Espionage Aficionados discussion

Reviewed any espionage fiction lately? Hook us up with the link!

I write in-depth, spoiler-heavy reviews of classic espionage fiction.

My book reviews are all here: http://graemeshimmin.com/category/boo...

They're all espionage fiction, except arguably for Fatherland, One Lonely Night, and The Convictions of John Delahunt all of which have an espionage angle but are primarily mysteries.

Excellent. Exactly what's wanted in this thread. I thank you for contributing!

Link submitted by a member:

Spy Guys and Gals
http://www.spyguysandgals.com/index1.asp

Lists of characters, authors, titles, articles
alphabetically arranged. Might be fun to browse in your off-hours..

Feel free to read my review of "A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal."

some of my own reviews (stop me if you've heard these before)

John LeCarre's 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' (espionage)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

John LeCarre's 'The Honourable Schoolboy' (espionage)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Adam Hall's 'The Quiller Memorandum' (espionage)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Clive Cussler's 'Raise the Titanic!' (thriller)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Norman Hartley's 'The Viking Process' (thriller)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Adam Hall's 'The Sinkiang Executive' (espionage)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Lynn Townshend White's 'Medieval Technology and Social Change' (history)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

John LeCarre's 'The Spy Who Came In from the Cold' (espionage)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thomas Gifford's 'The Wind Chill Factor' (thriller)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Charles McCarry's 'The Secret Lovers' (espionage)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Frederick Forsyth's 'The Day of the Jackal' (thriller)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

John Peter Nettl's 'Rosa Luxemburg' (biography)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thomas Harris' 'Black Sunday' (thriller)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

William Goldman's 'Control' (thriller, sci-fi)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

William Goldman's 'Brothers' (thriller, sequel to 'Marathon Man')
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Dashiell Hammett's 'Red Harvest'
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Espionage Fiction - Genre Overview
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...-

Feliks, I'm re-reading Le Carre's THE NIGHT MANAGER in anticipation of the upcoming, six-part BBC miniseries. Did you ever review that one? I always thought it would make a great film.

No, that's a bit too far off my scope! I stick with 'early' LeCarre. Actually I stick with 'early career' of most writers in all of these related genres.

Nothing in the computer era seems to interest me. My god, I work with high-tech all the time. So I don't want it in my escapist fiction..just sayin

Feliks wrote: "No, that's a bit too far off my scope! I stick with 'early' LeCarre. Actually I stick with 'early career' of most writers in all of these related genres.

Nothing in the computer era seems to inte..."

I understand and I agree with you on the "computer era" stuff. I'm sorry Le Carre changed from his first novels when he was setting the bar so very high. But I found most of his writing in THE NIGHT MANAGER well worth a second look. Maybe he hadn't crashed yet.

In reading this one I learned to hate arms dealers more than ever before, especially because they tend to dump their deadly sophisticated weapons into the wrong hands.

Here's some of my more recent spy thriller reviews:

The Wild Geese (more of a mercenary/war thriller really)
http://graemeshimmin.com/the-wild-gee...

The Quiller Memorandum
http://graemeshimmin.com/quiller-memo...

Our Man in Havana
http://graemeshimmin.com/our-man-in-h...

The Afrika Reich (Alternate History/mercenary thriller)
http://graemeshimmin.com/afrika-reich...

The Man Who Was Thursday
http://graemeshimmin.com/the-man-who-...

Spark (Freelance assassin)
http://graemeshimmin.com/spark-novel-...

The Night of Wenceslas
http://graemeshimmin.com/the-night-of...

thx Graeme!

my latest review (a nonfiction treat)

Handbook Of Intelligence And Guerrilla Warfare


Link:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

p.s. Graeme, although very reluctant to follow links to external sites (I'm sick of looking at shoddy websites, is why) but I took a glance at your website and found it impeccable. Basically I wanted to see what you had to say about Quiller. Very nicely done. I got more than I expected, and in a good way.

I recommend it to anyone here. Fun stuff.

Feliks wrote: "p.s. Graeme, although very reluctant to follow links to external sites (I'm sick of looking at shoddy websites, is why) but I took a glance at your website and found it impeccable..."

Thanks, Feliks, I'm glad you like it. My long term goal is to read and do detailed reviews of all the classics of spy fiction from Kim onwards, but because the articles are detailed they take quite a long time and it does have to come second to getting my own novels completed.

My latest is for The IPCRESS File http://graemeshimmin.com/the-ipcress-... I'll link again when I've got some more finished.

Your notes on 'archetypes' in the genre is useful to discussions I've been having elsewhere about Will Wright's theory of western genre conventions. I passed your site address onward to others in that chat. We've reasoned so far that only the western does seem to fit this type of analysis. Neither mystery, romance, or detective stories nestle as aptly within that method--and, I wager spy fiction neither. But your breakdown was very toothsome reading indeed.

Feliks wrote: "Your notes on 'archetypes' in the genre is useful to discussions I've been having elsewhere about Will Wright's theory of western genre conventions..."

Well, I'm not an academic (though I have an MA in Creative Writing) but I find archetypes are useful as a practical tool for planning my novels. I know some writers really don't like that approach (planning) and that's their privilege.

I've been accused of being both a 'constructionist' and a 'structuralist' but I just see these things as helpful for getting the book written.

I reviewed The Last Spymaster here: http://www.mysterysuspence.blogspot.c...

I mention this because I have her newest on pre-order and thought I would share it since I enjoyed the one I read so much.

Ariel

Cool. She on Goodreads?

Sometime ago, I reviewed on Goodreads 'Kingdom of Shadows' by Alan Furst, whom I've had the pleasure of meeting twice at local book readings.

I reviewed, and highly recommend, Sp

Sorry, I reviewed and highly recommend, Spies of Jerusalem by Colin Smith.

Let me try one more time...https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...