100 Best Spy Books of All Time

We've ranked the best spy books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy book cover1

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

John le Carre

5.0
A modern classic in which John le Carré expertly creates a total vision of a secret world, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy begins George Smiley's chess match of wills and wits with Karla, his Soviet counterpart.

It is now beyond a doubt that a mole, implanted decades ago by Moscow Centre, has burrowed his way into the highest echelons of British Intelligence. His treachery has already blown some of i
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold book cover2

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

John le Carré

4.9
In this classic, John le Carre's third novel and the first to earn him international acclaim, he created a world unlike any previously experienced in suspense fiction. With unsurpassed knowledge culled from his years in British Intelligence, le Carre brings to light the shadowy dealings of international espionage in the tale of a British agent who longs to end his career but undertakes one final,
The Bourne Identity (Jason Bourne, #1) book cover3

The Bourne Identity (Jason Bourne, #1)

Robert Ludlum

4.6
Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

Who is Jason Bourne? Is he an assassin, a terrorist, a thief? Why has he got four million dollars in a Swiss bank account? Why has someone tried to murder him?...

Jason Bourne does not know the answer to any of these questions. Suffering from amnesia, he does not even know that he is Jason Bourne. What manner of man is he? What are his secrets? Who has
Casino Royale (James Bond, #1) book cover4

Casino Royale (James Bond, #1)

Ian Fleming

4.6
In the novel that introduced James Bond to the world, Ian Fleming’s agent 007 is dispatched to a French casino in Royale-les-Eaux. His mission? Bankrupt a ruthless Russian agent who’s been on a bad luck streak at the baccarat table.

One of SMERSH’s most deadly operatives, the man known only as “Le Chiffre,” has been a prime target of the British Secret Service for years. If Bond can wipe out his ba
5

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls, #1)

Ally Carter

4.6
Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school—that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses, but it's really a school for spies. Ev
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Gallagher Girls, #2) book cover6

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Gallagher Girls, #2)

Ally Carter

4.5
Cammie Morgan is back, and it's clear that her life hasn't calmed down since the events of I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You. At first, giddy anticipation is in the air. Gallagher Academy, Cammie's elite spy school, is hosting a visit from a covert training center for boys. Soon after the boys' arrival, though, everything goes dangerously awry when a series of security breache
Only the Good Spy Young (Gallagher Girls, #4) book cover7

Only the Good Spy Young (Gallagher Girls, #4)

Ally Carter

4.5
When Cammie Morgan enrolled at the Gallagher Academy, she knew she was preparing for the dangerous life of a spy. What she didn’t know was that the serious, real-life danger would start during her junior year of high school. But that’s exactly what happened two months ago when Cammie faced off against an ancient terrorist organization dead set on kidnapping her.

Now the danger follows her everywher
Eye of the Needle book cover8

Eye of the Needle

Ken Follett

4.5

One enemy spy knows the secret to the Allies' greatest deception, a brilliant aristocrat and ruthless assassin -- code name: "The Needle" -- who holds the key to ultimate Nazi victory.

Only one person stands in his way: a lonely Englishwoman on an isolated island, who is beginning to love the killer who has mysteriously entered her life.

All will come to a terrifying conclusion in Ken Follett's unsu

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Gallagher Girls, #3) book cover9

Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover (Gallagher Girls, #3)

Ally Carter

4.5
When Cammie "The Chameleon" Morgan visits her roommate Macey in Boston, she thinks she's in for an exciting end to her summer break. After all, she's there to watch Macey's father accept the nomination for vice president of the United States. But when you go to the world's best school (for spies), "exciting" and "deadly" are never far apart. Cammie and Macey soon find themselves trapped in a kidna
The Day of the Jackal book cover10

The Day of the Jackal

Frederick Forsyth

4.5
Librarian note: an alternate cover for this edition can be found here.

The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, gray eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the world's most heavily guarded man.

One man with a rifle who can change the course of history. One man whose mission is so secretive not even h
Out of Sight, Out of Time (Gallagher Girls, #5) book cover11

Out of Sight, Out of Time (Gallagher Girls, #5)

Ally Carter

4.5
*"This episode is nearly three hundred pages of perfection, and the only regret fans will have when they are done is being one step closer to the final installment of this outstanding series."-VOYA [starred review] With more than a million Gallagher Girls books sold, a legion of fans have fallen in love with the New York Times best-selling spy-girl series, and the fifth book delivers the most nerv
12

Stormbreaker (Alex Rider, #1)

Anthony Horowitz

4.5
They told him his uncle died in an accident. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, they said. But when fourteen-year-old Alex finds his uncle's windshield riddled with bullet holes, he knows it was no accident. What he doesn't know yet is that his uncle was killed while on a top-secret mission. But he is about to, and once he does, there is no turning back. Finding himself in the middle of terrorists, A
Smiley's People book cover13

Smiley's People

John le Carre

4.5
John le Carre's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge and have earned him -- and his hero, British Secret Service agent George Smiley -- unprecedented worldwide acclaim.Rounding off his astonishing vision of a clandestine world, master storyteller le Carre perfects his art in Smiley's People.In Lon
From Russia with Love (James Bond, #5) book cover14

From Russia with Love (James Bond, #5)

Ian Fleming

4.5
James Bond is marked for death by the Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH in Ian Fleming’s masterful spy thriller, and the novel that President John F. Kennedy named one of his favorite books of all time.

