Spying Out the Best Literary Thrillers

Robert Harris, the author not the coffee, is famous for writing a better class of thriller – well researched, historically interesting and character driven. His novel Conclave was adapted for the big screen recently, and other books that have hit the spot include An Officer and a Spy (about the Dreyfus Affair), and Munich which is set in 1938 and follows two friends from Oxford caught up in a bid to stop World War Two. Munich has also been adapted to the screen as "Munich; the Edge of War" and can be watched on Netflix.

Robert Harris has won multiple awards, setting the bar high for the genre, but there are other authors well worth a read.

William Boyd can really get into the psyche of his characters, often caught up in events beyond their control. His recent novel, Gabriel’s Moon begins a Cold War era trilogy - its protagonist a travel writer who becomes unwittingly recruited by MI6. The next in the trilogy, The Predicament, will be released later this year. Boyd’s 2006 novel Restless has become something of a classic and focuses on a daughter learning some uncomfortable truths about her mother, a wartime spy. Boyd has also penned Solo, a James Bond novel that is worth checking out, and so is Ordinary Thunderstorms, a nail-biting fugitive story set in London.

If you’ve discovered the TV series, "Slow Horses", you may be aware that the stories are the brainchild of author Mick Herron. There are, so far, nine novels in the Slough House series which follows a bunch of MI5 rejects who have somehow blotted their copybook, but who each bring an assortment of talents to the table. Under the leadership of Jackson Lamb, the worst boss imaginable, they somehow achieve the impossible. These are quirky, witty and twisty stories, well worth a read.

The Gabriel Allon series of novels by Daniel Silva follows an art restorer who was formerly an Israeli spy through a bunch of cleverly plotted novels that are both witty and satisfyingly pacey. There are twenty-five in the series so far, beginning with The Kill Artist, so lots to enjoy. The novels take the reader around the world, from Paris to Venice, Cornwall to Corsica, so if you like to travel as you read, these are the books for you. 

Charles Cumming is a prize-winning author of spy fiction like A Foreign Country - a disgraced MI6 officer investigates the disappearance of a new MI6 boss - and The Trinity Six - which imagines a story around a sixth member of the infamous Cambridge spy ring. His new series, Box 88 follows a top-secret agency known only to the elite of MI6 and CIA and the missions of a new espionage hero: Lachlan Kite.

Kate Atkinson is an award-winning author across several genres. With Transcription, she has turned her talents to the spy novel. The story follows Juliet who was recruited at eighteen to monitor the movements of British Fascist sympathizers at the start of WWII. Ten years later, she’s a BBC radio producer when events from her past catch up with her. A great story, but also brilliant characterisation and pitch-perfect prose.

Other authors you might like to try are Alan Furst (Spies of the Balkans) and Sebastian Faulks (Charlotte Gray). And of course, classic authors like John le Carre and Frederick Forsyth – both of whom have books that are still popular and continue to make excellent screen adaptations. Happy reading!

Posted by JAM

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