes Mary about the Pym family’s recent trip to Greece, and Mary recalls their time there: Pym, Mary, and Tom travel through various parts of Greece, and Pym is attempting to write a novel. Tom notices that his father is being followed, and one day he sees a strange foreign man talking to Pym. When Tom returns to England to attend school, Mary and Pym stay on the Greek island of Corfu. She angers Pym by sneaking a look at his writing and learning that he hardly worked on his novel at all. According to Jack, Pym may have concocted the trip to Greece as a pretext for meeting the strange man. Previously, Pym was stationed in the US, but the Americans considered him untrustworthy, and Pym was sent to Vienna to rebuild his reputation. Jack himself suggested that Pym go on vacation to allow time for the Americans’ worries over Pym’s loyalty to cool.

Rick recruits his young son for a scheme involving a baroness and stolen art. Pym is sent to Bern, Switzerland, with the baroness, whereupon she leaves him and takes much of his money. Pym stays in Bern, where he learns German and works menial jobs. He meets a young student in his lodging house named Axel. Pym and Axel became close, and Axel reveals that he was previously a German soldier who snuck into Switzerland without any documentation. During this time, Pym meets Jack in Bern and is recruited as a potential future spy. Pym works for Jack, spying on local socialist organizations and reporting back. He mentions his friend Axel, and one day Axel is arrested by the police. Pym feels guilty and eventually returns to Britain, where he begins university studies in German literature. After a brief run-in with the law because of his father, Pym is conscripted into the military and is sent to Graz, Austria, as part of an Army intelligence unit.

In the modern day, Jack gathers information. He visits Tom, colleagues, and old school friends. Gradually, he pieces together Pym’s movements while trying to allay the fears of the Americans, who are increasingly convinced that Pym has turned to the other side. Meanwhile, Mary attempts to flee Vienna after being interrogated by Axel. She goes to Jack, and together they determine that Pym is in a small town in Devon. They go to him.

Pym continues to write his letters, describing his time in Graz: He reunites with Axel, and while meeting a potential defector, Axel reveals himself. Together, they concoct a scheme in which they pass each other information from east to west and vice versa. This arrangement leads to Pym’s recruitment into the Firm, the name given to the British intelligence services. Pym and Axel continue their arrangement for many years until, in Washington, they overstep their boundaries and are nearly caught. Now, in the aftermath of his father’s death, Pym can no longer continue living his double life. He refuses to return to Vienna and resolves to end his lies on his own terms.

In the boardinghouse, Pym finishes his writing and puts his landlady to bed. He then lies down in the bathtub and shoots himself in the head. Outside, Mary and Jack are with the police.