The Best Spy Books

2023 was a fabulous year for spy thrillers, with some fans saying there hasn't been a year like it since the 1970s, says Shane Whaley, host of the Spybrary podcast. He picks out five of his favourites from the year, all works of fiction that nonetheless give a sense of what it's like to work as a spy.

From a noir novel by Eric Ambler set in 1930s Europe to some of the great spy thrillers of the post-World War II era, British novelist Patrick Worrall, author of The Exile, talks us through five of his favourite espionage novels.

The British public-school system, with its hidden homosexuality and feelings of loneliness, encouraged subterfuge and led to a generation of great spy writers and spies, suggests author and journalist Ben Macintyre. He picks the best books on spies.

Political assassinations are usually portrayed in the media as the actions of rogue states acting recklessly, outside the bounds of international law. But it is far more common than you might think, says Luca Trenta—international relations expert and the author of The President's Kill List. Here, he recommends five books on state-sponsored assassinations and explains how different countries have justified, denied or redefined the practice.

With the end of the Soviet Union, many thought the spy novel was dead. Within a decade, it was back, with old antagonists back in different guises and a new raft of international flashpoints to keep both fictional and real-life spies busy. Here, British spy novelist Charles Cumming, author of more than ten books, recommends five key post-Soviet spy thrillers and explains how the genre has evolved since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The author of the only authorized history of MI6, Keith Jeffery, tells us about the evolution of the secret intelligence services, their representation in fiction, and the man Fleming may have had in mind when he created James Bond

Author Jeremy Duns says Maksim Isaev was a kind of Soviet James Bond and when they rerun the old black and white TV shows the Russian crime rate drops because everyone is indoors watching them

Many of us live in democracies and believe in government transparency, but the truth is our leaders have considerable scope to engage in secret operations overseas. Rory Cormac talks us through five books on 'covert action,' and some of the countries that have embraced it as a policy tool.

Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond novels late in his life, before dying of a heart attack at the age of just 56. Charlie Higson, author of the Young Bond series and a novella, On His Majesty's Secret Service, introduces us to the man and his life and talks us through his five favourite Bond books.

From a biography of the Soviet Union's most successful spy to an isolated German general in Tanzania in World War I, from a brilliant novel of World War II to what it was like in Moscow during Stalin's show trials, British journalist Richard Beeston (1962-2013) recommends a range of books that resonated with him as he reported from troublespots around the globe.