The most recommended books about intelligence officers

Daniel Silva has written a long series about Israeli spy chief and art restorer Gabriel Allan. I enjoyed the series and there’s a subplot the author has long weaved together with Gabriel Allan and the Vatican. If you ever visit Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam, you might hear the church bells from the Catholic Church next to her house. It’s a stunning contrast. I like the powerplay between Gabriel and the Vatican portrayed in the story, and I gain a little history even though it’s a work of fiction.

Bill Donovan, recognized as a hero for rescuing his fellow soldiers at the front in World War I, was a rising star in the Republican Party, becoming assistant attorney general under Republican President Calvin Coolidge.

But in mid-1941, when many Republicans were condemning President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a warmonger, Donovan broke with them and supported FDR, urging him to create an intelligence agency to prepare the United States for a war against fascism.

In his insightful Wild Bill Donovan, Douglas Waller recounts Donovan’s bold decision to ally himself with FDR, rejecting partisan politics and instead prioritizing the defense of American democracy. FDR eventually named Donovan director of the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime spy agency that was a forerunner of today’s Central Intelligence Agency.

There were so many things that I loved about this book, starting with its riveting first scene. When I teach classes about great beginnings, I stress the need to hook a reader in the first three pages. Goyer and Yorkey did that and more. They kept me hooked until the surprising denouement. Make no mistake. I would not have wanted to live in Europe during World War II, but Goyer and Yorkey’s collaboration is filled with so many fascinating details of life during that tumultuous and dangerous time along with an introduction to the fine art of safe cracking that I couldn’t put it down. 

I am a great fan of Robert Harris. I have read nearly all his books, including his excellent Roman trilogy about poet and statesman, Cicero. I particularly like this book about the Dreyfus affair. There have been numerous versions of this story, both non-fiction and novels, but Harris tops them all imho. I am the author of a Holocaust themed love story called Starcrossed: A True Romeo and Juliet Story in Hitler's Paris, which required a huge amount of historical research to bring WW2 Paris to life, so I appreciate the way Harris has brilliantly researched this book, to make you feel you are there in France. Second, Dreyfus is a wonderful character, complex and intelligent. His antagonists from the army are suitably Machiavellian. He is fitted up, partly because he is Jewish. But in the end he is exonerated. I felt like cheering when the guilty verdict was overturned.… show more.

Catherine Ling, the main character, is a CIA operative. Her strength and smarts enabled her to survive the streets of Hong Kong as a child until she was brought into the CIA at age fourteen. On top of having a woman as the main character who is tough and skilled—which I love—Iris Johansen weaves an exciting story of how Catherine must rescue an imprisoned woman journalist in Tibet. Two strong and brave women, exotic locations, and suspense that won’t quit…do I need to say more?

The Hit is my favorite of David Baldacci's many novels. It's a page-turning, pulse-racing action thriller with one of the best plots I've ever read. I found Will Robie, the main character in the book, a riveting personality. He's a U.S. government agent and the man the government calls on to eliminate the worst of the worst. No one can match Robie's talents as a hitman. No one, except Jessica Reel. A fellow assassin, Reel is every bit as lethal as Robie. And now she's gone rogue, turning her gun sights on other members of their agency. I found the captivating characters, the plot line, and the relentless pace of this novel a great read. It kept me on the edge of my seat from the first page to the last.

Pam Jenoff’s historical fiction rocks, but Almost Home is my favorite of her books. Here’s a secret: it’s her favorite, too. With its interwoven past and present storylines and breathtaking suspense, I couldn’t put it down. As a graduate student ten years ago at Cambridge University, Jordan Weiss’s life was shattered when her boyfriend drowned. Now, a U.S. intelligence officer, she finally returns to England to help her terminally ill friend, Sarah, and to make sense of decade-old secrets. As soon as Jordan arrives, she discovers that no one and nothing are what they seem. But she doesn’t give up her investigation—even in the face of grave danger. A true badass! This book kept me up all night—exactly the kind of read I adore. 

My wife and I listened to this while on a road trip in Southern France and looked forward to every drive! 

We particularly enjoyed the backstories, which added depth rather than distraction. We loved relating to the personal struggles and moral dilemmas faced by the characters, often revolving around the main character’s dual life as a devoted family man and CIA assassin.

Setups and payoffs were very satisfactory, and the history and international geopolitics (to us) were convincingly researched. Without any suspension of disbelief encroaching, we were sucked in, and twists and turns kept us on the edge of our seats.

When we’d reach an Airbnb, no wonder we were tempted to keep listening rather than going out.

Harris is such a literary and historical giant that it’s easy to take him for granted. The tension in the recent film, Munich: The Edge of War, was palpable, but V2 is even more gripping, an eye-opening and rattling good yarn set over a period of just a few critical days at a time when the Nazis were increasing their deadly rocket attacks on England.

I especially enjoyed how artfully the two stories were woven together, as it portrays the crisis from two opposite standpoints: the male German engineer drawn into the nightmarish world of Hitler’s fanaticism, and that of the astute WAAF back in Blighty with an eye for detail and poor taste in men. Harris tells their separate stories with verve and compassion, as they both struggle with life and death decisions in the midst of drudgery and the fear of defeat. In particular, it highlights how ‘backroom’… show more.

Murder, gunrunning, drug-dealing, extortion, informers – it’s all there, but it pales in comparison to the tale of how Whitey Bulger, Boston’s pre-eminent Irish gangster, managed to turn an F.B.I. agent from his old neighborhood into a willing ally in the city’s mob wars.

To me, the most fascinating part was the bang-up job that the authors, two Boston Globe reporters, do in chronicling how the Massachusetts State Police were long frustrated in bringing the crime lord to justice because he was being protected from on high.

I loved this one, because I have a buddy who is a retired Massachusetts state cop, and we’d talk about Whitey Bulger on summer vacations, sitting on the beach.