From the Publisher

By Robert L. Miller

Readers of book reviews (or at least the best-seller lists) know by now that the most popular novel of the moment is John le Carre's new -- and some say best -- spy thriller The Russia House, whose typically complex plot deals with the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race. A subject like that, of course, requires accuracy and special attention to detail. How does Le Carre get his information about so arcane a field? Readers of the author's acknowledgments in The Russia House know the answer: Le Carre relied on a first-class expert, Strobe Talbott, TIME's Washington bureau chief and himself the author of several books on the subject.

Writes Le Carre (ne David Cornwell): "I recall with particular gratitude the help of Strobe Talbott, the illustrious Washington journalist, Sovietologist and writer on nuclear defence. If there are errors in this book, they are surely not his, and there would have been many more without him."

Talbott is now one of what might be called Le Carre's People, an exclusive team of TIME correspondents the novelist has consulted through the years. Whenever he needs sophisticated guidance about the far-flung settings of his novels or the kind of characters who populate those worlds, Le Carre travels to the scene of intrigue, seeks out the best reporters he can find and interviews them thoroughly, taking voluminous longhand notes. "It has followed by chance that they are TIME people," he explains. "It's because TIME has the knack of hiring very good local people."

For example, when he needed insights on Hong Kong for his 1977 novel The Honourable Schoolboy, Le Carre devoted days to conversations with TIME Hong Kong correspondent Bing Wong. For The Little Drummer Girl (1983), set partially in the Middle East, Le Carre got useful background from Abu Said Abu Rish, a Palestinian journalist who at the time was office manager of TIME's Beirut bureau. Le Carre still treasures an unusual gift that Abu Said gave him -- a sword that once belonged to the Palestinian's father. "Have you ever tried to take a sword through security in the Middle East?" Le Carre asks with a chuckle. After much negotiation, the pilot agreed to carry the sword in the cockpit. It now rests in the novelist's workroom -- a reminder of affection from one of Le Carre's People.