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May 28, 2020 · Authors Daniel Silva, Jennie Fields and International Spy Museum’s Chris Costa on the covert-op plots they’ve found most riveting—and realistic.
- Pop The Question
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- A Spy For All Seasons by Dewey Clarridge
- Good Hunting by Jack Devine
- The Main Enemy by Milt Bearden and James Risen
- Rise and Kill First by Ronen Bergman
- Setting The East Ablaze by Peter Hopkirk
- License to Parent by Christina Hillsberg
- The Recruiter by Douglas London
- Ghost Wars by Steve Coll
- We Few: Us Special Forces in Vietnam by Nick Brokhausen
- Breaking Cover by Michele Assad
Another recommendation from Patteson, this time a memoir from ex-CIA Deputy Director Duane R. ‘Dewey’ Clarridge. A Spy for All Seasonsrecounts the clandestine activities he supervised. Clarridge is an interesting character - he helped found the CIA Counterterrorism Center, was indicted (and later pardoned) for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, a...
One of Patteson’s favorites, Good Hunting by CIA spymaster Jack Devine, is about the spymaster who ran Charlie Wilson's War in Afghanistan. It was the Cold War’s largest covert action and Devine put Stinger missile into the hands of the mujahideen during their war with the Soviets. Good Hunting is a sophisticated read about CIA ops.
The Main Enemyis the inside story of the CIA's final showdown with the KGB at the tail end of the Cold War. The book is based on hundreds of interviews with operatives from both sides, telling the story of spies who came of age in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis and Cold War starting with the ‘Year of the Spy’ when, one by one, the CIA’s age...
Ex-CIA officer Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, author of A State of Mind, recommendsRise and Kill Firstby Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman which reveals the secret history of Israel's targeted assassinations including a 2010 operation that saw Israeli agents converge in Dubai to target Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, an arms supplier for the Palestinian group Hamas. Rone...
John R. Seeger, ex-CIA division chief of operations, calls Setting the East Ablaze his favorite non-fiction book but he’s recommending all of Hopkirk’s work: “Every single book by Hopkirk starting with The Great Game should be on your bookshelf but this book focuses on the expansion of the Soviet Empire and the little know effort by the British Sec...
Our SPYSCAPE panel highly recommends Christina Hillsberg and License to Parent, which details how Christina and her husband - also a former CIA undercover officer - raise their children using spy techniques and training to ensure their resourcefulness. The book is full of safety and security advice and adults without children will be just as fascin...
Douglas London’s memoir The Recruiteris about a CIA spymaster who spent 34 years running foreign agents and trying not to get pulled down in the vicious undertow of shark-infested waters. London was threatened at gunpoint, chased through the streets, and lied his way out of danger for a living but his story is more George Smiley than James Bond.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steve Coll is an expert on the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of Osama bin Laden, and the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998. Ghost Wars is recommended by ex-CIA officer Doug Patteson.
Jeff Miller and his partner Nick Brokhausen have been featured on several True Spies podcasts and we also enjoyed their book Vagabonds: Tourists in the Heart of Darkness. If you are a fan of Brokhausen's We Few, you may also want to check out Whispers in the Tall Grass.
Michele Assad’s book is inspirational, uplifting, and authentic. "It is a real story about the world of espionage and gives a unique window into the men and women who risk it all for a higher purpose,” said counterterrorism specialist Joseph Assad. Breaking Coverdetails how CIA officers were able to use their skills not only for espionage and prote...
- Reedsy
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré. Buy on Amazon. Le Carré’s name has come to be synonymous with the spy genre, and it was this very book that propelled him to international acclaim.
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré. Buy on Amazon. Another well-known title from le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy continues in the same fictional realm set up in le Carré’s previous spy books.
- The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. Buy on Amazon. Jason Bourne is rescued by fishermen, the sole survivor of an attack at sea. When he comes to, he’s suffering from amnesia, unable to remember anything about himself or his past life outside of the intermittent flashback.
- Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett. Buy on Amazon. This award-winning classic (and Ken Follett’s first bestseller) follows a German spy, nicknamed ‘The Needle’ due to his signature use of a needle-pointed blade when killing his victims.
The well-crafted Liz Carlyle novels by Stella Rimington. At Risk (Liz Carlyle #1) – High stakes in an excellent espionage thriller. Secret Asset (Liz Carlyle #2) – An engrossing novel about British counter-espionage. Illegal Action (Liz Carlyle #3) – An engaging spy novel from former MI5 director Stella Rimington.
Oct 12, 2023 · These subgenres offer different takes on the world of espionage, ranging from realistic portrayals of the spy trade to more fantastical and exaggerated depictions. Some of the most popular subgenres of spy fiction include the spy thriller, the spy romance, the historical spy novel, and the spy comedy.
Dec 28, 2023 · The books I want to chat with you about today are what I consider the more realistic—yet still thrilling—spy novels. These aren’t big car chases or running across rooftops and firing AK-47s. These aren’t big car chases or running across rooftops and firing AK-47s.
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Jan 11, 2018 · License to Read: Realistic Spy Thrillers from a Former CIA Analyst. Former CIA analyst Karen Cleveland is the author of this month's debut thriller Need to Know about a female agent who finds herself at the center of a Russian sleeper cell. We asked Cleveland to tell us what books correctly portray life in the CIA.
