# US-hostile nation authors writing Clancy-type thrillers

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-hostile-nation-authors-writing-clancy-type-thrillers/746000>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 13, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-hostile-nation-authors-writing-clancy-type-thrillers/746000 "2016-02-13T04:12:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-hostile-nation-authors-writing-clancy-type-thrillers/746000/1 "2016-02-13T04:12:16Z")

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One type of book I would be really curious to read would be a Tom Clancy-type military techno-thriller written by an author whose nationality is ‘hostile’ to the United States - i.e., a Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Libyan or other such author.

There are perhaps hundreds of military thriller novels written by American or Western authors depicting the United States fighting against the likes of Russia, China, Iran, etc. and I think it would be fascinating to see a novel from the opposite perspective - depicting Russian Akulas vs. American SSNs, or Chinese J-20s against American F-35s, etc. But such novels seem virtually non-existent. Are they just not translated, not easily available, etc… or is it simply that the military techno-thriller is indeed absolutely dominated by American/Western authors? You’d think that surely there would be a few authors in China or Russia who’d fancy this genre.

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-hostile-nation-authors-writing-clancy-type-thrillers/746000/2 "2016-02-13T04:51:25Z")

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In the realm of detective novels (with western authors).

North Korea

> **[James Church](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Church)**
>
> James Church is the pseudonym of an American author of six detective novels featuring a North Korean policeman, "Inspector O".
> Church is identified on the back cover of his novels as "a former Western intelligence officer with decades of experience in Asia". He grew up in the San Fernando Valley in the United States, and was over sixty years old in 2009. His name and identity are known in the community of North Korea watchers.
> His "Inspector O" novels have been well-received, being noted by A...

USSR

> **[Gorky Park (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorky_Park_(novel))**
>
> Gorky Park is a 1981 crime novel written by American author Martin Cruz Smith.
> Set in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Gorky Park is the first book in a series featuring the character Arkady Renko, a Moscow homicide investigator. Two subsequent books, Polar Star and Red Square, are also set during the Soviet era. Seven further books starring Renko take place after the fall of the Soviet Union. These are Havana Bay, set in communist Cuba; Wolves Eat Dogs, which follows Renko in the disaster...

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-hostile-nation-authors-writing-clancy-type-thrillers/746000/3 "2016-02-13T04:56:57Z")

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Here’s a real life memoir by Victor Cherkashin

[Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer - The True Story of the Man Who Recruited Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames](http://www.amazon.com/Spy-Handler-Officer-Recruited-Hanssen/dp/0465009697)