Spy Novels

[VittysCardigan]

Suggestions please. I've read & enjoyed some Le Carre, Tinker, Tailor is one of my all time favourite books. Currently working my way through Mick Herron Slow Horses series, which I love.

I read Witchfinder by Andrew Williams last year, it was decent.

Restless by William Boyd?

Hi Perm <whisper> I hated Restless

😅eine

Despite my stern relationship with Boyd books I think it's neither his best nor by a long way his worst....

The Jason Bourne novels

We too seem to be the Night Owl/Insomniacs of the 50 Book gang don't we? Come join us @VittysCardigan if you're a regular reader

I have read Restless, i think.
I do lurk on the 25/50 books threads. I read 102 last year.

Two suggestions:
The Len Deighton Game, Set and Match series plus it's sequels.
Also look for Anthony Price. He wrote a long series of out - of - fashion spy novels in the '70s and '80s centered around a good set of characters, and they're quite cheap as Kindle books on Amazon. I binge-read the whole lot over two or three months a couple of years ago. Very much of the psychological rather than action style.

I Am Pilgrim
Not a work.of art but definitely A page-turner.

I've read most of the ones mentioned here (working my way through the brilliant Herron series atm), but I don't much go for Len Deighton

When I was younger, my parents had a lot of CP Snow, which I think were 50s. I remember enjoying them, but haven't found them among mum's things ..... yet!

I bought my husband Kolymsky Heights by Lionel Davidson the other day because I kept seeing it recommended on best spy thriller lists, and he absolutely tore through it. I think he also enjoyed Judas 62 by Charles Cumming. He loves the Mick Herron books.

But I feel like no one will ever touch Le Carre. My favourite is split between Smiley's People and The Little Drummer Girl, and I can never decide which I love more.

@SisyphusDad yes yes to Deighton's trilogy of trilogy about Bernard Sampson. A Cold War classic.
Love Mick Herron. Love Charles Cumming.
Love Rory Clements's Tom Wilde series, which starts just before WW2 and is set around Cambridge. The new one has just been published.

Not novels but the Ben Macintyre spy books are very good.

I have to admit a fondness for the classics of the genre.

The earlier Le Carre's are the better books to me, the later ones are good - but not at the level of the Smiley era novels. My favourite is possibly A Call For The Dead which introduces both Smiley and Mendel.

Len Deighton is an excellent writer. I recently finished Horse Under Water, which sits between The IPCRESS File and Funeral in Berlin.

Frederick Forsyth is another great, even if you know the films the novels The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, and The Fourth Protocol are all worth reading as the films inevitably differ to a greater or lesser extent from the page.

Robert Ludlum's Bourne novels differ significantly from the films. So you'll still be turning the page eagerly, not quite sure what's coming next even if you've watched the films several times over.

I quite enjoyed the ones by Stella Rimmington, and I also enjoy Colin Forbes - the plots can be fairly similar between books but I think that's part of the comfort of reading them.

Thank you all for your suggestions

I liked the John Lawton “Joe Wilderness”series. And there is a new one out this year.

Game, Set & Match triology by Len Deighton..simply the best books I have ever read..it turns into a nine book series , 10 if you count a prequel 'Winter'.

I first read 'Berlin Game' 23 years ago, and could read it again tomorrow.It's dated now, but if you don't mind that it has brilliant characters and it instantly makes you want to live in Berlin.

Tom Clancy "The Hunt for Red October"
Gerald Seymour "Harry's Game"
Anything by Henry Porter, especially "Dying Light"