Spy fiction

For the Len Deighton novel, seeSpy Story (novel).For the video game, seeSpy Fiction.For the subgenre that includes elements of science fiction, seeSpy-Fi (subgenre).

Spy fictionis a genre of literature involvingespionageas an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between themajor powers,and the establishment of modern intelligence agencies. It was given new impetus by the development of fascism and communism in the lead-up toWorld War II,continued to develop during theCold War,and received a fresh impetus from the emergence ofrogue states,international criminal organizations, global terrorist networks, maritime piracy and technological sabotage and espionage as potent threats to Western societies.As a genre, spy fiction is thematically related to the novel of adventure (The Prisoner of Zenda,1894,The Scarlet Pimpernel,1905), the thriller (such as the works ofEdgar Wallace) and the politico-military thriller (The Schirmer Inheritance,1953,The Quiet American,1955).

Painting of French spy captured during theFranco-Prussian WarbyAlphonse de Neuville,1880

History

Commentator William Bendler noted that "Chapter 2 of the Hebrew Bible'sBook of Joshuamight count as the first Spy Story in world literature. (...) Three thousand years beforeJames BondseducedPussy Galoreand turned her into his ally againstGoldfinger,the spies sent by GeneralJoshuainto the city ofJerichodid much the same withRahabthe Harlot."

Nineteenth century

Spy fiction as a genre started to emerge during the 19th Century. Early examples of the espionage novel areThe Spy(1821) andThe Bravo(1831), by American novelistJames Fenimore Cooper.The Bravoattacks European anti-republicanism,by depictingVeniceas a city-state where a ruthlessoligarchywears the mask of the "serene republic".

In nineteenth-century France, theDreyfus Affair(1894–99) contributed much to public interest inespionage.For some twelve years (ca. 1894–1906), the Affair, which involved elements of international espionage,treason,andantisemitism,dominated French politics. The details were reported by the world press: an Imperial Germanpenetration agentbetraying to Germany the secrets of theGeneral Staffof theFrench Army;the Frenchcounter-intelligenceriposte of sending acharwomanto rifle the trash in the German Embassy in Paris, were news that inspired successful spy fiction.

At least twoSherlock Holmesstories have clear espionage themes. InThe Adventure of the Naval Treaty,Holmes recovers the text of a secret Naval Treaty between Britain and Italy, stolen by a daring spy. InHis Last Bow,Holmes himself acts as adouble agent,providing Germany with a lot of false information on the eve ofWWI.

Twentieth century

The major themes of a spy in the lead-up to the First World War were the continuing rivalry between the European colonial powers for dominance in Asia, the growing threat of conflict in Europe, the domestic threat of revolutionaries and anarchists, and historical romance.

Kim(1901) byRudyard Kiplingconcerns theAnglo–Russian"Great Game",which consisted of ageopoliticalrivalry and strategic warfare for supremacy inCentral Asia,usually inAfghanistan.The Secret Agent(1907) byJoseph Conradexamines the psychology andideologymotivating the socially marginal men and women of arevolutionarycell. A diplomat from an unnamed (but clearly Russian) embassy forces a double-agent, Verloc, to organise a failed attempt to bomb theGreenwich Observatoryin the hope that the revolutionaries will be blamed. Conrad's next novel,Under Western Eyes(1911), follows a reluctant spy sent by the Russian Empire to infiltrate a group of revolutionaries based inGeneva.G. K. Chesterton'sThe Man Who Was Thursday(1908) is a metaphysical thriller ostensibly based on the infiltration of an anarchist organisation by detectives, but the story is actually a vehicle for exploring society's power structures and the nature of suffering.

Thefictional detectiveSherlock Holmes,created byArthur Conan Doyle,served as a SpyHunter for theBritish governmentin the stories "The Adventure of the Second Stain"(1904), and"The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans"(1912). In"His Last Bow"(1917), he served Crown and country as adouble agent,transmitting false intelligence to Imperial Germany on the eve of the Great War.

