I didn't like it because I felt you could take out Honourable Schoolboy and jump straight from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy to Smiley's People because nothing had been gained in the middle book. I never empathised with Jerry nearly as much as with Smiley or Connie (and I felt very sorry for Connie). I felt with the third book that it was time to conclude the Karla sequence and, in a sense, choose an ending for Smiley's marriage. Because the two were linked by Haydon's orders.