#BEST SPY BOOKS FULL#

This is the Cold War at its chilliest and most dangerous, and everything you see or hear is dubious-from instructions from spymasters who could very well be working for the other side, to what your wife casually mentions.Īnd then Deighton adds on a new layer-that at least some of what Bernard tells you may be just his flawed perception, not reality. The Samson story is quite simply the most monumental achievement in spy fiction-Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match, Spy Hook, Spy Line, Spy Sinker, Faith, Hope and Charity. Except for one, all are first-person accounts. I also have a shelf-full of le Carre.ĭeighton’s espionage books can be broadly classified into two categories-the ones that feature an anonymous British agent and the nine-book saga of Bernard Samson. This is not to disrespect others like John le Carre, the man who is generally regarded as the best. But in my opinion, he is the greatest spy fiction author ever. Deighton is little-known in India, and it is difficult here to find his books.

#BEST SPY BOOKS FULL#

“You have a full shelf of books by Len Deighton and you are not giving them away!” he said. He picked up a few from the lot, and then looked at my shelves. So last month, I had a pile of possibly 200 ready-to-go books on the rocking chair in my study when a friend, an extremely well-read person, came visiting.

It’s just that I don’t need them any more and other readers could derive a few hours of pleasure and thought from them. My exercise has nothing to do at all with the quality of the books. I give the books away to a charity, which sells them to raise money for the work they do. The shelves are filled with books that I bought but never read-the Japanese have a specific word for this, tsundoku-and also books that I enjoyed, but will never read again. Every year or two, I do a housecleaning of my books.

Best spy books