The most recommended books about undercover operations

BOX 88 is a thoroughly modern-day spy story set in two timeframes. Lachlan (‘Lockie’) Kite, the protagonist, is poles apart from Lawton’s Joe Wilderness. An apparently chance meeting at the funeral of an old school friend leads him to be abducted. Flashback 30 years, and we see how he was recruited to a secret cell of intelligence operatives (Box 88) when barely out of his upper-class boarding school. He is trained and asked to undergo a mission while spending the summer at the house of a school friend in France. While there, he falls heavily in love, and somehow manages to carry out his mission—albeit with devastating consequences. This portrayal of an intelligent young man growing up feels real and is beautifully handled. The start of a great series.

This is an outstanding inside look that goes well, well beyond the typical “whistleblower”-type tomes.

Keith Banks was a copper for 20 years in one of Australia’s most corrupt police organisations – the Queensland Police Force. During the 1980s, he let his hair grow, then down, and went undercover as a drug cop. As Banks says: “Undercover was like guerrilla warfare; to understand your enemy, you had to walk amongst them, to become them.”

Some of the decisions he had to make about allowing drugs – including heroin – get onto the street, and into the arms of kids barely into their teens in order to track down the major suppliers, are heartbreaking. This has to be one of the best Australian true crime/memoirs in many decades.

This story about three restless college students at a liberal arts enclave in the southwestern desert who become embroiled in a protest to stop a pipeline reminded me of my days as a malcontent at the University of Colorado Boulder. When the FBI comes to town in pursuit of an alum wanted for “politically motivated crimes of property,” rumor has it that undercover agents are enrolled in classes, making the college dating scene that much stranger. The characters variously discover a passion for activism, the seduction of the unknown, and their own voices. This book is fun, interesting, and evocative. 

I’ll devour any novel by Grisham, and I love that he took a departure from his standard legal thrillers to pen a story about the theft of rare books and the man suspected of selling them on the black market.

The hook is Mercer Mann, the young novelist who’s not only suffering from writer’s block but she’s also just been canned from her job. How can Mercer possibly turn down the mysterious woman who offers her a hefty fee to work undercover and infiltrate Bruce Cable’s illegal operation? 

Grisham’s flawless storytelling had me looking at the world through Mercer Mann’s eyes and pondering what choice I would have made if I were in her shoes.

This book appealed to me on several different levels. First, I’m a sucker for a deep dark secret and the story begins with the indication that the character is hiding something huge. Secondly, it is a steamy romance with love scenes so hot the pages sizzle. Thirdly, the plot is so intricately woven that I couldn’t stop reading. The story takes the reader inside a religious cult and exposes practices that are shocking and frightening. I learned what makes people fall for the artful deception of the leader, and the dangers of escaping. I rooted for the characters all through the book, although at times, I wanted to shake both of them and get them to be honest with each other. If you love a sizzling romance with tons of suspenseful action, you’ll devour this well-written story! 

An American Spy shows us the people-side of the spy trade. A masterful Chinese agent has avenged his son’s death by massacring almost everyone in the secret black operations organization called the Department of Tourism (DOT). A CIA supersleuth and brains behind the DOT aims for revenge with the help of reluctant hero, Milo Weaver.

Aside from a beautifully complex story, I love Mr. Steinhauer’s spies. After marrying his daughter-in-law, the Chinese agent makes stunning observations about the intrigues of the communist intelligence apparatus. Poor Milo is constantly distracted by a physical injury and a crumbling home life. His agent friends use drugs to cope. Even the beautiful and highly effective Leticia Jones is more about dealing with stress than doing nasty things.

The story made my head spin, but isn’t spying like that?

The first in Knox’s Manchester-set Detective Aidan Waits series, Sirens sees disgraced cop Waits looking to redeem himself by rescuing the teenage daughter of a prominent politician. Waits finds himself forced into an undercover operation to infiltrate the shady world of Zain Carver, an enigmatic figure who lures young women into his world only for them to disappear. Dark, gritty, and gruesome, this is Northern Noir at its best.

In Black Harbor, Wisconsin’s most crime-ridden city, Morrissey has created a town that is a villain all on its own. A place no one wants to live. Hazel Greenlee has no choice.

An aspiring writer, Hazel is trapped in a less-than-perfect marriage and takes the only job she can find—as a police transcriber. But when her neighbor confesses to hiding the body of an overdose victim in a dumpster, Hazel sees the potential for a story that might help her break out of the frozen hell of Black Harbor.

Morrissey builds Hazel’s desperation, and the desperation of the town itself, with mounting tension so well drawn you can actually feel it in your bones and an ending so intense it leaves you breathless. 

These are a perfect series of stories for kids transitioning from picture to chapter books. The setting is ‘realistic’ (London and the US) and the characters involve Mac B (Kid Spy) and the Queen of England, among others. That doesn’t sound like a realistic premise but it absolutely works. The first-person narrator is the author reimagining his spy childhood in the 80s. ‘Before Mac Barnett was an author, he was a kid. And while he was a kid, he was a spy.’ The illustrations are perhaps more plentiful, which would make reading by themselves easier – although, again, I read these to my son. The writing is light, humorous with lots of historical referencing, particularly to the old USSR.

One of my all-time favorite books. I recommend the whole trilogy. This YA book focuses on a young girl named Janie who has grown up with the annoying (sometimes dangerous) power of constantly getting sucked into people’s dreams when they sleep near her. It’s dark and realistic. There’s a mystery and it turns into a Veronica Mars-esque detective story, especially as the books progress. The romance is also amazingly developed. Chef’s kiss.