Here are 95 books that A Gentleman's Game fans have personally recommended if you like
A Gentleman's Game.
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I’ve been fascinated by thrillers since I was first allowed to read them. My childhood bookcase was full of Hammond Innes, Alistair MacLean, and every Nevil Shute novel. Later, these were joined by many others, not least John Le Carré. Banking gave me an insight into the murky world of money, bringing with it real-life stories as compelling as those I love reading about. My obsession with the genre is not only with elegant, complex plots but also with what motivates the characters to take the extraordinary risks they do in such challenging environments. The five thrillers I’ve chosen are my absolute favorites. I hope you enjoy them.
I absolutely love the portrayal of a deeply flawed character thrown into the murky world of espionage. For me, Magnus Pym epitomizes the double standards of British and American society, desperate to protect themselves during the Cold War while revealing the inner conflict between self, family, and country.
I also love how the tension builds and builds as Pym, the double agent, rises through the Secret Service and risks everything.
"The best English novel since the war." -- Philip Roth
Over the course of his seemingly irreproachable life, Magnus Pym has been all things to all people: a devoted family man, a trusted colleague, a loyal friend-and the perfect spy. But in the wake of his estranged father's death, Magnus vanishes, and the British Secret Service is up in arms. Is it grief, or is the reason for his disappearance more sinister? And who is the mysterious man with the sad moustache who also seems to be looking for Magnus?
I became an author because I loved books and wanted to craft my own. Here are five books I consumed first as a reader and then as a writer, methodically noting what made these books brilliant in style, depth, and plot. If you enjoy thrillers or science fiction and are looking for books to hone your craft as a writer, here are my choices.
This book is the book that made me decide to become an author. I was always a voracious reader and crazy about all things technological—space exploration, airplanes, naval warfare, you name it. In my mind, there was no way anyone would want to read a book about my interests—until Tom Clancy showed it absolutely could be done and singlehandedly created a new genre of fiction with one book.
His research was so accurate that he was accused of spilling classified information about our submarine capabilities and tactics. But no, he was just an insurance agent from Owings, Maryland, who touched a 220-volt wire in my soul that made me decide, “Someday I’m going to do that, too!”
Tom Clancy's rich imagination and his remarkable grasp of the capabilities of advanced technology give this novel an amazing ring of authenticity. It is a thriller with a new twist, a "military procedural" with an ingenious, tightly woven plot that revolves around the defection of a Soviet nuclear submarine--the USSR's newest and most valuable ship, with its most trusted and skilled officer at the helm.
A deadly serious game of hide-and-seek is on. The entire Soviet Atlantic Fleet is ordered to hunt down the submarine and destroy her at all costs. The…
I have been passionate about the world of espionage ever since I saw James Bond for the first time on the silver screen. I read Ian Fleming’s books in those early Pan editions and entered the exotic world of devious enemies, exotic locations, fast cars, and women. After service in the Royal Marine Commandos, I began writing in 1984. To date, I have written sixteen books and over 200 articles. Eight of the books are espionage-themed. The rest are military history and historical novels.
The first section of this book feels so accurate in its depiction of the Smersh (death to spies) training camp that I hardly missed 007 at all, who appears on page 95 in part two of the book. I first came across James Bond when my sister, who was three years my senior, got me to see the 1963 film. I was twelve at the time. I wonder what today’s politically correct regime would have to say about that? My sister was probably underage as well but looked older, so she passed muster.
This book is my favorite of Fleming’s Bond books. I have read it many times, yet when I pick it up to start again, there is that air of excitement; I can almost smell the exotic location of Istanbul, Bond being pitched against a dangerous adversary, and, to top it all, the remarkable character, Colonel Rosa Klebb,…
JAMES BOND GOES HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH SMERSH IN A BID TO SECURE A KEY PIECE OF SOVIET INTELLIGENCE
SMERSH, the Russian intelligence unit whose acronym stands for “Death to Spies,” is hell-bent on destroying Special Agent James Bond.
His death would deal a catastrophic hammer blow to the heart of the British Secret Service.
The lure? A beautiful woman who needs 007’s help. Tatiana Romanova is a Russian spy who promises to hand over the prized Spektor decoding machine if Bond aids her defection. Bond suspects a trap but can’t resist the opportunity to give the British the upper hand in…
Green tracers in the sky over Baghdad. My first political memory is the start of the Gulf War in 1991. I remember writing angry essays criticizing the US decision to invade Iraq in 2003 for my high-school assignments. I have always been interested in US foreign policy and in how presidents make decisions. During my PhD, as I was working on a chapter on the origins of the Cuban Missile Crisis, I discovered the extent and–frankly–the madness of some of the plots the CIA and the White House concocted against Fidel Castro. More recently, the US government’s use of assassination and “targeted killings” have become the focus of my research.
