Karla's Choice
Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway is one of 2026's most credible books, appearing on 1 of the year's most respected lists, including The Economist, for a Consensus Score of 15 out of 100.
Appears on these lists
Our take
AI-draftedHarkaway takes on his father's most durable creation by setting his novel in the gap between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor, and the choice to write around rather than into le Carré's established plots is smart, it sidesteps direct comparison while still delivering the Circus's characteristic paranoia and institutional rot. The prose lands close enough to the original register that the ventriloquism mostly disappears, though critics have noted Harkaway trades some of his father's gift for indirection for a faster pace and more legible plotting.
In the press
“There was a rumour that George Smiley might almost be happy.”
D D Guttenplan, Literary Review
How the Consensus Score is calculated
Our Consensus Score is our own transparent editorial metric — not a user rating. It weighs each list by the credibility of its source, how recent the listing is, and any award status. Here is the full breakdown.
| Source | Authority | Recency | Award | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Economist | 0.95 | 0.70 | 1.00× | 0.67 |
| Weighted sum → Score | 0.67 → 15 | |||
Similar consensus books
Because they appear on some of the same lists.
Frequently asked
What lists is Karla's Choice on?
Karla's Choice appears on 1 list in our 2026 corpus, including The Economist.
What is its Consensus Score?
Karla's Choice has a Consensus Score of 15 out of 100, our transparent editorial measure of how many credible lists agree on it.