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From the Rwandan genocide to death at the Bank of England, sinister stories of spies, politics and exile
With several cliffhanger chapters, Louise Doughty’s latest novel is a consummate psychological thriller about a female spy navigating the corridors of power
Adam LeBor selects his best mid-year reads
Vividly drawn characters blaze trails across small-town Arkansas and Nazi-occupied Oslo
The first in a new series of thrillers features an ageing Californian hacker in the hunt for a billion-dollar blockchain
A gripping selection includes cold war conspiracies and a dark turn for Scottish politics
An action-packed selection includes cheering portrayals of women who have agency — and muscles
A motorcycle-riding Irish priest is the driving force in this polyphonic literary thriller set during the Nazi occupation of Rome
Adam LeBor selects his must-read titles
These fast-paced page-turners take in alternate history, a bullet in the head and terrors in Tokyo
Undercover agents deliver a 2022 James Bond reboot and shadowy threats from Alaska to Berlin
Cold war era novels inspired by the long, deadly reach of Moscow’s secret service
In the Belfast writer’s new thriller, a retired spy is forced to re-examine his past and finds the line between good and evil hard to discern
Fast-paced tales of intrigue from Leningrad to Lisbon. Plus echoes of George Smiley — and an illustrated edition of le Carré himself
A propulsive mystery that delights and deceives as two strangers’ lives intersect
Hans Rosenfeldt, the creator of TV show ‘The Bridge’, delivers a dark, engrossing read in ‘Cry Wolf’
Q&A with the writer on his wife of 56 years, Cabernet Sauvignon and wanting an aircraft carrier
An exodus from Moscow; undercover in central Russia; a network of agents in wartime Berlin; and a hitman with a heart
From cabals, betrayal and sex in champagne-fuelled 1990s London to international intrigue of Russian spies and Islamic terrorists, here’s a selection of the latest gripping releases
The cold war, wonder drugs, money-laundering, jihadis and the eastern front add a frisson to these latest gripping releases
Contagion in the Arctic Circle; the hunt for a Russian mole; undercover in Hamburg; and a superpower conspiracy
Adam LeBor’s selection of the best mid-year reads
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