SMERSH stands for “Death to Spies” and there’s no secret agent they’d like to disgrace and destroy more than 007, James Bond. But ensnaring the British Secret Service’s most lethal operative
The Hunt for Red October (Movie Tie-In) book cover15

The Hunt for Red October (Movie Tie-In)

Tom Clancy

4.5
Don't Miss the Original Series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Starring John Krasinski!

The #1 New York Times bestseller that launched the phenomenal career of Tom Clancy--the gripping military thriller that introduced the world to his unforgettable hero, Jack Ryan.

Somewhere under the freezing Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision. The Red October is heading west. The Americans
United We Spy (Gallagher Girls, #6) book cover16

United We Spy (Gallagher Girls, #6)

Ally Carter

4.5
Cammie Morgan has lost her father and her memory, but in the heart-pounding conclusion to the best-selling Gallagher Girls series, she finds her greatest mission yet. Cammie and her friends finally know why the terrorist organization called the Circle of Cavan has been hunting her. Now the spy girls and Zach must track down the Circle’s elite members to stop them before they implement a master pla
The Honourable Schoolboy book cover17

The Honourable Schoolboy

John le Carre

4.4
John le Carré's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge and have earned him -- and his hero, British Secret Service agent George Smiley -- unprecedented worldwide acclaim.

In this classic masterwork, le Carré expands upon his extraordinary vision of a secret world as George Smiley goes on the attack.

I

Point Blank (Alex Rider, #2) book cover18

Point Blank (Alex Rider, #2)

Anthony Horowitz

4.4
MI6 assigns Alex Rider, 14, undercover at an elite prep school for teen rebels after two fathers are assassinated. Principal Dr Grief and vicious cigar-smoking Mrs Stellenbosch are the only teachers. All the students act studious, perfect - and identical. When Alex finds the plot, the villains find him, and the mountain peak has only a black ski run escape.
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War book cover19

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

Ben Macintyre

4.4
The celebrated author of A Spy Among Friends and Rogue Heroes returns with his greatest spy story yet, a thrilling Cold War-era tale of Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the collapse of the Soviet Union.

If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of
Skeleton Key (Alex Rider, #3) book cover20

Skeleton Key (Alex Rider, #3)

Anthony Horowitz

4.4
Alex Rider has been through a lot for his fourteen years. He's been shot at by international terrorists, chased down a mountainside on a makeshift snowboard, and has stood face-to-face with pure evil. Twice, young Alex has managed to save the world. And twice, he has almost been killed doing it. But now Alex faces something even more dangerous. The desperation of a man who has lost everything he c
Call for the Dead (George Smiley #1) book cover21

Call for the Dead (George Smiley #1)

John le Carre

4.4
John le Carré classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him -- and his hero, British Secret Service Agent George Smiley, who is introduced in this, his first novel -- unprecedented worldwide acclaim.

George Smiley had liked Samuel Fennan, and now Fennan was dead from an apparent suicide
Eagle Strike (Alex Rider, #4) book cover22

Eagle Strike (Alex Rider, #4)

Anthony Horowitz

4.3
Sir Damian Cray is a philanthropist, peace activist, and the world's most famous pop star. But still it's not enough. He needs more if he is to save the world. Trouble is, only Alex Rider recognizes that it's the world that needs saving from Sir Damian Cray. Underneath the luster of glamour and fame lies a twisted mind, ready to sacrifice the world for his beliefs. But in the past, Alex has always
Doctor No (James Bond, #6) book cover23

Doctor No (James Bond, #6)

Ian Fleming

4.3
The sixth James Bond thriller from Ian Fleming’s typewriter.

Dispatched by M to investigate the mysterious disappearance of MI6’s Jamaica station chief, Bond was expecting a holiday in the sun. But when he discovers a deadly centipede placed in his hotel room, the vacation is over.

On this island, all suspicious activity leads inexorably to Dr Julius No, a reclusive megalomaniac with steel pincers f
Scorpia (Alex Rider, #5) book cover24

Scorpia (Alex Rider, #5)

Anthony Horowitz

4.3
Alex Rider, teen spy, has always been told he is the spitting image of the father he never knew. But when Alex learns that his father may have been an assassin for the most lethal and powerful terrorist organization in the world, Scorpia, his world shatters. Now Scorpia wants Alex on their side, and Alex no longer has the strength to fight them. That is, until he learns of Scorpia’s latest plot: a
The Bourne Supremacy (Jason Bourne, #2) book cover25

The Bourne Supremacy (Jason Bourne, #2)

Robert Ludlum

4.3
A killer with no face, no identity and a name the world wanted to forget:

Jason Bourne


Reenter the shadowy world of Jason Bourne, an expert assassin still plagued by the splintered nightmares of his former life. This time the stakes are higher than ever. For someone else has taken on the Bourne identity—a ruthless killer who must be stopped or the world will pay a devastating price. To succeed, the
Red Sparrow (Red Sparrow Trilogy, #1) book cover26

Red Sparrow (Red Sparrow Trilogy, #1)

Jason Matthews

4.3
In the grand spy-tale tradition of John le Carré comes this shocking thriller written with insider detail known only to a veteran CIA officer.

