Reading List: Espionage, War, Adventure

Spy fiction, a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device, emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligence agencies. It was given new impetus by the development of fascism and communism in the lead-up to World War II, continued to develop during the Cold War, and received a fresh impetus from the emergence of rogue states, international criminal organizations, global terrorist networks, maritime piracy and technological sabotage and espionage as potent threats to Western societies. As a genre, spy fiction is thematically related to the novel of adventure, the thriller,and the politico-military thriller.

Campbell Armstrong
Jig


Tim Ayliffe
The Greater Good


Paul Beattie
The Murder of a Memory


Peter Benchley
Jaws


James R Benn
The Devouring (Billy Boyle World War II, #12)


David Blixt
Her Majesty's Will


John Buchan
The 39 Steps (Richard Hannay, #1)

The Three Hostages (Richard Hannay #4)
John MacNab (Sir Edward Leithen, #2)


Daniel Carney
The Wild Geese


Tom Clancy
Patriot Games (Jack Ryan, #2)
The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan, #3)


Alex Connor
The Rembrandt Secret
The Bosch Deception
The Caravaggio Conspiracy


Major Victor Cornwall
Scoundrels
Scoundrels: The Hunt for Hansclapp


John Creasy
A Kind of Prisoner (Department Z Series)


Clive Cussler
Raise the Titanic! (Dirk Pitt, #4)


Len Deighton
The Ipcress File (Secret File, #1)


Ian Fleming
Casino Royale (James Bond, #1)


Frederick Forsyth
The Odessa File
The Dogs of War
The Day of the Jackal


Alan Furst

Night Soldiers (Night Soldiers, #1)
Dark Star (Night Soldiers, #2)
The Polish Officer (Night Soldiers, #3)
The World at Night (Night Soldiers, #4)
Red Gold (Night Soldiers, #5)
Kingdom of Shadows (Night Soldiers, #6)
Blood of Victory (Night Soldiers, #7)
Dark Voyage (Night Soldiers, #8)
The Foreign Correspondent (Night Soldiers, #9)
The Spies of Warsaw (Night Soldiers, #10)
Spies of the Balkans (Night Soldiers, #11)
Mission to Paris (Night Soldiers, #12)
Midnight in Europe (Night Soldiers, #13)
A Hero in France (Night Soldiers, #14)
Under Occupation (Night Soldiers, #15)

Paul Galico
The Poseidon Adventure


Graham Greene
Our Man in Havana
The Third Man
The Power & the Glory


H. Rider Haggard
King Solomon's Mines (Allan Quatermain, #1)


Arthur Hailey
Airport


Adam Hamdy
Black 13 (Scott Pearce, #1)


Hart Hanson
The Driver


Mick Herron
Slow Horses (Slough House, #1)
Dead Lions (Slough House, #2)
The List (Slough House, #2.5)
Real Tigers (Slough House, #3)
Spook Street (Slough House, #4)
London Rules (Slough House, #5)
The Drop (Slough House, #5.5)
Joe Country (Slough House #6)
The Catch (Slough House #6.5)

Slough House (Slough House #7)


Jack Higgins
The Eagle Has Landed (Liam Devlin, #1)


James Hilton
Lost Horizon


Anthony Hope
The Prisoner of Zenda (The Ruritania Trilogy #2)


Donald Jack
Three Cheers for Me (The Bandy Papers, #1)


Capt. WE Johns

Biggles of the Special Air Police
Another Job For Biggles
Biggles Learns to Fly
Biggles Flies East
Biggles in the Orient
Biggles, Pioneer Air Fighter
Biggles Flies South
Biggles Defies the Swastika
Biggles in the Jungle

MM Kay
The Far Pavilions


Christopher J Koch
The Year of Living Dangerously


Pete Langman
Killing Beauties


John le Carre
Smiley's People
The Russia House
A Perfect Spy
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Honourable Schoolboy
The Looking Glass War


Ira Levin
The Boys from Brazil


Robert Lindsay
The Falcon and the Snowman


Jack Ludlow
The Burning Sky (Roads to War, #1)
A Broken Land (Roads to War, #2)
A Bitter Field (Roads to War, #3)

Alistair MacLean
Where Eagles Dare
Ice Station Zebra
The Guns of Navarone
Force 10 from Navarone
Kapitan Cook


Maxwell March (aka Margery Allingham)
The Man of Dangerous Secrets


John Martin
Major BS: A Top Secret Mission


Van R. Mayhall Jr
Judas the Apostle (Dr. Cloe Lejeune #1)
The Last Sicarius (Dr. Cloe Lejeune #2)


Caimh McDonnell
A Man With One of Those Faces (The Dublin Trilogy #1)


Eilidh McGinness
Josephine: Singer Soldier Dancer Spy


Madalyn Morgan
The 9:45 to Bletchley


Iris Murdoch
The Red and the Green


Yannick Murphy
Signed, Mata Hari


EM Nathanson
The Dirty Dozen


Liam O'Flaherty
The Informer


Michael Pearce
A Dead Man in Trieste (Seymour of Special Branch, #1)
A Dead Man in Istanbul (Seymour of Special Branch, #2)
A Dead Man in Athens (Seymour of Special Branch, #3)
A Dead Man in Tangier (Seymour of Special Branch, #4)
A Dead Man in Barcelona (Seymour of Special Branch, #5)
A Dead Man in Naples (Seymour of Special Branch, #6)
A Dead Man in Malta (Seymour of Special Branch, #7)

Don Pendleton
Death Squad (The Executioner, #2)


Laurence A. Rickels
Spectre


Bernard L Ross
Capricorn One


Donald Seaman
Chase Royal


Gerald Seymour
Harry's Game
Field of Blood


Martin Cruz Smith
Gorky Park (Arkady Renko, #1)


Richard Martin Stern
The Tower


Andrew Swanston
The King's Spy (Thomas Hill, #1)


Roderick Thorp
Nothing Lasts Forever (Die Hard, #1)


Leo Tolstoy
War & Peace


Trevanain (aka Dr. Rodney William Whitaker)
The Eiger Sanction (Jonathan Hemlock, #1)


Cameron West
The Medici Dagger


Michael White
The Medici Secret


Derek Wilson
The Dresden Text 


Suzanne M Wolfe
The Course of All Treasons: An Elizabethan Spy Mystery