u/limestone-cowboy

Seemingly out of nowhere, Smiley takes himself off to a parking garage in leafy St John’s wood to interview a former “lamp lighter” of Eastern European extraction who, secretly, assisted Prideaux on his ill fate mission to Brno at the start of the book.

Max has also been fired from the service at this point, and is wary of talking about the incident, even to Smiley. He seems to be working as a general mechanic and/or parking assistant/supervisor.

Did Smiley deduce Max assisted based on guess work alone, or because of something he discovered in the files he was poring over in Paddington??

Max, of course, returns with a bigger role in Smiley’s people. I often forget his cameo in this book because the BBC TV adaptation leaves it out.