In present-day Russia, ruled by blue-eyed, unblinking President Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Ordered against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress,
Moonraker (James Bond, #3) book cover27

Moonraker (James Bond, #3)

Ian Fleming

4.3
‘For several minutes he stood speechless, his eyes dazzled by the terrible beauty of the greatest weapon on earth’

He’s a self-made millionaire, head of the Moonraker rocket programme and loved by the press. So why is Sir Hugo Drax cheating at cards? Bond has just five days to uncover the sinister truth behind a national hero, in Ian Fleming’s third 007 adventure.
Ark Angel (Alex Rider, #6) book cover28

Ark Angel (Alex Rider, #6)

Anthony Horowitz

4.3
The sniper’s bullet nearly killed him. But Alex Rider managed to survive . . . just in time for more trouble to come his way. When kidnappers attempt to snatch a fellow patient from the exclusive hospital where Alex is recovering, he knows he has to stop him. But the boy he saves is no ordinary patient: He is the son of Nikolai Drevin, one of the richest men in the world. The eccentric billionaire
Patriot Games (Jack Ryan, #1) book cover29

Patriot Games (Jack Ryan, #1)

Tom Clancy

4.3
Tom Clancy's Patriot Games is filled with the exceptional realism and authenticity that distinguished the author's two previous bestsellers, Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising. Patriot Games puts us on the cutting edge of another type of war — the international battle of terrorism.
It is fall. Years before the defection of a Soviet submarine will send him hurtling into confrontation with t
Live and Let Die (James Bond, #2) book cover30

Live and Let Die (James Bond, #2)

Ian Fleming

4.3
"Her hair was black and fell to her shoulders. She had high cheekbones and a sensual mouth, and wore a dress of white silk. Her eyes were blue, alight and disdainful, but, as they gazed into his with a touch of humour, Bond realized that they contained a message. Solitaire watched his eyes on her and nonchalantly drew her forearms together so that the valley between her breasts deepened. The messa
Goldfinger (James Bond, #7) book cover31

Goldfinger (James Bond, #7)

Ian Fleming

4.3
Auric Goldfinger is the richest man in England—though his wealth can’t be found in banks. He’s been hoarding vast stockpiles of his namesake metal, and it’s attracted the suspicion of 007’s superiors at MI6. Sent to investigate, Bond uncovers an ingenious gold-smuggling scheme, as well as Goldfinger’s most daring caper yet: Operation Grand Slam, a gold heist so audacious it could bring down the wo
Snakehead (Alex Rider, #7) book cover32

Snakehead (Alex Rider, #7)

Anthony Horowitz

4.3
No sooner has Alex splashed down off the coast of Australia than he finds himself sucked into another adventure. This time he's working for ASIS - the Australian Secret Service - and his target is the criminal underworld of South-East Asia: the ruthless world of the Snakehead.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (James Bond, #11) book cover33

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (James Bond, #11)

Ian Fleming

4.3
A Lancia Spyder with its hood down tore past him, cut in cheekily across his bonnet and pulled away, the sexy boom of its twin exhausts echoing back at him. It was a girl driving, a girl with a shocking pink scarf tied round her hair. And if there was one thing that set James Bond really moving, it was being passed at speed by a pretty girl.

When Bond rescues a beautiful, reckless girl from self-de
American Assassin (Mitch Rapp, #1) book cover34

American Assassin (Mitch Rapp, #1)

Vince Flynn

4.3
Mitch Rapp is a gifted college athlete who just wants retribution for the Pan Am Lockerbie attack. He trains six months intensely with other clandestine operatives, under CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield and protégé Irene Kennedy, to stop terrorists before they reach America. The assassin leaves a trail of bodies from Istanbul across Europe to Beirut, where he needs every ounce of skill a
The Bourne Ultimatum (Jason Bourne, #3) book cover35

The Bourne Ultimatum (Jason Bourne, #3)

Robert Ludlum

4.3
The world's two deadliest spies in the ultimate showdown. At a small-town carnival two men, each mysteriously summoned by telegram, witness a bizarre killing. The telegrams are signed Jason Bourne. Only they know Bourne's true identity and understand the telegram is really a message from Bourne's mortal enemy, Carlos, known also as the Jackal, the world's deadliest and most elusive terrorist. And
Heist Society (Heist Society, #1) book cover36

Heist Society (Heist Society, #1)

Ally Carter

4.3
When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a norm
The Kill Artist (Gabriel Allon, #1) book cover37

The Kill Artist (Gabriel Allon, #1)

Daniel Silva

4.3
Gabriel Allon had a simple but brutal job: he tracked down and eliminated Israel's terrorist enemies. But when his wife and son fell victim to the danger that accompanied him everywhere, Gabriel quit and devoted himself to the work of art restoration, an occupation that had previously been a cover for his secret assignments. Now Ari Shamron, the head of Israeli intelligence, needs Gabriel's partic
38

Clear and Present Danger (Jack Ryan, #5)

Tom Clancy

4.3
Colombian drug lords, bored with Uncle Sam's hectoring, assassinate the head of the FBI. The message is clear: Bug off!
At what point do these druggies threaten national security? When can a nation act against its enemies? These are questions Jack Ryan must answer because someone has quietly stepped over the line.
Does anyone know who the real enemy is? How much action is too much? Which lines have
Diamonds Are Forever (James Bond, #4) book cover39

Diamonds Are Forever (James Bond, #4)

Ian Fleming

4.2
"Listen, Bond," said Tiffany Case. "It’d take more than Crabmeat Ravigotte to get me into bed with a man. In any event, since it’s your check, I’m going to have caviar, and what the English call 'cutlets,' and some pink champagne. I don’t often date a good-looking Englishman and the dinner’s going to live up to the occasion."

