I'd like to try a spy novel...

[tiggy114]

I used to love spies as a kid but have never read a spy novel. I've been put off before because i don't like anything too political and hard going. Love excitment and fast paced novels though. Any suggestions? I don't know where to start.

I would recommend Jackdaws by Ken Follett, about a group of female spies who get parachuted into occupied France during World War 2.

Relentless by William Boyd is pretty good. Or A Perfect Spy by John le Carre.

Alistair mccleans are classics and a great place to start

They aren't novels but Ben McIntyre has written 3 fabulous books on what spies got up to in WWII - Agent ZigZag, Operation Mincemeat and Double Cross. Last night on BBC2 there was an hour's programme on Double Cross which my 7 year old has started watching - he is obsessed with spies and James Bond etc.

I think I quite enjoyed Sebastian Faulk's Charlotte Grey, but haven't read much else re spies.

Start with the master - John le Carre: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

I would avoid John le Carre if you want fast-paced. He is great, but a bit more complex and political (I loved The Constant Gardener).

I really liked 'Enigma' by Robert Harris (it's about spies at Bletchley Park trying to break the U-boat codes, mixed up with a murder mystery) and have heard that 'The Key to Rebecca' by Ken Follett is v good too.

Lots of ideas. Thanks guys. 'enigma' may be a good one as i am interested in the codebreaking stuff but gonna check outt all of em.

'The spy who came in from the cold' is the first le Carre one and is shorter, bleaker and even better than the others, I think.

Also Kafka, 'The Trial', not strictly spy-ish but some similar ideas of being trapped.

I also enjoyed 'The Gun Seller' by Hugh Laurie.

Hey fedup, just watched the doc on iplayer this aft. Was really good. Thanks for the tip off

Enigma is fab fab fab. I couldn't put it down. For me things have to be well-written as well as have a gripping plot and this scored on both

Jeremy Duns.
Olen Steinhauer (Milo Weaver series)

I used to read lots of spooks fiction but the trouble with a lot of spy classics is that they were set in the golden age of spying - the cold war. I find they date really badly.
I've recently read some by Stella Rimmington ( ex head of MI5) and they are quite good, not great literature but easy.

I quite like a bit of cold war nostalgia, or WW2 stuff, I'm not that keen on the contemporary post 9/11 stuff tbh.

Le Carre is great. I second The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, it's chilling (and short).

I read that first, years ago, and more recently read the Karla trilogy when Tinker Tailor came out but still prefer The Spy..

Le Carre. The best there is.

I've just finished Adrenaline by Jeff Abbott. Much more up to date than some on here, based in about 2011. Fast paced CIA type stuff. I enjoyed it, but it is definatily more action and less deep thought.

If you just want a deckchair read that's a bit of fun you could try "The Expats" by Chris Pavone.

it's a days read on holiday, has a female/mums twist to it, and I've never ever felt like visiting Luxembourg, but I might do now.

Anything by Edward Wilson, but read them in the right order. They work well as mainstream fiction, it's almost incidental that they're spy stories, but they work well as those too.

It's got to be Le Carre. The Karla books - masterpieces.

John Le Carre - the George Smiley books. I do agree with an above poster that they're not fast-paced (to begin with).

The Secret Agent - Conrad

Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File - Frederick Forsyth
The Ipcress File - Len Deighton

All the James Bond books - Ian Fleming.

anything by Alan Furst - brilliant

For a recent one try The Trinity Six.