The preceding novel in the George Smiley series (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) ended with the devastating unmasking of a double agent at the heart of the British Secret Service. Now, in The Honourable Schoolboy, George Smiley, who has assumed the unenviable job of restoring the health and reputation of his demoralized organization, goes on the offensive. Salvaging what he can of the Service's ravaged network of spies, summoning back a few trustworthy old colleagues, working them, and himself, around the clock, he searches for a whisper, a hint, a clue that will lead him back to his opposite number: Karla, the Soviet officer in Moscow Center who masterminded the infamous treachery.