Meet Tiffany Case, a cold, gorgeous, devil-may-care blonde; the kind of g
Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8) book cover40

Crocodile Tears (Alex Rider, #8)

Anthony Horowitz

4.2
It's just another day in the life of an average kid. If you're Alex Rider, that is. A con artist has realized there is big money in charity: the bigger the disaster, the greater the money flow! So that is what he will produce: the biggest disaster known to man, all thanks to genetically modified corn that can release a virus so potent it can knock out an entire country in one windy day. But Alex R
Scorpia Rising (Alex Rider, #9) book cover41

Scorpia Rising (Alex Rider, #9)

Anthony Horowitz

4.2
Scorpia has dogged Alex Rider for most of his life. They killed his parents, they did their best to con Alex into turning traitor, and they just keep coming back with more power. Now the world's most dangerous terrorist organization is playing with fire in the world's most combustible land: the Middle East. No one knows Scorpia like Alex. And no one knows how best to get to Alex like Scorpia. Unti
The English Assassin book cover42

The English Assassin

Daniel Silva

4.2
Art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon is asked to visit Zurich, to clean the work of an Old Master for a millionaire banker. But when he gets there he finds the corpse of his client in a pool of blood beneath the masterpiece, and discovers that a secret collection of priceless paintings – stolen by Nazis in the war – is missing.

With the Swiss authorities trying to pin the murder on Allon and
I Am Pilgrim book cover43

I Am Pilgrim

Terry Hayes

4.2
A breakneck race against time...and an implacable enemy. An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid. A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square. A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard. Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan. A flawless plot
The Cardinal of the Kremlin (Jack Ryan, #4) book cover44

The Cardinal of the Kremlin (Jack Ryan, #4)

Tom Clancy

4.2
In a rolling sea off the coast of South America, a target disappears in a puff of green light. In the Soviet hills of Dushanbe near the Afghanistan border, an otherworldly array of pillars and domes rises into the night. To the two greatest nations on earth, no contest is more urgent than the race to build the first Star Wars missile defense system, and no one knows that more than the two men char
Thunderball (James Bond, #9) book cover45

Thunderball (James Bond, #9)

Ian Fleming

4.2
"The girl looked him up and down. He had dark, rather cruel good looks and very clear, blue-grey eyes. He was wearing a very dark-blue lightweight single-breasted suit over a cream silk shirt and a black knitted silk tie. Despite the heat, he looked cool and clean. 'And who might you be?' she asked sharply. 'My name's Bond, James Bond ...'"

When a stranger arrives in the Bahamas, the locals barely
The Alice Network book cover46

The Alice Network

Kate Quinn

4.2
An alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.

In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

1947. In the chaotic afterm

Our Man in Havana book cover47

Our Man in Havana

Graham Greene

4.2

Graham Greene's classic Cuban spy story, now with a new package and a new introduction

First published in 1959, Our Man in Havana is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a political satire that still resonates to this day. Conceived as one of Graham Greene's 'entertainments,' it tells of MI6's man in Havana, Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret age

Berlin Game (Bernard Samson, #1) book cover48

Berlin Game (Bernard Samson, #1)

Len Deighton

4.2
Long-awaited reissue of the first part of the classic spy trilogy, GAME, SET and MATCH, when the Berlin Wall divided not just a city but a world.


East is East and West is West - and they meet in Berlin…


He was the best source the Department ever had, but now he desperately wanted to come over the Wall. ‘Brahms Four’ was certain a high-ranking mole was set to betray him. There was only one Englishman
The Sum of All Fears (Jack Ryan, #6) book cover49

The Sum of All Fears (Jack Ryan, #6)

Tom Clancy

4.2
How do you save the United States President from himself? What if the President is incompetent to deal with the greatest crisis of all? Jack Ryan never thought he would have to ask those questions as, the world order changing, he prepares the ground for the Middle Eastern peace plan that, at last, might be the one to work.

But too many groups have invested too much blood. Shunned by their erstwhile

The Recruit (Cherub, #1) book cover50

The Recruit (Cherub, #1)

Robert Muchamore

4.2
CHERUB agents are highly trained, extremely talented--and all under the age of seventeen. For official purposes, these agents do not exist. They are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists, hack into crucial documents, and gather intel on global threats—all without gadgets or weapons. It is an exceptionally dangerous job, but these agents have one crucial advantage: adults never suspect that tee
Red Storm Rising book cover51

Red Storm Rising

Tom Clancy

4.2
"Allah!"