The Scarlet Pimpernel(1905) byBaroness Orczychronicled an Englisharistocrat's derring-do in rescuing French aristocrats from theReign of Terrorof theFrench Revolution(1789–99).

But the term "spy novel" was defined byThe Riddle of the Sands(1903) by Irish authorErskine Childers.The Riddle of the Sandsdescribed two British yachtsman cruising off the North Sea coast of Germany who turned amateur spies when they discover a secret German plan to invade Britain.Its success created a market for theinvasion literaturesubgenre, which was flooded by imitators.William Le QueuxandE. Phillips Oppenheimbecame the most widely read and most successful British writers of spy fiction, especially of invasion literature. Their prosaic style and formulaic stories, produced voluminously from 1900 to 1914, proved of lowliterary merit.

During the First World War

During the War,John Buchanbecame the pre-eminent British spy novelist. His well-written stories portray the Great War as a "clash of civilisations" between Westerncivilizationandbarbarism.His notable novels areThe Thirty-nine Steps(1915),Greenmantle(1916) and sequels, all featuring the heroic ScotsmanRichard Hannay.In FranceGaston Lerouxpublished the spy thrillerRouletabille chez Krupp(1917), in which a detective,Joseph Rouletabille,engages in espionage.

Inter-war period

After theRussian Revolution (1917),the quality of spy fiction declined, perhaps because theBolshevikenemy won theRussian Civil War(1917–23). Thus, the inter-war spy story usually concerns combating the Red Menace, which was perceived as another "clash of civilizations".

Spy fiction was dominated by British authors during this period, initially formerintelligence officersand agents writing from inside the trade. Examples includeAshenden: Or the British Agent(1928) byW. Somerset Maugham,which accurately portrays spying in the First World War, andThe Mystery of Tunnel 51(1928) byAlexander Wilsonwhose novels convey an uncanny portrait of the first head of theSecret Intelligence Service,Mansfield Smith-Cumming,the original 'C'.

In the bookLiterary Agents(1987), Anthony Masters wrote: "Ashenden's adventures come nearest to the real-life experiences of his creator" '.John Le Carré described Ashenden stories as a major influence on his novels as praised Maugham as "the first person to write anything about espionage in a mood of disenchantment and almost prosaic reality".

At a more popular level,Leslie Charteris' popular and long-runningSaintseries began, featuring Simon Templar, withMeet the Tiger(1928).Water on the Brain(1933) by former intelligence officerCompton Mackenziewas the first successful spy novelsatire.Prolific authorDennis Wheatleyalso wrote his first spy novel,The Eunuch of Stamboul(1935) during this period.

In the sham state ofManchukuo,spies often featured in stories published in its government-sponsored magazines as villains threatening Manchukuo.Manchukuo had been presented since its founding in 1931 as an idealistic Pan-Asian experiment, where the officially designated "five races" of the Japanese, Han Chinese, Manchus, Koreans and Mongols had come together to build a utopian society.Manchukuo also had a substantial Russian minority who initially been considered as the "sixth race", but had been excluded.The spy stories of Manchukuo such as "A Mixed Race Woman" by the writer Ding Na often linked the willingness to serve as spies with having a mixed Russian-Han heritage; the implication being that people of "pure" descent from one of the "five races" of Manchukuo would not betray it.In "A Mixed Race Woman", the villain initially appears to Mali, the eponymous character who has a Russian father and a Han mother, but she ultimately is revealed to be blackmailed by the story's true villain, the foreign spy Baoerdun, and she proves to be loyal to Manchukuo after all as she forces the gun out of Baoerdun's hand at the story's climax.However, Ding's story also states that Baoerdun would not dare to have attempted his blackmail scheme against a Han woman and that he targeted Mali because she was racially mixed and hence "weak".

