Back in college in the late 80’s I read a lot of spy novels. The cold war was a great time for that genre. I worked at a library and read everything from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to Robert Ludlum to Tom Clancy and pretty much everything in between.
I have not read this genre is over 20 years. Are there any decent authors out there that write current spy novels?
Yes, Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series is superb. Highly recommend. They are not pulpy like Ludlum and Clancy, though, so if you’re looking for that specific kind of spy novel, they may not be exactly what you’re looking for.
I have not read any of his books but I have heard a lot of good things about Alan Furst and I’ve been meaning to check him out.
And while the OP asked for novels, I want to recommend the non-fiction work of Ben Macintyre. He’s written several very good history books on true events in the world of spying.
Thanks! I’ll put all of these on the list. Non-fiction is good with me too. I’m not always about escapism!
Going to make a library run on the way home from work.
I’m a big fan of Frederick Forsythe. My favorite Forsythe work is The Deceiver, actually a collection of short stories set in the 1980s, all tied together by a British spymaster who’s about to be made redundant. Simultaneously tragic and humorous, and always with a twist at the end.
Yes, Mick Herron’s Slough House stories are the absolute apex of modern spy fiction. They are beautifully written and , although Herron has been called John le Carré’s heir, they are often laugh out loud funny. Make sure to read them in order starting with Slow Horses.
My understanding is that the best place to start with Furst is Night Soldiers. It was his breakthrough novel and I believe he introduced characters in that book that appeared again in later works.
With Macintyre I’d recommend starting with Agent Zigzag is you want WWII or The Spy and the Traitor if you want Cold War.
Damascus Station and Agents of Innocence are both pretty good. On the serious end of the Spy genre.
I read some of the older Forsyth novels (Dogs of War and Day of the Jackal) back in the 80’s. Didn’t realize he had more recent ones.
Is Mick Herron as depressing as Le Carre? I find I have to be in a certain mood to read those. Although I will admit they are great when I do.
Agree to disagree. I feel Forsyth’s best book was his first one. The Day of the Jackal is a classic and that would be my recommendation. (Although I admit that’s stretching the definition of a “current” work.)
Slow Horses was adapted for a TV series, airing on Apple TV+ and starring Gary Oldman.
I love both The Day of the Jackal and The OdeSSa File, but they’re not really spy novels. The Deceiver has a veritable alphabet soup—MI6, CIA, BND, IRA, MfS, KGB, and DI.
A fair point.
Herron’s books are not depressing at all in that Weltschmerz way of Le Carré. There is humour, but serious things happen, and the plots can be intricate.
The Deceiver came out in September 1991, cashing in on Persian Gulf War I and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Forsyth has 18 fictional works listed on his Wikipedia page, the most recent being 2018’s The Fox. Most of these are, indeed, spy novels. I think I’;ve read all of them
I think his best were undoubtedly his initial three – Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, and The Dogs of War. You can argue that they technically aren’t “spy” novels, but they’re permeated with spies and spycraft, even if they don’t involve the CIA and KGB. In fact, one thing I like about TDotJ is that it gets away from that over-used milieu to remind us that there’s more to the world. And the OAS clearly had spies in place to see what the French government was doing.
More recently, they revived the James Bond series with a group of new writers. After Kingsley Amis wrote Colonel Sun they got John Gardner to do a series of Bond novels, then Raymond Benson to do another series. In 2009 they initiated a new series:
Devil May Care (2008)-- Sebastian Faulks – I liked it. It had the period feel of \Fleming’s books and had the grotesque villain with more grotesque henchman and a real Cold War problem at its heart.
Carte Blanche (2011) – Jeffrey Deaver – good novel by accomplished thriller writer. Updates Bond to the present day. But I probably won’t re-read it (I’ve re-read Devil may Care more than once)
Solo (2013) – Williasm Boyd – competent, but uninspiring. Puts Bond in Africa, something Fleming never did, and the movies only rarewly. Maybne that’s why it doesn’t work – wronh milieu
Trigger Mortis (2015) – Anthony Horowitz – Horiowitz is another thriller writer (and Sherlock Holmes/Moriarty writer). And he got some unpubl,ished Fleming material to work into his novel. Pretty good, and done as a period piece.
Forever and a Day (2018) – Horowitz again, and again he gets Fleming materialk to work in. Like Faulks’ book, we get the Fleming-style villain. This one is Bond at the beginning of his career. Not as good as the previous one.
With a Mind to Kill (2022) Horoiwitz’ last effort, set after Man with the Golden Gun. Not as good as the previous two, but worth reading.
Double or Nothing (2023) Kim Sherwood – just picked this up; don’t know anything about it.
Evidently there’s yet another new Bond story – On His Majesty’s Secret Service by Charlie Higson, the guy who wrote the “Young James Bond” series. Hadn’t even heard of this until I looked it up just now. Bond foils a plot against King Charles. Presumably a grown-up Bond.