With that shrill cry, three Muslim terrorists blow up a key Soviet oil complex, creating a critical oil shortage that threatens the stability of the USSR.

To offer the effects of this disaster, members of the Politburo and the KGB devise a brilliant plan of diplomatic trickery - a sequence of events designed to pit the NATO allies against each other - a distraction calculated to enable the

For Your Eyes Only (James Bond, #8) book cover52

For Your Eyes Only (James Bond, #8)

Ian Fleming

4.2
"Bond watched her as she reached the edge of the tables and came up the aisle. It was hopeless. She was coming to meet someone—her lover. She was the sort of woman who always belongs to somebody else. What damnable luck!
Before Bond could pull himself together, the girl had come up to his table and sat down. ‘I’m sorry I’m late. We’ve got to get moving at once. You’re wanted at the office.’ She ad
The Russia House book cover53

The Russia House

John le Carre

4.2
John le Carre's bestselling classic is a timeless spy thriller about the Iron Curtain and the tense relationship between Great Britain and Russia.

John le Carré has earned worldwide acclaim with extraordinary spy novels, including The Russia House, an unequivocal classic. Navigating readers through the shadow worlds of international espionage with critical knowledge culled from his years in British
The Rembrandt Affair (Gabriel Allon, #10) book cover54

The Rembrandt Affair (Gabriel Allon, #10)

Daniel Silva

4.2
Two families, one terrible secret, and a painting to die for ...

Determined to sever his ties with the Office, Gabriel Allon has retreated to the windswept cliffs of Cornwall with his beautiful Venetian-born wife Chiara. But once again his seclusion is interrupted by a visitor from his tangled past: the endearingly eccentric London art dealer, Julian Isherwood. As usual, Isherwood has a problem
Without Remorse (John Clark, #1; Jack Ryan Universe Publication Order #6) book cover55

Without Remorse (John Clark, #1; Jack Ryan Universe Publication Order #6)

Tom Clancy

4.2
John Kelly, former Navy SEAL and Vietnam veteran, is still getting over the accidental death of his wife six months before, when he befriends a young woman with a decidedly checkered past. When that past reaches out for her in a particularly horrifying fashion, he vows revenge and, assembling all of his old skills, sets out to track down the men responsible, before it can happen again.

At the same

A Perfect Spy book cover56

A Perfect Spy

John le Carre

4.2
John le Carre's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him unprecedented worldwide acclaim.

Immersing readers in two parallel dramas -- one about the making of a spy, the other chronicling his seemingly imminent demise -- le Carre offers one of his richest and most morally resonant n
You Only Live Twice (James Bond, #12) book cover57

You Only Live Twice (James Bond, #12)

Ian Fleming

4.1
The tragic end to James Bond’s last mission—courtesy of Ernst Stavro Blofeld—has left 007 a broken man and of little use to the British Secret Service. At his wit’s end, M decides that the only way to snap his best agent out of his torpor is to send him on an impossible diplomatic mission to Japan. Bond’s contact there is the formidable Japanese spymaster Tiger Tanaka, who agrees to do business wi
Double Crossed: A Spies and Thieves Story (Gallagher Girls, #5.5; Heist Society, #2.5) book cover58

Double Crossed: A Spies and Thieves Story (Gallagher Girls, #5.5; Heist Society, #2.5)

Ally Carte

4.1
Macey McHenry—Glamorous society girl or spy-in-training?

W.W. Hale V—Heir to an American dynasty or master thief?

There are two sides to every coin. Whether these two can work together is a tossup.

Born into privilege, Macey and Hale are experts at mingling with the upper class. But even if they’ve never raised an eyebrow at the glitz, neither teenager has ever felt at home with the glamour.

When Mace
The Odessa File book cover59

The Odessa File

Frederick Forsyth

4.1
Can you forgive the past?

It's 1963 and a young German reporter has been assigned the suicide of a holocaust survivor. The news story seems straighforward, this is a tragic insight into one man's suffering. But a long hidden secret is discovered in the pages of the dead man's diary.

What follows is life-and-death hunt for a notorious former concentration camp-commander, a man responsible for the dea
The Thirty-Nine Steps (Richard Hannay, #1) book cover60

The Thirty-Nine Steps (Richard Hannay, #1)

John Buchan, John Keegan

4.1
A gripping tale of adventure that has enthralled readers since it was first published, John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps is edited with an introduction and notes by Sir John Keegan in Penguin Classics.

Adventurer Richard Hannay has just returned from South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his London life - until a spy is murdered in his flat, just days after having warned Hannay of an assassin
A Legacy of Spies book cover61

A Legacy of Spies

John le Carré

4.1
Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London. The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London, and involve
The Unlikely Spy book cover62

The Unlikely Spy

Daniel Silva

4.1
"In wartime," Winston Churchill wrote, "truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."

For Britain's counterintelligence operations, this meant finding the unlikeliest agent imaginable-a history professor named Alfred Vicary, handpicked by Churchill himself to expose a highly dangerous, but unknown, traitor.

