I’ve run out of books and am looking desperately for something to engage me. Also, non-fiction isn’t ruled out.
Stuff I’ve read and liked:
The two most obvious are:
[ul]
[li]John LeCarre (especially the earlier ones, like Tinker, Tailor… and The Honorable Schoolboy )[/li]
[li]Len Deighton (Game/Set/Match and Hook/Line/Sinker)[/li][/ul]
Pretty well-known:
[ul]
[li]Alan Furst (any of his WWII books, like The Polish Soldier and Kingdom of Shadows). This guy writes incredibly atmospheric stuff.[/li][/ul]
Something I read recently, a hidden gem (and may not be available in the states)
[ul]
[li]Charles Cumming: A Spy by Nature[/li][/ul]
So - that’s my taste. James Bond novels and anything by Ken Follett need not apply.
For comic relief, there’s the Evan Tanner series by Lawrence Block.
The Bond books by Ian Fleming are nothing at all like the movies, and infinitely superior to them. Likewise, the Matt Helm series, though I’ve only read a couple – theyre hard to find.
Oh yeah, the *Bernie Sampson[/] series by Len Deighton is terrific.
Any Frederick Forsyth book, and most Robert Ludlum books. They probably fall into the action thriller category too, but they do have lots of spy stuff! Excellent reading anyhow.
yojimboguy is right; the Bond books are far superior to the movies.
I’m positive I’m the only Helen MacInnes fan on earth.
Although most of her books have the same theme (unsuspecting young student/tourist accidentally drawn into intrigue) I like the breadth of her work. She wrote her first book in the late 1930s about a young Polish girl swept into the Polish Resistance during and after Hitler’s invasion of Poland. Her last book (she died some time ago) concerned a journalist drawn into some sort of Soviet propaganda and disinformation plot in the 1980s. I think her books are mostly now out of print and difficult to find, but I’m sure you can still find her stuff at used book stores.
Helen MacInnes’ first book was Above Suspicion, in which a couple about to go to the Continent on holiday in the late 1930s are asked to deliver a message to someone and become embroiled in a Nazi plot in the process.
The book concerning the invasion of Poland is called While Still We Live.
Nope! I really like Helen MacInnes, especially the older books from the 40’s and 50’s, as does my mother, who originally recommended the books to me, so that’s two more of us. Two of my favorites are Above Suspicion (1941) [which I see on preview that chique just mentioned] and Assignment in Brittany (1942).
I’m a huge fan of older espionage novels. My recommendation is Manning Coles (a pseudonym for two authors with those last names), who wrote a terrific series of books in the 40’s and 50’s set earlier (30’s and 40’s) about English spy Tommy Hambledon. The books are a little hard to find, but well worth the effort of tracking them down. My local public library consortium has a several of them, but mostly the later ones. If you manage to find the first two (Drink to Yesterday and A Toast to Tomorrow, both 1940), they’re best read back to back. They’re ripping good yarns with a nice dollop of humor. If you’re looking for gritty realism and a high body count, these are not the books for you.
Speaking of ripping good yarns, I’ll also put in a plug for Alistair MacLean’s older books, from the 50’s to about the mid-60’s, when they began for some reason to really suck wind. Two of my particular favorites are Night Without End and Ice Station Zebra (which shouldn’t be judged by the movie; the 10 minutes of it that I saw looked completely dorky, but the book rocks).
What sets Charlie apart is that he is an utter bastard. The endings to the first two books, Charlie Muffin and Clap Hands, Here Come Charlie, are quite shocking.
Not exactly spy, but definitely in the same spirit - I highly recommend Thomas Perry’s series about Jane Whitefield. His latest, Pursuit, is pretty good also, but the Jane Whitefield books are the best.
Not exactly spy, but definitely in the same spirit - I highly recommend Thomas Perry’s series about Jane Whitefield. His latest, Pursuit, is pretty good also, but the Jane Whitefield books are the best.
Eric Ambler was a phenomenal seller in his day, and some of his stuff was recently (may still be) in print in the UK. The Mask of Demetrios is a must-read.