Best Spy Novel

James Ellroy's 1995 historical crime novel opens his Underworld USA Trilogy with a fictional account of covert power in America. Spanning 1958 to 1963, American Tabloid links organized crime with the FBI and CIA as its plot moves toward President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Three fictional prot...

An ordinary professional becomes entangled in espionage in Eric Ambler's Cause for Alarm, first published in 1938. Nicky Marlow, an unemployed British engineer, accepts a job in Fascist Italy shortly before the Second World War. What initially appears to be a practical solution to unemployment expos...

Occupied Vienna in 1947 forms the main setting of A German Requiem, Philip Kerr's 1991 historical crime novel. The third book featuring former Berlin detective Bernie Gunther follows a murder inquiry involving intelligence services and former Nazis. Competing Allied interests give the case a setting...

Philip Kerr's Field Grey, published in 2010, combines historical crime fiction with espionage through another episode in Bernie Gunther's life. Its story moves between periods rather than remaining within a single investigation. Events in Cuba, West Germany and France connect with his experiences in...

A Deniable Death is a 2011 espionage thriller novel written by British author Gerald Seymour. The narrative centers on a covert British and American intelligence operation aimed at assassinating an Iranian weapons scientist operating across the border in Iraq. The plot details the logistical challen...

Box 88 is a 2021 spy novel by Scottish author Charles Cumming that follows intelligence officer Lachlan Kite across multiple decades of covert operations.

David Ignatius draws on his background as a journalist in Agents of Innocence, a spy novel published in 1987. Set around intelligence work in Beirut, the story follows a fictional CIA case officer pursuing a high-ranking source within the Palestine Liberation Organization. Historical events and Midd...

Ben Macintyre’s *The Spy and the Traitor* details the remarkable story of Oleg Gordievsky, a Soviet intelligence officer who defected to Britain during the Cold War. The book meticulously reconstructs Gordievsky's life within the KGB, his calculated betrayal, and the perilous months he spent in hidi...

Eric Ambler’s *A Coffin for Dimitrios* is a classic spy novel set in 1930s Yugoslavia. The story follows an American diplomat entangled in a dangerous web of Balkan criminality and political espionage. Its notable realism and atmospheric depiction of the region, combined with a compelling narrative,...

"The Levanter" is a spy thriller novel written by British author Eric Ambler and published in 1972. The story centers on Michael Howell, a Levantine industrialist whose family business operates throughout the Middle East. Howell becomes inadvertently entangled in a plot by Palestinian militants who...

Prague Fatale is a 2011 historical detective novel by British author Philip Kerr, featuring his recurring protagonist Bernie Gunther. Set in 1941 during World War II, the story follows Gunther, a German detective, as he navigates the dangerous political landscape of Nazi-occupied Prague. The novel c...

Harry's Game is a British spy novel written by Gerald Seymour and published in 1975. The narrative centers on Harry Brown, a former military officer recruited to go undercover in Belfast during the Troubles to track down an active IRA assassin. The story provides a gritty and detailed examination of...

Ben MacIntyre’s *A Spy Among Friends* meticulously recounts the shocking story of Kim Philby, a British intelligence officer who secretly worked for the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The book explores Philby's decades-long deception within MI6 and its impact on the agency and individuals involve...

Charles McCarry’s *The Tears of Autumn* presents a chilling portrayal of Cold War intelligence work through the experiences of CIA operative John Clark. The novel gained significant attention for its detailed and unsettling speculation surrounding the Kennedy assassination, weaving it into a compell...

Dead Lions is Mick Herron’s gripping spy novel set within Britain’s intelligence services. The story follows a team of MI5 operatives, known as “slow horses,” who are relegated to Slough House after professional failures. They investigate the suspicious death of a former agent, revealing a hidden Co...

"A Divided Spy" is a 2016 spy novel by British author Charles Cumming and the third installment in the Thomas Kell series. The plot follows former MI6 officer Thomas Kell as he is drawn out of retirement to investigate a potential terrorist threat in Britain. His operation becomes complicated when h...

A Foreign Country is a spy novel written by Scottish author Charles Cumming, published in 2012. The narrative follows Thomas Kell, a disgraced former MI6 officer who is brought out of forced retirement to investigate the disappearance of the intelligence agency's incoming chief. The story incorporat...

Kingdom of Shadows is Alan Furst's 2000 historical spy novel set in 1938 Paris, following a Hungarian diplomat who is reluctantly drawn into European underground resistance networks before World War II.

"Prussian Blue" is a historical detective novel written by Philip Kerr and published in 2017. As the twelfth installment in the Bernie Gunther series, the narrative follows the titular German detective as he navigates the complex political landscape of Nazi Germany. The plot alternates between 1939,...

The Brotherhood of the Rose is a 1984 espionage thriller novel by American author David Morrell. The plot follows two orphaned boys who are raised and trained as elite assassins by a high-ranking intelligence officer. When they are betrayed by their surrogate father and the government they served, t...

A Colder War is a spy novel by British author Charles Cumming and the second book centered on former MI6 officer Thomas Kell. The story follows Kell as he investigates the death of a British intelligence chief and indications that Western operations in the Middle East have been compromised by a high...

The Light of Day is a 1962 novel by British thriller writer Eric Ambler, narrated by Arthur Abdel Simpson, a resourceful but unreliable petty criminal operating around Istanbul. Drawn into preparations for a major theft, Simpson describes the conspirators and their plan from an outsider's self-inter...

"Rain Fall" is an espionage thriller novel written by Barry Eisler and published in 2002. The book introduces the character of John Rain, a half-Japanese, half-American freelance assassin operating in Tokyo. As a former member of the United States Special Forces, Rain specializes in making his assas...

The Lady from Zagreb is a 2015 historical spy novel by British author Philip Kerr, featuring his recurring protagonist, German detective Bernie Gunther. Set during World War II, the narrative follows Gunther as he navigates the political machinations of the Third Reich, including interactions with J...

Leaving Berlin is a 2014 historical spy novel by Joseph Kanon set in post-World War II Berlin during the early Cold War era. The story follows Alex Meier, a German-born American writer who was blacklisted in Hollywood and agrees to return to the divided city on an intelligence mission. As tensions r...

"Slough House" is a spy novel published in 2021 by British author Mick Herron, serving as the eighth installment in his acclaimed "Slough House" series. The narrative follows a team of disgraced MI5 agents, referred to as "Slow Horses," who are exiled to an administrative purgatory under the crude l...

Rain Storm is a 2004 spy novel by Barry Eisler and the third installment in the John Rain series. The plot follows the half-Japanese, half-American assassin John Rain as he attempts to retire in Brazil but is drawn back into his profession for a mission targeting an Islamic militant in the Philippin...

"All the Old Knives" is a 2015 spy novel by American author Olen Steinhauer, set primarily within the CIA's Vienna station. The narrative alternates between timelines, reconstructing a failed hostage rescue operation through a present-day dinner between two former CIA colleagues, one of whom suspect...

Charlie M is Brian Freemantle's 1977 novel introducing Charlie Muffin, a scruffy, working-class British spy who consistently outsmarts the snobbish establishment figures within his own intelligence service.