When Japan invaded China in 1937 and even more so in 1941, the level of repression and propaganda in Manchukuo was increased as the state launched a "total war" campaign to mobilise society for the war.As part of the "total war" campaign, the state warned people to be vigilant at all times for spies; alongside this campaign went a mania for spy stories, which likewise warned people to be vigilant against spies.Novels and films with a counterespionage theme became ubiquitous in Manchukuo from 1937 onward.Despite the intensely patriarchal values of Manchukuo, the counter-spy campaign targeted women who were encouraged to report anyone suspicious to the police with one slogan saying, "Women defend inside and men defend outside".The spy stories of Manchukuo such as "A Mixed Race Woman" often had female protagonists.In "A Mixed Race Woman", it is two ordinary women who break up the spy ring instead of the Manchukuo police as might be expected.The South Korean scholar Bong InYoung noted stories such as "A Mixed Race Woman" were part of the state's campaign to take over "...the governance of private and family life, relying on the power of propaganda literature and the nationwide mobilization of the social discourse of counterespionage".At the same time, she noted "A Mixed Race Woman" with its intelligent female protagonists seemed to challenge the patriarchal values of Manchukuo which portrayed women as the weaker sex in need of male protection and guidance.However, Bong noted that the true heroine of "A Mixed Race Woman", Shulan is presented as superior to Mali as she is Han and the story is one "...of female disempowerment in that Mali is completely subordinate to the racial order Shulan sets".

Second World War

The growing support of fascism in Germany,ItalyandSpain,and the imminence of war, attracted quality writers back to spy fiction.

British authorEric Amblerbrought a new realism to spy fiction.The Dark Frontier(1936),Epitaph for a Spy(1938),The Mask of Dimitrios(US:A Coffin for Dimitrios,1939), andJourney into Fear(1940) feature amateurs entangled in espionage. The politics and ideology are secondary to the personal story that involved the hero or heroine. Ambler'sPopular Front–periodœuvrehas a left-wing perspective about the personal consequences of "big picture" politics and ideology, which was notable, given spy fiction's usualright-wingtilt in defence ofestablishmentattitudes. Ambler's early novelsUncommon Danger(1937) andCause for Alarm(1938), in whichNKVDspies help the amateurprotagonistsurvive, are especially remarkable among English-language spy fiction.

Above Suspicion(1939) byHelen MacInnes,about an anti-Nazi husband and wife spy team, features literate writing and fast-paced, intricate, and suspenseful stories occurring against contemporary historical backgrounds. MacInnes wrote many other spy novels in the course of a long career, includingAssignment in Brittany(1942),Decision at Delphi(1961), andRide a Pale Horse(1984).

Manning ColespublishedDrink to Yesterday(1940), a grim story occurring during the Great War, which introduces the heroThomas Elphinstone Hambledon.However, later novels featuring Hambledon were lighter-toned, despite being set either inNazi Germanyor Britain during theSecond World War(1939–45). After the War, the Hambledon adventures fell to formula, losingcriticaland popular interest.

The events leading up to the Second World War, and the War itself, continue to be fertile ground for authors of spy fiction. Notable examples includeKen Follett,Eye of the Needle(1978);Alan Furst,Night Soldiers(1988); andDavid Downing,the Station series, beginning withZoo Station(2007).