As I researched the 1990s hunt for Osama Bin Laden for my book, I became aware that most of the team in the CIA virtual station tasked with tracking down the terrorist leader was composed of women. And yet, most histories of the CIA are histories of (white) men.
In this book, I could find a lot more detail on the women hunting Bin Laden, as well as on many others. Mundy provides a potted history of women in the CIA, from its origins to the present day. In the book, I admired Mundy’s ability to contact and fully connect with current and former CIA operatives. The stories are told in an almost unfiltered manner from the perspectives of those who lived through them.
In this manner, each aspect is made somewhat more real, from the fight for better roles, pay, and recognition to the central role in intelligence collection,…
A “rip-roaring” (Steve Coll), “staggeringly well-researched” (The New York Times) history of three generations at the CIA, “electric with revelations” (Booklist) about the women who fought to become operatives, transformed spycraft, and tracked down Osama bin Laden, from the bestselling author of Code Girls
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • A FOREIGN POLICY AND SMITHSONIAN BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
In development as a series from Lionsgate Television, executive produced by Scott Delman (Station Eleven)
Created in the aftermath of World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency relied on women even as it attempted to channel their…
I am the author of six espionage books, 5 featuring allied spy, Eva Molenaar operating at the highest levels of Hitler’s Reich. The 6thThe Road of a Thousand Tigers, is my homage to le Carre and Ian Fleming. I have loved the spy genre since I first read The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers and grew up seeing every Bond movie since The Man with the Golden Gun at the cinema.
This book certainly made me stop and think about how I write, and I have altered my style since. Set in modern-day London, the Slow Horses (failed MI6 operatives forced to work in Slough House) under the tutelage of Jackson Lamb eke out a futile existence. The heads of MI6 hope the demeaning work will make them walk away and leave the espionage world. Lamb is one of the great characterizations, a burnt-out spy who still has acres of tradecraft and protects his team against the outside forces at a political and international level. A string of random terrorist attacks around the UK seem to tie in with a show-boating politician riding the Brexit wave and the team goes rogue to find out the connection. A book as far away from Bond as possible but brilliantly written and plotted.
'The best thriller writer in Britain today' Sunday Express
At Regent's Park, the Intelligence Service HQ, new First Desk Claude Whelan is learning the job the hard way.
Tasked with protecting a beleaguered Prime Minister, he's facing attack from all directions: from the showboating MP who orchestrated the Brexit vote, and now has his sights set on Number Ten; from the showboat's wife, a tabloid columnist, who's crucifying Whelan in print; and especially from his own deputy, Lady Di Taverner, who's alert for Claude's every stumble. Meanwhile, the country's being rocked by…
I am a longtime Los Angeles trial lawyer, as well as a writer and librettist. I graduated with honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz and from the Santa Clara University School of Law where I was a member of the Law Review. Me and my wife, Susan, are the parents of six children and live in Santa Monica, California. My previous novel, The Logic Bomb, a legal thriller, was published in 2015.
It was hard to choose one among this prolific author’s many wonderful historical thrillers.
Triplemakes my list because of the intricate and enthralling plot about the race among Middle East enemies Israel and Egypt to develop nuclear weapons. It has compelling characters, a riveting love story, and takes place in part in the pivotal year of 1947.
It is 1968. Israeli Intelligence has learned that Egypt, with Soviet help, will develop atomic bombs within months -- an untimely end for the young nation unless a source of uranium for Israeli bombs can be found. Impossible, of course, unless someone as improbable as the plan can be found to steal it. Working alone, Israeli agent Nat Dickstein concocts an ingenious scenario for the biggest, and quietest, hijacking in history. Against him are the Russian KGB, Egyptian Intelligence and the Arab extremists Fedayeen. With him is a half-English, half-Arab young woman of uncertain allegiance, who discovers Dickstein's Achilles' heel.
I’m a reader and writer of thrillers, especially espionage, but I also love literary fiction, including contemporary writers like Kazuo Ishiguro, Mohsin Hamid, and Amor Towles. And I enjoy reading classic writers including Gogol, Dostoyevsky, and Kafka. So, when it comes to reading thrillers, I gravitate towards those that are very well written, with precise prose and evocative imagery. This is my crossover list of the best five spy thrillers for readers of literary fiction. If you’re a literary reader interested in dabbling in a bit of espionage, these five books would be a great place to start.
Silva’s novels about Gabriel Allon—a reluctant Israeli secret agent posing as an Italian art restorer—are my current favorite read and a serious contender for the best spy thrillers by a contemporary writer.
