Why am I passionate about this?

I write spy and crime fiction. I was born, raised, and educated in Glasgow, Scotland and read Theoretical Physics at Strathclyde University in the same city. I currently live in Bristol in the South West of England. I’ve loved British spy fiction ever since childhood and have taken a great interest in the now historic real-life Cold War, especially from a British point of view, as well as devouring spy fiction An Expendable Spy, published in 2013 was my debut novel. There will be a sequel sometime fairly soon, called 1989, which will take place ten years later in Berlin in the run-up to the fall of the Berlin Wall.


I wrote

An Expendable Spy

By Tom Greer,

Book cover of An Expendable Spy

What is my book about?

Jack Tate wants his old life back. Five years earlier he'd been shunted out of MI6 and into a British…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

Tom Greer Why did I love this book?

Le Carré’s name has become synonymous with the spy genre, and it was this book that propelled him to international stardom. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is the third of Le Carré’s spy novels and takes place against the backdrop of the Cold War, not long after the raising of the Berlin Wall.

Alec Leamas, an MI6 field operative in Berlin, is called back to London, apparently in disgrace, but actually to complete one final mission. Control (Head of MI6) asks him to go undercover one last time to convince the East Germans that he is a defector in order to set in place a plan aimed at bringing down one of the leaders of their secret security service.

Graham Green (himself, like myself, a sometime writer of spy fiction) considered The Spy Who Came in from the Cold to be the greatest spy novel ever written. Praise indeed!

This was the first Le Carré novel I ever read, and in my opinion, he’s never written anything better, and that’s really saying something. The quality of the writing is up there with that of any writer you care to name. This is the very antithesis of James Bond and has authenticity stamped on every page. The main character, Alec Leamas is just as well drawn as George Smiley, a bitter, disappointed failure of a man who is an unknowing pawn in the game between East and West. The writing is bleak and gritty, exactly like the events and time the book portrays.

By John le Carré,

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked The Spy Who Came in From the Cold as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the New York Times bestselling author of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Our Kind of Traitor; and The Night Manager, now a television series starring Tom Hiddleston.

The 50th-anniversary edition of the bestselling novel that launched John le Carre's career worldwide

In the shadow of the newly erected Berlin Wall, Alec Leamas watches as his last agent is shot dead by East German sentries. For Leamas, the head of Berlin Station, the Cold War is over. As he faces the prospect of retirement or worse-a desk job-Control offers him a unique opportunity for revenge. Assuming the guise of an embittered…


Book cover of The Ipcress File

Tom Greer Why did I love this book?

Published at the height of the Cold War, this classic cold war thriller firmly puts Len Deighton at the top of British Spy fiction writers along with the likes of John Le Carré. Deighton’s first novel revolves around a British working-class spy, called Harry Palmer - and made Michael Caine an international star.

The novel is narrated in the first person, revolves around an apparently straightforward mission to find a missing British biochemist before becoming a story about brainwashing and a mole at the heart of the British Secret Service.

For the quality of the writing, this is the very antithesis of the James Bond escapism, with a down at heel working-class spy as the main character and sparse, gritty writing to match.

By Len Deighton,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Ipcress File as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Len Deighton's classic first novel, whose
protagonist is a nameless spy - later christened Harry Palmer and made famous worldwide in the iconic 1960s film starring Michael Caine.

The Ipcress File was not only Len Deighton's first novel, it was his first bestseller and the book that broke the mould of thriller writing.

For the working class narrator, an apparently straightforward mission to find a missing biochemist becomes a journey to the heart of a dark and deadly conspiracy.

The film of The Ipcress File gave Michael Caine one of his first and still most celebrated starring roles, while the…


Book cover of The Innocent

Tom Greer Why did I love this book?

Set in Cold War Berlin, The Innocent is the story of a British post office engineer who becomes embroiled in a secret operation to help the Western Allies tap into Soviet phone lines.

In West Berlin Leonard Marnham, assigned to a British-American surveillance team, is the innocent of the book title, an ordinary man who uses this secret work he’s been given to escape the boredom of his everyday life. Operation Gold is a scheme created jointly by the CIA and MI6 and involves digging a tunnel from West to East Berlin so they can listen in to the KGB’s secret messages back to Moscow.

Leonard becomes a crucial part of the surveillance team, while at the same time finding romance with a young German woman called Maria. However, because of one particular incident one evening Leonard has to decide exactly how much innocence he's willing to give up for love.

McEwan is known more as a writer of literary fiction, and that is demonstrated perfectly in this excursion of his into the spy genre. The story is intricately plotted with layers of complexity normally missing from the run-of-the-mill spy novel.

By Ian McEwan,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Innocent as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The setting is Berlin. Into this divided city, wrenched between East and West, between past and present; comes twenty-five-year-old Leonard Marnham, assigned to a British-American surveillance team. Though only a pawn in an international plot that is never fully revealed to him, Leonard uses his secret work to escape the bonds of his ordinary life -- and to lose his unwanted innocence. The promise of his new life begins to be fulfilled as Leonard becomes a crucial part of the surveillance team, while simultaneously being initiated into a new world of love and sex by Maria, a beautiful young German…


Book cover of A Colder War

Tom Greer Why did I love this book?