The Nazis, however, have also chosen an unlikely agent: C
The Little Drummer Girl book cover63

The Little Drummer Girl

John le Carre

4.1
John le Carre's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him unprecedented worldwide acclaim.

In this thrilling and thought-provoking novel of Middle Eastern intrigue, Charlie, a brilliant and beautiful young English actress, is lured into "the theatre of the real" by an Israeli intell
A Death in Vienna (Gabriel Allon, #4) book cover64

A Death in Vienna (Gabriel Allon, #4)

Daniel Silva

4.1
Art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Vienna to discover the truth behind a bombing that gravely injured an old friend, but while there he encounters something that turns his world upside down. It is a face --- a face that feels hauntingly familiar, a face that chills him to the bone.

While desperately searching for answers, Allon will uncover a portrait of evil stretching across s
The Looking Glass War book cover65

The Looking Glass War

John le Carre

4.1
John le Carré's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him unprecedented worldwide acclaim. THE LOOKING GLASS WAR Once upon a time the distinction had been clear: the Circus handled all things political while the Department dealt with matters military. But over the years, power shif
A Gentleman in Moscow book cover66

A Gentleman in Moscow

Amor Towles

4.1
The mega-bestseller with more than 1.5 million readers that is soon to be a major television series

He can't leave his hotel. You won't want to.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility--a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal
The Defector (Gabriel Allon, #9) book cover67

The Defector (Gabriel Allon, #9)

Daniel Silva

4.1
Six months after the dramatic conclusion of Moscow Rules, Gabriel has returned to the tan hills of Umbria to resume his honeymoon with his new wife, Chiara, and restore a seventeenth-century altarpiece for the Vatican. But his idyllic world is once again thrown into turmoil with shocking news from London. The defector and former Russian intelligence officer Grigori Bulganov, who saved Gabriel’s li
Palace of Treason (Red Sparrow Trilogy, #2) book cover68

Palace of Treason (Red Sparrow Trilogy, #2)

Jason Matthews

4.1
From the bestselling, Edgar Award–winning author of the “terrifically good” (The New York Times) Red Sparrow, a compulsively readable new novel about star-crossed Russian agent Dominika Egorova and CIA's Nate Nash in a desperate race to the finish.
Captain Dominika Egorova of the Russian Intelligence Service (SVR) has returned from the West to Moscow. She despises the men she serves, the oligarch
The Night Manager book cover69

The Night Manager

John Le Carre John Le Carr?,John Le Carre

4.1
In the shadowy recesses of Whitehall and Washington an unholy alliance operates between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade. Jonathan Pine is ready to stand up and be counted in the fight against this ultimate heart of darkness. His mission takes him from the cliffs of west Cornwall, via northern Quebec and the Caribbean, to the jungles of post-Noriega Panama. His quarry is the wo
Moscow Rules (Gabriel Allon, #8) book cover70

Moscow Rules (Gabriel Allon, #8)

Daniel Silva

4.1
Now the death of a journalist leads Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn. He’s playing by Moscow rules now.

It is not the grim, gray Moscow of Soviet times but a new Moscow, awash in oil wealth and choked with bulletproof Bentleys. A Moscow where power resides once more behind the walls of the Kremlin and where critics of the ruling class are ru

Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society, #2) book cover71

Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society, #2)

Ally Carter

4.1
Katarina Bishop has worn a lot of labels in her short life. Friend. Niece. Daughter. Thief. But for the last two months she’s simply been known as the girl who ran the crew that robbed the greatest museum in the world. That’s why Kat isn’t surprised when she’s asked to steal the infamous Cleopatra Emerald so it can be returned to its rightful owners.

There are only three problems. First, the gem h
The Man With the Golden Gun (James Bond, #13) book cover72

The Man With the Golden Gun (James Bond, #13)

Ian Fleming

4.1
A brainwashed James Bond has tried—and failed—to assassinate M, his boss. Now Bond has to prove he is back on form and can be trusted again. All 007 has to do is kill one of the most deadly freelance hit men in the world: Paco “Pistols” Scaramanga, the Man with the Golden Gun. But despite his license to kill, 007 is no assassin, and on finding Scaramanga in the sultry heat of Jamaica, he decides t
The English Spy book cover73

The English Spy

Daniel Silva

4.1
#1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva delivers another stunning thriller in his latest action-packed tale of high stakes international intrigue featuring the inimitable Gabriel Allon.

First there was THE ENGLISH ASSASSIN.

Then there was THE ENGLISH GIRL.

Now comes THE ENGLISH SPY . . .

Master novelist Daniel Silva has thrilled readers with seventeen thoughtful and gripping spy novels featu
The Messenger (Gabriel Allon, #6) book cover74

The Messenger (Gabriel Allon, #6)

Daniel Silva

4.1
Gabriel Allon, art restorer and spy, has been widely acclaimed as one of the most fascinating characters in the genre and now he is about to face the greatest challenge of his life.
Allon is recovering from a grueling showdown with a Palestinian master terrorist, when a figure from his past arrives in Jerusalem. Monsignor Luigi Donati is the private secretary to His Holiness Pope Paul VII, and a ma
The Quiet American book cover75

The Quiet American

Graham Greene, Robert Stone

4.1
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
Harriet the Spy (Harriet the Spy #1) book cover76

Harriet the Spy (Harriet the Spy #1)

Louise Fitzhugh

4.1
Harriet the Spy has a secret notebook that she fills with utterly honest jottings about her parents, her classmates, and her neighbors. Every day on her spy route she "observes" and notes down anything of interest to her:

I BET THAT LADY WITH THE CROSS-EYE LOOKS IN THE MIRROR AND JUST FEELS TERRIBLE.