Writers on World War II: 1939–1945

Author(s)	Title	Publisher	Date	Notes
Mashbir, Sidney	I Was an American Spy: published 1953, republished as 65th Anniversary Edition in 2019	Horizon Productions	1953, republished 2019	American intelligence agent who played a significant role in both WWI and WWII. Colonel Mashbir is included in the Army Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame. He is a pioneer of military intelligence and is one of two men who first created the framework for the C.I.A.
Babington-Smith, Constance	Air Spy: The Story of Photo Intelligence in World War II		1957
Berg, Moe	The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg	Vintage Books	1994	— Major league baseball player and OSS Secret Intelligence (SI) spy in Yugoslavia
Bryden, John	Best-Kept Secret: Canadian Secret Intelligence in the Second World War	Lester	1993	—
Doundoulakis, Helias	Trained to be an OSS Spy	Xlibris	2014	OSS Secret Intelligence (SI) spy in Greece
Hall, Virginia	The Spy with the Wooden Leg: The Story of Virginia Hall	Alma Little	2012	SOE and OSS spy in France
Hinsley, F. H.and Alan Stripp	Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park	—	2001	—
Hinsley, F. H.	British Intelligence in the Second World War	—	1996	Abridged version of multivolume official history.
Hohne, Heinz	Canaris: Hitler's Master Spy	—	1979	—
Jones, R. V.	The Wizard War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945	—	1978	—
Kahn, David	Hitler's Spies: German Military Intelligence in World War II	—	1978	—
Kahn, David	Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1939–1943	—	1991	FACE
Kitson, Simon	The Hunt for Nazi Spies: Fighting Espionage in Vichy France	—	2008
Leigh Fermor, Patrick	Abducting a General: The Kreipe Operation in Crete	New York Review Books	2015	SOE spy who abducted General Kreipe from Crete
Lewin, Ronald	The American Magic: Codes, Ciphers and the Defeat of Japan	—	1982	—
Masterman, J. C.	The Double-Cross System in the War of 1935 to 1945	Yale	1972	—
Persico, Joseph	Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage	—	2001	—
Persico, Joseph	Casey: The Lives and Secrets of William J. Casey-From the OSS to the CIA	—	1991	—
Pinck, Dan	Journey to Peking: A Secret Agent in Wartime China	US Naval Institute Press	2003	OSS Secret Intelligence (SI) spy in Hong Kong, China, during WWII
Ronnie, Art	Counterfeit Hero: Fritz Duquesne, Adventurer and Spy	—	1995	ISBN1-55750-733-3
Sayers, Michael &Albert E. Kahn	Sabotage! The Secret War Against America	—	1942	—
Smith, Richard Harris	OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency	—	2005	—
Stanley, Roy M.	World War II Photo Intelligence	—	1981	—
Wark, Wesley	The Ultimate Enemy: British Intelligence and Nazi Germany, 1933–1939	—	1985	—
Wark, Wesley	"Cryptographic Innocence: The Origins of Signals Intelligence in Canada in the Second World War" inJournal of Contemporary History22	—	1987	—
West, Nigel	Secret War: The Story of SOE, Britain's Wartime Sabotage Organization	—	1992	—
Winterbotham, F. W.	The Ultra Secret	Harper & Row	1974	—
Winterbotham, F. W.	The Nazi Connection	Harper & Row	1978	—
Cowburn, B.	No Cloak No Dagger	Brown Watson, Ltd.	1960	—
Wohlstetter, Roberta	Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision	—	1962	—

Cold War

Early

The metamorphosis of the Second World War (1939–45) into the Soviet–AmericanCold War(1945–91) gave new impetus to spy novelists.AtomskbyPaul Linebarger(later known asCordwainer Smith), written in 1948 and published in 1949, appears to be the first espionage novel of the dawning conflict.

The "secret world" of espionage allowed a situation when writers could project anything they wanted onto the "secret world". The author Bruce Page complained in his 1969 bookThe Philby Conspiracy:

"The trouble is that a man can hold almost any theory he cares to about the secret world, and defend it against large quantities of hostile evidence by the simple expedient of retreating behind further and further screens of postulated inward mystery. Secret services have in common with Freemasons andmafiosithat they inhabit an intellectual twilight-a kind of ambiguous gloom in which it is hard to distinguish with certainty between the menacing and the merely ludicrous. In such circumstances the human affinity for myth and legend easily gets out of control ".