Charles Cumming is often cited as a worthy successor to John le Carré, and anyone who enjoys the work of the Doyen of British spy fiction should enjoy this particular example of his work; my favourite book from Cumming.

Thomas Kell (like my agent Jack Tate in my novel) is a disgraced MI6 agent who longs to come back in from the cold from where he’s been banished. When MI6’s top spy in Turkey is killed in what looks like a car accident Kell grabs his chance for professional redemption when his masters at MI6 feel he might be the only agent who can be safely be trusted to investigate what actually happened…and why.

Many spy fiction writers have been cited as successors to John le Carré but Charles Cumming is about the only one I’d agree this might be true about. The quality of the writing is first class, but also the story here is very much a page-turner. This book was my introduction to the work of this writer and because of the quality of the writing in this book of his, I’ve gone on to discover and read his other novels.

By Charles Cumming,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Colder War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the Top 10 Sunday Times bestselling author and winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year. Perfect for fans of John le Carre, Charles Cumming is 'the master of the modern spy thriller' (Mail on Sunday)

Thomas Kell is a disgraced agent who longs to come in from the cold. When MI6's top spy in Turkey is killed in a mysterious plane crash, his chance arrives... for Kell is the only man Service Chief Amelia Levene can trust to investigate the accident.

In Istanbul, Kell soon discovers that there is a traitor inside…


Book cover of The Quiet American

Tom Greer Why did I love this book?

British journalist Thomas Fowler is living in Saigon and covering the conflict in Vietnam between the French colonial occupying power and the Viet Kong Communists. One day he meets Alden Pyle, an American intelligence operative attached to the American Embassy and the Quiet American of the story. While Fowler is a cynic, Pyle, who is new to Vietnam, is an idealist who wants to turn the country into an Asian version of American democracy.

Fowler acts as the story’s narrator, and the novel starts with Fowler discovering that the American has been murdered with the later chapters going back and forth examining the train of events that led to Pyle’s death.

Greene’s novel remains one of the true classics of the spy genre. Quality shows, and writers don’t come much better than Greene. The writing here is exquisite and all the normal Greene traits, Catholic guilt, layer upon layer of complexity, and an imperfect main character are included in the story, which places it well beyond the normal spy fiction potboiler and into the realms of literary fiction.

By Graham Greene,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked The Quiet American as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Graham Greene's classic exploration of love, innocence, and morality in Vietnam

"I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused," Graham Greene's narrator Fowler remarks of Alden Pyle, the eponymous "Quiet American" of what is perhaps the most controversial novel of his career. Pyle is the brash young idealist sent out by Washington on a mysterious mission to Saigon, where the French Army struggles against the Vietminh guerrillas.

As young Pyle's well-intentioned policies blunder into bloodshed, Fowler, a seasoned and cynical British reporter, finds it impossible to stand safely aside as an observer. But…


Explore my book 😀

An Expendable Spy

By Tom Greer,

Book cover of An Expendable Spy

What is my book about?

Jack Tate wants his old life back. Five years earlier he'd been shunted out of MI6 and into a British Intelligence backwater, where instead of running high-level East German agents he's reduced to snooping night after night on minor public officials.

But now he's been offered a way back into the Service. His superiors are willing to sanction his return to MI6 field operations on one condition; that he proves himself worthy by tracking down and eliminating the leadership of a Moscow-funded terrorist group and exposing the identity of their KGB handler. Undercover and working alone Tate knows he's vulnerable. And he's also beginning to realize that events and rivalries are conspiring against him and that time isn't on his side...

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Sor Juana, My Beloved

By MaryAnn Shank,

Book cover of Sor Juana, My Beloved

MaryAnn Shank Author Of Sor Juana, My Beloved

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I once saw a play at the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Theatre. A play about Sor Juana. It was a good play, but it felt like something was missing like jalapenos left out of enchiladas. The play kept nudging me to look further to find Sor Juana, and so for the next five years, I did so. I read and read more. I listened for her voice, and that is where I heard her life come alive. This isn’t the only possibility for Sor Juana’s life; it is just the one I heard.

MaryAnn's book list on the mystical Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

What is my book about?

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, this brilliant 17th century nun flew through Mexico City on the breeze of poetry and philosophy. She met with princes of the Church, and with the royalty of Spain and Mexico. Then she met a stunning, powerful woman with lavender eyes, la Vicereine Maria Louisa, and her life changed forever. As her fame grew, she dared to challenge the diabolical Archbishop once too often, and he threw her in front of the Inquisition, where she stood, alone.

Sor Juana's work is studied still today, and justifiably so. Scholars study her months on end; mystics…

Sor Juana, My Beloved

By MaryAnn Shank,

What is this book about?

This astonishingly brilliant 17th century poet and dramatist, this nun, flew through Mexico City on wings of inspiration. Having no dowry, she chose the life of a nun so that she might learn, so that she might write, so that she might meet the most fascinating people of the western world. She accomplished all of that, and more.

One day a woman with violet eyes, eyes the color of passion flowers, entered her life. It was the new Vicereine, Maria Luisa. As the two most powerful women in Mexico City, the bond between them crossed politics and wound them in…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the Cold War, love triangle, and romantic love?

The Cold War 256 books
Love Triangle 76 books
Romantic Love 939 books