PINKY WHITEHEAD WILL NEVER CHANGE. DOES HIS MOTHER HATE HIM? IF I HAD HIM I'D HATE HIM.

IF MARION HAW
The Confessor (Gabriel Allon, #3) book cover77

The Confessor (Gabriel Allon, #3)

Daniel Silva

4.1
Dark secrets are revealed in Vatican City in this Gabriel Allon thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva.

In Munich, a Jewish scholar is assassinated. In Venice, Mossad agent and art restorer Gabriel Allon receives the news, puts down his brushes, and leaves immediately. And at the Vatican, the new pope vows to uncover the truth about the church's response to the Holocaust-wh
The Secret Servant (Gabriel Allon, #7) book cover78

The Secret Servant (Gabriel Allon, #7)

Daniel Silva

4.1
A terrorist plot in London leads Israeli spy Gabriel Allon on a desperate search for a kidnapped woman, in a race against time that will compromise Allon’s own conscience—and life...

When last we encountered Gabriel Allon, the master art restorer and sometime officer of Israeli intelligence, he had just prevailed in his blood-soaked duel with Saudi terrorist financier Zizi al-Bakari. Now Gabriel is
Also Known As (Also Known As, #1) book cover79

Also Known As (Also Known As, #1)

Robin Benway

4.1
Which is more dangerous: being an international spy... or surviving high school?

Maggie Silver has never minded her unusual life. Cracking safes for the world's premier spy organization and traveling the world with her insanely cool parents definitely beat high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. (If it's three digits, why bother locking i
Code Name Verity book cover80

Code Name Verity

Elizabeth Wein

4.1
Oct. 11th, 1943 - A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.

When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she's living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators g
Transfer of Power (Mitch Rapp, #3) book cover81

Transfer of Power (Mitch Rapp, #3)

Vince Flynn

4.1
On a busy Washington morning, amid the shuffle of tourists and the brisk rush of government officials, the stately calm of the White House is shattered in a hail of gunfire. A group of terrorists has descended on the Executive Mansion, and gained access by means of a violent massacre that has left dozens of innocent bystanders murdered. Through the quick actions of the Secret Service, the presiden
The Tourist (Milo Weaver #1) book cover82

The Tourist (Milo Weaver #1)

Olen Steinhauer

4.1
Milo Weaver has tried to leave his old life of secrets and lies behind by giving up his job as a “tourist” for the CIA—an undercover agent with no home, no identity.

Now he’s working a desk at the agency’s New York headquarters. But when the arrest of a long-sought-after assassin sets off an investigation into a colleague, exposing new layers of intrigue in his old cases, he has no choice but to go

Prince of Fire (Gabriel Allon, #5) book cover83

Prince of Fire (Gabriel Allon, #5)

Daniel Silva

4.0
Few recent thriller writers have excited the kind of critical praise that Daniel Silva has, with his novels featuring art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon.

Now Allon is back in Venice, when a terrible explosion in Rome leads to a disturbing personal revelation: the existence of a dossier in the hands of terrorists that strips away his secrets, lays bare his history. Hastily recalled home to
Portrait of a Spy (Gabriel Allon, #11) book cover84

Portrait of a Spy (Gabriel Allon, #11)

Daniel Silva

4.0
Haunted by his failure to stop a suicide bomber in London, Gabriel Allon is summoned to Washington and drawn into a confrontation with the new face of global terror. At the center of the threat is an American-born cleric in Yemen who was once a paid CIA asset.

Gabriel and his team devise a daring plan to destroy the network of death - from the inside - a gambit fraught with risk, both personal and
A Murder of Quality (George Smiley #2) book cover85

A Murder of Quality (George Smiley #2)

John le Carre

4.0
John le Carré's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him -- and his hero, British secret Service Agent George Smiley -- unprecedented worldwide acclaim.

George Smiley was simply doing a favor for Miss Ailsa Brimley, and old friend and editor of a small newspaper. Miss Brimley had
86

The Constant Gardener

John le Carre

4.0
Now a major motion picture from Fernando Meirelles, the Academy Award-nominated director of City of God

The Constant Gardener is a magnificent exploration of the new world order by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our time. The novel opens in northern Kenya with the gruesome murder of Tessa Quayle--young, beautiful, and dearly beloved to husband Justin. When Justin sets out on
Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society, #3) book cover87

Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society, #3)

Ally Carter

4.0
Katarina Bishop and W.W. Hale the fifth were born to lead completely different lives: Kat comes from a long, proud line of loveable criminal masterminds, while Hale is the son of one of the most seemingly perfect dynasties in the world. If their families have one thing in common, it's that they both know how to stay under the radar while getting-or stealing-whatever they want. No matter the risk,
The Black Widow (Gabriel Allon, #16) book cover88

The Black Widow (Gabriel Allon, #16)