Each of the novels in the series works as a separate episode; in this case, Allon is lured into action to track down a Palestinian assassin.
But Allon is brought to life by recurring themes across the series, including the fact that his traumatized wife is permanently assigned to a psychiatric hospital by the car bomb that killed their son.
Silva’s meticulous writing and ingenious mixing of historical fact and fiction will appeal to literary readers.
Wily old Israeli intelligence chief recalls former agents in order to eliminate top Palestinian terrorist. One agent is now an art restorer, the other a fashion model. Ten years before on a mission to destroy the Arab Black September group they were briefly lovers. Now their pasts and their enemies come back to haunt them, as the terrorist murders ambassadors in Paris and Holland. Will the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks be his next target? And what motivates the terrorist? Is it politics, or is it possibly personal? Set mainly in London, but with forays into Paris, Amsterdam, the Middle East and…
In the early 70s I was a pop singer/recording artist in Paris with a dinner show at a restaurant/discotheque/bar called Jacky’s Far West Saloon. Located in the trendy Montparnasse area, it was popular with the US embassy personnel. As such, it was also a magnet for spooks looking to score contacts with the Americans. I witnessed a lot of intrigue there, some of it major, most of it minor, and developed a passion for international espionage. I also developed a passion for international finance and went on to author or co-author ten books and over a hundred journal articles on the subject.
The reason I recommend this book is because it is so different from most spy thrillers.
The hero, Kit Carradine, is not a spy. He is a writer living a boring life in London. His father was a spy, however. He gets recruited to do a small job for the Service. When he agrees, his life is changed. Kit is different from the Jack Reachers and Ryans.
He is a professionally naive, and often in over his head, which provides readers a fresh and accessible vantage to the typical genre tropes.
'Recommended. I read it one breathless sitting' Ian Rankin
A gripping new standalone spy thriller, recalling the classic film Casablanca, from the winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year and 'the master of the modern spy thriller' (Mail on Sunday).
A SIMPLE TASK Successful novelist Kit Carradine has grown restless. So when British Intelligence invites him to enter the secret world of espionage, he willingly takes a leap into the unknown.
A GLOBAL THREAT Kit finds himself in Morocco on the trail of Lara Bartok - a leading figure in Resurrection, a revolutionary…
All my books, for adults and kids, include the theme that things are seldom what they seem. I link this to the slow realization when I was young that my family had an uncommon history. Novels featuring spies go deep into this theme, as a good spy is always manipulating their environment and presenting versions of themselves that may or may not be true. When my own children were little, we read so many of these novels. That reading is what inspired the Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls series.
This is a work of historical fiction about World War II and I felt totally immersed in the moment.
13-year-old Bertie, his friends, and his rescue pup get busy learning ciphers and solving puzzles amid the falling bombs in order to find a missing woman. The author weaves in historical figures and events that add to the authentic feeling of this action-packed read. This is one of my favorites!
From the award-winning author of The Great Trouble comes a story of espionage, survival, and friendship during World War II
Bertie Bradshaw never set out to become a spy. He never imagined traipsing around war-torn London, solving ciphers, practicing surveillance, and searching for a traitor to the Allied forces. He certainly never expected that a strong-willed American girl named Eleanor would play Watson to his Holmes (or Holmes to his Watson, depending on who you ask).
But when a young woman goes missing, leaving behind a coded notebook, Bertie is determined to solve the mystery. With the help of Eleanor…
One fateful day in 4th grade, after finishing the Chronicles of Narnia, I picked up a YA spy novel off my teacher’s bookshelf. I never went back. I was immediately drawn to the depth of the characters, the nuance of how their public persona didn’t always match their internal thoughts, and their ability to succeed when no one thought they could. Eventually, what I read became what I wrote. Now, whenever I get overwhelmed, I love to turn to the genre that helped me through High School. Whether I reread old favorites, revisit my own stories, or find new friends, these characters remind me I can do anything.
If Alex Rider introduced me to YA spy novels, Cammie Morgan solidified my love of the genre. She was a character that reminded me of myself, and I desperately wanted to attend the Gallagher Academy so I could be her friend.
As the final book in the series,United We Spy handles something that terrifies Young Adults: entering Adulthood. Somehow, reading how Cammie was able to survive the transition from child to legal adult (while defeating a terrorist organization no less), it made me believe I could survive graduating High School and beginning College.
The sixth book in the Gallagher Girls series leads Cammie and her spy school friends to another wildly entertaining mission. With new assignments to tail and capture, the final book in the globally bestselling series results in an explosive finale!
