The Pigeon Tunnel, by John Le Carré
I recently finished The Pigeon Tunnel, the ‘autobiography’ of David Cornwell, aka John Le Carré, the well known writer of espionage novels.
Espionage
The Last Supper, by Charles McCarry
Charles McCarry might be the true heir to John Le Carré. His spy novels have plenty of thrills, but focus on the human aspects of espionage, the betrayals, t...
Books about female spies
Inspired by my reading The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, the first espionage book I’ve read with a female protagonist, I did some research on books with female...
The Travelers, by Chris Pavone
For a long time, I’ve wondered about how to characterize the difference between a spy novel and and a spy thriller. After reading a review copy of Chris Pavo...
Our Man in Havana
After finishing Adam Sisman’s gripping biography of John Le Carre, as a seasoned reader of espionage fiction I realized I had a big gap — I’d not read Graham...
Scoundrel, by Bernard Cornwell
As part of my continuing experiment with Scribd’s ebook subscription service, I stumbled upon Scoundrel, by one of my favorite authors, Bernard Cornwell. I k...
Spies of the Balkans, by Alan Furst
Alan Furst is the master of the historical spy novel, particularly the era just before World War II erupts. In Spies of the Balkans, he takes on, well, the B...
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Tl/DR: If you liked Gorky Park or anything by Martin Cruz Smith, read Child 44.
The Ten Best Spy Novels you never heard of
You know the classics. A Perfect Spy, Tinker Tailor or The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John Le Carre. Alan Furst’s Eastern Europe. Graham Greene’s jaun...