John le Carre

John le Carre is a famous British writer who has written many Spy Thrillers, he has written many novels which some have been made into films and television shows such as 'Tinker Tailor Solider Spy' (film and tv series) and 'The Spy who came in from the cold.'

 Here is some more information I found about John le Carre on Wikipedia
Films

• In 1965, Martin Ritt directed the first film adaptation of a John le Carré novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, with Richard Burton as protagonist Alec Leamas.
• In 1966, Sidney Lumet directed The Deadly Affair, an adaptation of Call for the Dead, with James Mason as Charles Dobbs (George Smiley in the novel).
• In 1969, Frank Pierson directed The Looking Glass War, with Anthony Hopkins as Avery, Christopher Jones as Leiser and Sir Ralph Richardson as LeClerc.
• In 1984, George Roy Hill directed The Little Drummer Girl, with Diane Keaton as Charlie.
• In 1990, Fred Schepisi directed The Russia House, with Sean Connery as Barley Blair.
• In 2001, John Boorman directed The Tailor of Panama, with Pierce Brosnan as Andy Osnard, a disgraced spy.
• In 2005, Fernando Meirelles directed The Constant Gardener, with Ralph Fiennes as Justin Quayle, set in the slums in Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. The poverty so affected the film crew that they established the Constant Gardener Trust to provide basic education to those areas. John le Carré is a patron of the charity.
• In 2011 Tomas Alfredson directed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, starring Gary Oldman as George Smiley. The film was released on the 5th September 2011 at the Venice Film Festival in the UK on 16 September 2011.

Television

• In 1979, the BBC adapted Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy to television, with Alec Guinness as George Smiley. Two years later, in 1981, he reprised the role in Smiley's People. The BBC did not adapt The Honourable Schoolboy, featuring Jerry Westerby (Joss Ackland in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), because production in East Asia would have cost too much.
• In 1987, Peter Smith directed the television adaptation of A Perfect Spy (BBC), with Peter Egan as Magnus Pym, and Ray McAnally as Rick.
• In 1991, Gavin Millar directed A Murder of Quality (Thames Television), with Denholm Elliott as George Smiley, and Joss Ackland as Terence Fielding.

Radio

• The 1994 BBC radio adaptation of The Russia House features Tom Baker as Barley Blair.
• The Complete Smiley is an eight radio-play series, based upon the novels featuring George Smiley, that commenced broadcast on 23 May 2009 on BBC Radio 4, beginning with Call for the Dead, with Simon Russell Beale as George Smiley, and concluding with The Secret Pilgrim, in June 2010 .^[28]

Writing Style
"the le Carré Cold War features unheroic political functionaries aware of the moral ambiguity of their work, and engaged in psychological more than physical drama"

John le Carre builds tension psychologically as he builds the story developing his plot creating complexity. As his story progresses the reader is collecting and building a case study; which gets the reader on and helps to identify with characters in the novel. Le Carre includes false heros like in 'Tinker Tailor Solider Spy' creating paranoia and espionage as no one can be trusted. There are political elements to most of his earlier/popular works, which involve democracy and how as humans we can be fallible. His novels contrast Ian Fleming's James Bond which is rather glamorous in comparison, it's not until his later works 'The Naive and Sentimental Love' that he became more mainstream.