Here is a List of 10 Best Spy Novels. The Spy genre is characterized by most of the attributes of adventure novels - action, heroic exploits by larger-than life protagonists, strong plots – however, the essential characteristic of a spy book is that it has the main protagonist as a spy.
Author : Paulo Coelho
When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. Within months she was the most celebrated woman in the city.
As a dancer, she shocked and delighted audiences; as a courtesan, she bewitched the era’s richest and most powerful men.
But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari’s lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917, she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees, and accused of espionage.
Told in Mata Hari’s voice through her final letter, The Spy is the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to defy convention and who paid the ultimate price.
Author : Arthur Conan Doyle
“There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life and our duty is to unravel it and isolate it and expose every inch of it.”Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective 221B Baker Street London.
This is where begins a historical partnership between Dr. Watson—the archetypal gentleman from the Victorian era—and the eccentric, legendary sleuth, Sherlock Holmes. Join them as they gather clues, ranging from bloodstains and footprints to cigarette ash and wedding rings and arrive at unusual and surprising conclusions. This book is a collection of the four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet (1887), The Sign of the Four (1890), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) and The Valley of Fear (1915). Featuring the timeless detective Sherlock Holmes, these novels have been successfully engrossing readers for more than a century now.
Author : Mohanlal Bhaskar
Khushwant Singh wrote in the preface to the hardbound edition published in 1990 of this true account of Mohanlal Bhaskar’s mission to find out about Pakistan’s nuclear plans: ‘He was betrayed by one of his colleagues, presumbly a double agent, and had to face the music on his own. The interrogation, which was done by the army and police, included torture of the worst kind imaginable. Many of his comrades went insane or ended their own lives. Large portions of his stories describe the methods used in gory and spine-chilling detail but there were also lighter moments with dacoits, prostitutes, pimps and dope smugglers in the same jails....’ He witnessed history unfolding from Mianwali jail: ‘... when Sheikh Mujibur Rehman was brought there, and had his grave dug and then refilled when Bhutto released him to return in truimph to Bangladesh. From his cell he watched Indian bombers and fighters knock out Pakistan’s airforce from the skies...’
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Author : Michael Bar-Zohar, Nissim Mishal
This is the true story about the great missions of Israeli secret service. The book gives a thorough knowledge about the types of adventurous undertakings taken up by the Mossad for the sake of their country. For years and years Israel’s well-known security arm, the Mossad, has been broadly known as the best intelligence service in the world. In this book the author takes us through the exciting, eye-opening accounts of the most dangerous, most critical tasks undertaken by the agency for last 60 years.
The book talks about the incredible stories full of action right from the capture of Nazi assassin Adolph Eichmann to the recent removal of key Iranian nuclear scientists.
The book is very useful for all those who want to know about the world. It is an excellent collection of case works and narration Mossad’s activities. It is a good read for those who like to know about real life dangerous missions of Intelligence agencies. The book comes in paperback format and can be bagged from Amazon.in.
Author : Amit Bagaria
The Gang of Six were clinching their fists under the 21-seater oval teak table in the PMO in New Delhi. How could their Prime Minister speak to them like that? How does the Constitution of India allow such people, with just 35 seats out of 543 in the Lok Sabha, to become the PM?
The Indian PM’s aircraft took off from Islamabad Airport at 7:45 am IST and was scheduled to land at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in New Delhi at 9:10 am IST. When the aircraft started deviating from its scheduled route, there was panic at the IGIA air traffic control tower. By 9:15 am IST, the aircraft was seen heading south, when it became out of range of the radars at IGIA. Had the PM’s aircraft been hijacked? Was it headed to Sri Lanka or the Maldives?
Author : Lauren Wilkinson
It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliant, but she’s also a young black woman working in an old boys’ club. Her career has stalled out, she’s overlooked for every high-profile squad, and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. So when she’s given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes. Yes, even though she secretly admires the work Sankara is doing for his country. Yes, even though she is still grieving the mysterious death of her sister, whose example led Marie to this career path in the first place. Yes, even though a furious part of her suspects she’s being offered the job because of her appearance and not her talent.
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Author : Ben MacIntyre
On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket.
The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever...
Author : Yona Zeldis McDonough
Marcel loves riding his bicycle, whether he's racing through the streets of his small town in France or making bread deliveries for his parents' bakery. He dreams of someday competing in the Tour de France, the greatest bicycle race. But ever since Germany's occupation of France began two years ago, in 1940, the race has been cancelled. Now there are soldiers everywhere, interrupting Marcel's rides with checkpoints and questioning.
Then Marcel learns two big secrets and he realizes there are worse things about the war than a cancelled race. When he later discovers that his friend's entire family is in imminent danger, Marcel knows he can help -but it will involve taking a risky bicycle ride to pass along covert information. And when nothing ends up going according to plan, it's up to him to keep pedaling and think quickly... because his friend, her family and his own future hang in the balance.
Author : Vikram Sood
A former chief of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, deconstructs the shadowy world of spies, from the Cold War era to the age of global jihad, from surveillance states to psy-war and cyberwarfare, from gathering information to turning it into credible intelligence. Vikram Sood provides a panoramic view of the rarely understood profession of spying to serve a country's strategic and security interests.
As a country's stature and reach grow, so do its intelligence needs. This is especially true for one like India that has ambitions of being a global player even as it remains embattled in its own neighbourhood. The Unending Game tackles these questions while providing a national and international perspective on gathering external intelligence, its relevance in securing and advancing national interests, and why intelligence is the first playground in the game of nations.
Author : Danielle Steel
It is 1939 and although she doesn’t know it, it will be the last normal summer Alexandra Wickham will spend for more than thirty years. Alexandra is a young woman who sees her brothers fight and die for their country, and, inspired by their heroism, she is determined to do what she can for the war effort. As a volunteer for the First Aid Corps, her courage, intelligence and talent for languages do not go unnoticed. Before long, she is approached by MI6 to go undercover and work as a spy. Undertaking some of the most dangerous missions of the war in France, she falls in love with a young soldier, who leaves the army behind for the relative security of the diplomatic corps. They marry, but her identity is a secret, even to her husband.
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