Daniel Silva

4.0
A network of terror.
A web of deceit.
A deadly game of vengeance.

Legendary spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon is poised to become the chief of Israel’s secret intelligence service. But on the eve of his promotion, events conspire to lure him into the field for one final operation. ISIS has detonated a massive bomb in the Marais district of Paris, and a desperate French government wants Gabriel to el
The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal book cover89

The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal

David E. Hoffman

4.0
From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning history The Dead Hand comes the riveting story of a spy who cracked open the Soviet military research establishment and a penetrating portrait of the CIA’s Moscow station, an outpost of daring espionage in the last years of the Cold War

While driving out of the American embassy in Moscow on the evening of February 16, 1978, the chief of the CIA’s Mosco
The English Girl (Gabriel Allon, #13) book cover90

The English Girl (Gabriel Allon, #13)

Daniel Silva

4.0
Seven days
One girl
No second chances

Madeline Hart is a rising star in Britain’s governing party: beautiful, intelligent, driven by an impoverished childhood to succeed. But she is also a woman with a dark secret: she is the lover of Prime Minister Jonathan Lancaster. Somehow, her kidnappers have learned of the affair, and they intend to make the British leader pay dearly for his sins. Fearful of a
The Secret Pilgrim book cover91

The Secret Pilgrim

John Le Carre

4.0
Nothing is as it was. Old enemies embrace. The dark staging grounds of the Cold War--whose shadows barely obscure the endless games of espionage--are flooded with light. The rules are rewritten, the stakes changed and the future unfathomable.
Ned has worked for the British Intelligence all of his life--a loyal, shrewd officer of the Cold War. Now approaching the end of his career, he revisits his
Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, #1) book cover92

Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, #1)

Gail Carriger

4.0
It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desp
The Faithful Spy (John Wells, #1) book cover93

The Faithful Spy (John Wells, #1)

Alex Berenson

4.0
John Wells penetrates al Qaeda for ten years until only CIA handler Jennifer Exley believes he is still true blue. Omar Khadri, malicious mastermind, plots major strike in States, orders Well in from the cold. Tarik Durant, abusive husband in Montreal, concocts in basement lab. Neither Khadri, still suspicious, nor Exley, romantically intrigued, knows what to expect next.
Model Spy (The Specialists, #1) book cover94

Model Spy (The Specialists, #1)

Shannon Greenland

4.0
Teen genius Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. A whiz with computers, she agreed to help her college RA, David, uncover some top-secret information. After all, she doesn't have many friends and David has always been nice to her. It doesn't hurt that he's supercute and irresistible, too. All she has to do is hack into the government's main computer system.

But a few hours later, her whole life c
The Spy Who Loved Me (James Bond, #10) book cover95

The Spy Who Loved Me (James Bond, #10)

Ian Fleming

4.0
‘He was about six feet tall, slim and fit. The eyes in the lean , slightly tanned face were a very clear grey-blue and as they observed the men they were cold and watchful. His good looks had a dangerous, almost cruel quality that had frightened me. But now I knew he could smile, I thought his face exciting, in a way no face had ever excited me before …’

Vivienne Michel is in trouble. Trying to esc
The Fourth Protocol book cover96

The Fourth Protocol

Frederick Forsyth

4.0
Professional thief Jim Rawlings breaks into the apartment of a senior civil servant, and unintentionally discovers stolen top secret documents. Although one of the most notorious thieves in London, he is enough of a patriot to anonymously send the documents to MI5 so that they might locate the traitor. In Moscow, British defector Kim Philby drafts a memorandum for the Soviet General Secretary stat
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7) book cover97

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)

J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré

4.0
Harry Potter is leaving Privet Drive for the last time. But as he climbs into the sidecar of Hagrid’s motorbike and they take to the skies, he knows Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters will not be far behind.

The protective charm that has kept him safe until now is broken. But the Dark Lord is breathing fear into everything he loves. And he knows he can’t keep hiding.

To stop Voldemort, Harry knows
Class A (Cherub, #2) book cover98

Class A (Cherub, #2)

Robert Muchamore

4.0
Drugs, cars and guns!
Keith Moore is Europe's biggest cocaine dealer. The police have been trying to get enough evidence to nail him for more than twenty years.

Now, four CHERUB agents are joining the hunt. Can a group of kids successfully infiltrate Keith Moore's organisation when dozens of attempts by undercover police officers have failed?

James Adams must start at the bottom, making deliveries fo
The Key to Rebecca book cover99

The Key to Rebecca

Ken Follett

4.0
Ken Follett’s The Key to Rebecca took readers and critics by storm when first published more than twenty years ago. Today, it remains one of the best espionage novels ever written. Look out for Ken’s newest book, A Column of Fire, available now.

A brilliant and ruthless Nazi master agent is on the loose in Cairo. His mission is to send Rommel’s advancing army the secrets that will unlock the city’s
Executive Power (Mitch Rapp, #6) book cover100

Executive Power (Mitch Rapp, #6)

Vince Flynn

4.0
CIA superagent Mitch Rapp battles global terrorism in a high-octane follow-up to The New York Times bestselling Separation of Power -- another chillingly authentic adventure from the master of the political thriller. Mitch Rapp's cover has been blown. After leading a team of commandos deep into Iraq to prevent Saddam Hussein from joining the nuclear arms race, he was publicly hailed by the preside