Espionage authors you (and I) should read

[SlowRain]

Originally Posted by LoveReading

Hi,
I also would agree with LeCarre's novels.. my favorite is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Did you know there's a movie in the works with Gary Oldman as George Smiley? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340800/

And, just to update, Our Kind of Traitor was pretty good. Not up there with le Carré's best, but good just the same. Great narrative and dialog, though. That may be the part that's up there with his better works.

[LoveReading]

Originally Posted by SlowRain

Did you know there's a movie in the works with Gary Oldman as George Smiley? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340800/

And, just to update, Our Kind of Traitor was pretty good. Not up there with le Carré's best, but good just the same. Great narrative and dialog, though. That may be the part that's up there with his better works.

Thanks - I didn't know that there was a new movie coming out. I'll keep an eye out for that. I've seen the old ones in which Alec Guinness played George Smiley. I thought he was a great George Smiley!

[GA Russell]

Does anyone have an opinion of Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm series?

I've never read one, but I remember the Dean Martin movies from the 60s. I've no idea how true to the books the movies were.

[Big Shirley]

LoveReading, I adored Alec Guiness as Smiley. I just watched Tinker, Tailor... again the other night and I have read it many times.
Recently read Redbreast by Nesbo and loved it and anything by Olen Steinhauer is awesome if the cold war interests you.

[SlowRain]

Originally Posted by Big Shirley

and anything by Olen Steinhauer is awesome if the cold war interests you.

I'm trying very hard to track down his Yalta Boulevard Sequence as e-books, but it's nearly impossible.

[Big Shirley]

Originally Posted by SlowRain

I'm trying very hard to track down his Yalta Boulevard Sequence as e-books, but it's nearly impossible.

I read them on my Kindle. They look beautiful on the Kindle for Mac ap, but I don't like the back-lighting for a lot of reading.

[Russell Brooks]

I heard from a buddy of mine with connections to Hollywood that there's going to be another Jason Bourne movie. Only let down is that Matt Damon may not be in it because the studio won't pay him the $25M he's asking for.

[beppe]

Originally Posted by John K

I just discovered (and bought) Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series. I'm surprised that he's not mentioned. I wonder if that means I'm going to be disapointed?

Originally Posted by MSWallack

No, you won't be disappointed in the Gabriel Allon series. They are excellent (actually, the first few are just very good and then they get better as Allon's character is more fully fleshed out). Be sure to read the books in order!

I agree. I just read the first book by Daniel Silva: The Unlikely Spy (1996). And I found it very good. In time i will read them all 13 in his production.

A good Espionage author is a an important asset if one loves the genre.

Of all the great authors of the recent past, I like to place Len Deighton just one little step ahead of the great John Le Carré , especially with the first part of his production, where Harry Palmer shines in his dullness.

[GA Russell]

Thanks for that Harry Palmer link, beppe. I had no idea that Michael Caine made two more Palmer movies in the 90s.

[beppe]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Thanks for that Harry Palmer link, beppe. I had no idea that Michael Caine made two more Palmer movies in the 90s.

(in style)

[djruk]

In the espionage category I would definitely include David Baldacci as one of the best! Others to include would be Vince Flynn, Daniel Silva, and Stephen Hunter.

Originally Posted by dougbiss

I'm looking for a new list of authors to get acquainted with, so I'm starting three threads for each of the genres that interest me: fantasy, sci-fi and espionage. This, as is so obvious from the title, is the espionage thread.

Starting with the idea that certain authors will be on almost everyone's list for this genre, I'm asking that we exclude them to get to the ones that may benefit readers, such as myself, who are trying to dig a little deeper.

In espionage, I think this list would comprise of (in no particular order):

Ian Fleming
Tom Clancy
Robert Ludlum
Clive Cussler (who I firmly believe belongs in this genre, don't you?)

I've also heard the name Vince Flynn thrown around, but I've never read him so I'm unsure if he's the real deal or just a flavor of the month.

I'm sure there are others that you feel should be on that list... so who are they and why do they belong?

Thanks in advance for all comments!

[mikemc2]

I'll throw in another vote for Alan Furst. I was recently introduced to his work by a coworker and I've read three of his novels in the last week or so (The World at Night, Red Gold and Spies of the Balkans). Be it Occupation Paris or Greece on the verge of the German invasion Furst's evocation of a particular time and place is at least as compelling as his characters.

[Leep]

Christopher Reich is ok and I like Jack Higgins as well and don't forget Daniel DeSilva

cheers

[Steve Anderson]

I'm going to recommend David Downing, though with reluctance. I'm sucker for anything set in the 1930s/40s and his series has an Anglo-American longtime expat in Berlin, a journalist who gets mixed up in espionage and mystery mostly to hold out hope of protecting his son and girlfriend in a doomed Germany. The details are good and the characters drawn well enough, but Downing frustrates me by often introducing too many subplots that have equal stakes. I'm about halfway through Stettin Station and it's the same with this one, but I'm entertained and I'm sure I'll read the next one.

Steve

[GA Russell]

I don't think that I've mentioned that I read The Ninth Directive by Adam Hall last month, and enjoyed it a great deal.

It is the second of the Quiller series.