Espionage & Spy Thriller subject

Thunderball Ian Fleming

Upon M’s insistence, James Bond takes a two-week respite in a secluded natural health spa. But amid the bland teas, tasteless yogurts, and the spine stretcher the guests lovingly call “The Rack,” Bond stumbles onto the trail of a lethal man with ties to a new secret organization called SPECTRE. When SPECTRE... read more »

The Man With the Golden Gun Ian Fleming

The Man with the Golden Gun, Paco Scaramanga, is one of the deadliest hit men in the world and the British Secret Service want him eliminated. A brainwashed James Bond tried, and failed, to kill his boss, M. It’s time for him to prove he can be trusted again. Bond finds his man in the sweltering heat of Jamaica... read more »

On Her Majesty's Secret Service Ian Fleming

A Lancia Spyder with its hood down tore past him, cut in cheekily across his bonnet and pulled away, the sexy boom of its twin exhausts echoing back at him. It was a girl driving, a girl with a shocking pink scarf tied round her hair. And if there was one thing that set James Bond really moving, it was being passed... read more »

You Only Live Twice Ian Fleming

The Castle of Death shelters a poisoned garden, curated by a criminal mastermind and set atop a rocky Japanese island. Bond is shattered by the murder of his wife at the hands of Ernst Stavro Blofeld but M. gives him one last chance. To save his job, James Bond needs to infiltrate and destroy the Castle of Death in... read more »

Dr. No Ian Fleming

Dr Julius No is a man with a mysterious past. Nobody knows what secrets are hidden on his Caribbean island, and all those who have attempted to investigate further have disappeared. When two British agents go missing in Jamaica, Bond is sent to investigate. Battling the Doctor's twin obsessions with power and pain... read more »

For Your Eyes Only Ian Fleming

Sudden emergencies and beautiful girls who aren't quite what they seem and are the stock-in-trade of James Bond. And when 007 is on the case there's only one thing you can be sure of—the result will be thrilling. And whether he's dealing with the assassination of a Cuban thug in America, the destruction of an... read more »

Diamonds are Forever Ian Fleming

The Spangled Mob are no ordinary American gangsters. They prey on the addictions of the wealthy and treat the poor as collateral. Their ruthless desire for power and fierce brotherly loyalty make them deadly and invincible. James Bond must go deep undercover in his urgent new assignment: to destroy their millionaire... read more »

The Spy Who Loved Me Ian Fleming

Vivienne Michel is in trouble. Trying to escape her tangled past, she has run away to the American backwoods, winding up at the Dreamy Pines Motor Court. A far cry from the privileged world she was born to, the motel is also the destination of two hardened killers—the perverse Sol Horror and the deadly Sluggsy... read more »

From Russia With Love Ian Fleming

SMERSH, the Soviet counterintelligence agency, plans to commit a grand act of terrorism in the intelligence field. For this, it targets British secret service agent James Bond. Due in part to his role in the defeat of Le Chiffre, Mr. Big and Hugo Drax, Bond has been listed as an enemy of the Soviet state and a... read more »

Live and Let Die Ian Fleming

Her hair was black and fell to her shoulders. She had high cheekbones and a sensual mouth, and wore a dress of white silk. Her eyes were blue, alight and disdainful, but, as they gazed into his with a touch of humour, Bond realized that they contained a message. Solitaire watched his eyes on her and nonchalantly... read more »

Casino Royale Ian Fleming

In the first of Fleming's James Bond novels, 007 declares war on Le Chiffre, French communist and paymaster of the Soviet murder organization SMERSH. The battle begins with a fifty-million-franc game of baccarat, gains momentum during Bond's fiery love affair with a sensuous lady spy, and reaches a chilling climax... read more »

Moonraker Ian Fleming

Another adventure from James Bond: 007. Britain's new ICBM-based national defense system, is ready for testing, but something's not quite right. At M's request, Bond begins his investigation with Sir Hugo Drax, the leading card shark at M's club, who is also the head of the Moonraker project. But once Bond delves... read more »

Goldfinger Ian Fleming

Goldfinger, the man who loved gold, said, 'Mr Bond, it was a most evil day for you when you first crossed my path. If you had then found an oracle to consult, the oracle would have said to you, "Mr Bond, keep away from Mr Auric Goldfinger. He is a most powerful man. If Mr Goldfinger wished to crush you, he would... read more »

The Island of Sheep John Buchan

In this, his final adventure, Buchan's hero Richard Hannay becomes embroiled in one of the most hazardous escapades of his life. Two men are honour bound to help the tormented Valdemar Haraldsen, and a third decides to mastermind the whole affair out of a sheer love of adventure and a dislike of villains. A... read more »

The Three Hostages John Buchan

England is at peace after the end of World War I. Spy-catcher, Richard Hannay, is enjoying the country life at Fosse Manor. However, Hannay's peace is shattered when a dangerous criminal gang kidnap three children of important national figures. The deadline for searching for the hostages is midsummer. Hannay joins... read more »

The Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers

Brimming with heart-stopping action, The Riddle of the Sands is one the earliest spy novels. This spell-binding story is set in the period before the start of the First World War. A gem of the thriller genre! While on a sailing trip in the Baltic Sea, two young adventurers-turned-spies uncover a secret German plot... read more »

Under Western Eyes Joseph Conrad

Bomb-throwing assassins, political repression and revolt, emigre revolutionaries infiltrated by a government spy: much of Under Western Eyes is more topical than we would wish. Set in Czarist Russia and in Geneva, and told through the Western eyes of Conrad's English narrator, we are given a somber but not entirely... read more »

Mr. Standfast John Buchan

When Richard Hannay, the hero of The Thirty-nine Steps, is recalled by the Head of British Intelligence from the Western Front at a critical moment in the battle for France, he has little idea that his contribution to the war effort will be much more crucial than the command of his Brigade in Flanders. In his... read more »

Greenmantle John Buchan

Greenmantle is a tale of intrigue and adventure set during the First World War. It features Richard Hannay, hero of the author's earlier novel The Thirty-Nine Steps. As he travels through Europe to foil a German plot and find an Islamic Messiah, he is joined by three more of Buchan's heroes: Peter Pienaar, a Boer... read more »

The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad

A triangle of conspiracy is built, then destroyed, by the self-interest of its participants. Mr. Verloc, employed by a foreign embassy to incriminate an anarchist group, instead destroys his family, his illusions, and his own life in a terrorist act gone utterly wrong. Conrad's ironic and troubling novel exposes... read more »

The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan

Famous as the basis for several films, including the brilliant 1935 version directed by Alfred Hitchcock, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a classic of early twentieth-century popular literature. Richard Hannay has just returned to England after years in South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his life in London. But then... read more »

Subject: Espionage & Spy Thriller