This inability to know for certain about what is going on in the "secret world" of intelligence-gathering affected both non-fiction and fiction books about espionage. The Cold War and the struggle between Soviet intelligence-known as the KGB from 1954 onward-vs. theCIAand MI6 made the subject of espionage a popular one for novelists to write about.Most of the spy novels of the Cold War were really action thrillers with little resemblance to the actual work of spies.The writerMalcolm Muggeridgewho had worked as a spy in World War Two commented that thriller writers in the Cold War took to writing about espionage "as easily as the mentally unstable become psychiatrists or the impotent pornographers".The city that was considered to be the "capital of the Cold War" was Berlin, owing to its post-war status as the city was divided between the two German states while Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States all had occupations zones in Berlin.As a result, Berlin was a beehive of espionage during the Cold War with the city full of American, British, East German, French, Soviet and West German spies; it was estimated that there was an average of about 8,000 spies in Berlin at any given moment during the Cold War.Because Berlin was a center of espionage, the city was frequently a setting for spy novels and films.Furthermore, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 made the wall into a symbol of Communist tyranny, which further increased the attraction for Western writers of setting a Cold War spy novel in Berlin. Perhaps the most memorable story set in Berlin wasThe Spy Who Came In From The Coldwhich in both the novel and the film ended with disillusioned British spy Alec Leamas and his lover, the naïve young woman Liz Gold being shot down while trying to cross the Berlin Wall from East Berlin into West Berlin.

British

WithSecret Ministry(1951),Desmond CoryintroducedJohnny Fedora,the secret agent with alicence to kill,the government-sanctionedassassin.Ian Fleming,a former member of naval intelligence, followed swiftly with the glamorousJames Bond,secret agent 007 of the British Secret Service, a mixture of counter-intelligence officer, assassin and playboy. Perhaps the most famous fictional spy, Bond was introduced inCasino Royale(1953). After Fleming's death the franchise continued under other British and American authors, includingKingsley Amis,Christopher Wood,John Gardner,Raymond Benson,Sebastian Faulks,Jeffery Deaver,William BoydandAnthony Horowitz.The Bond novels, which were extremely popular in the 1950s, inspired an even more popular series of films starting in 1962. The success of the Bond novels and films has greatly influenced popular images of the work of spies even though the character of Bond is more of an assassin than a spy.

Despite the commercial success of Fleming's extravagant novels,John le Carré,himself a former spy, createdanti-heroicprotagonists who struggled with the ethical issues involved in espionage and sometimes resorted to immoral tactics. Le Carré depicted spies as living a morally grey world having to constantly make morally dubious decisions in an essentially amoral struggle where lies, paranoia and betrayal are the norm for both sides.In le Carré best known novel,The Spy Who Came In From The Cold(1963), the hero Alec Leamas views himself as serving in "...a war fought on a tiny scale, at close range" and complained that he has seen too many "people cheated and misled, whole lives thrown away, people shot and in prison, whole groups and classes of men written off for nothing".Le Carré's middle-class heroGeorge Smileyis a middle-aged spy burdened with an unfaithful, upper-class wife who publiclycuckoldshim for sport.The American scholars Norman Polmar and Thomas Allen described Smiley as the fictional spy most likely to be successful as a real spy, citing le Carré's description of him inA Murder of Quality:

"Obscurity was his nature, as well as his profession. The byways of espionage are not populated by the brash and colorful adventurers of fiction. A man who, like Smiley has lived and worked for years among his country's enemies learns only one prayer: that he may never, never be noticed. Assimilation is his highest aim, he learns to love the crowds who pass him in the street without a glance; he clings to them for his anonymity and his safety. His fear makes him servile—he could embrace the shoppers who jostle him in their impatience and force him from the pavement. He could adore the officials, the police, the bus conductors, for the terse indifference of their attitudes.
But this fear, this servility, this dependence had developed in Smiley a perception for the colour of human beings: a swift, feminine sensitivity to their characters and motives. He knew mankind as a huntsman knows his cover, as a fox the woods. For a spy must hunt while he is hunted, and the crowd is his estate. He could collect their gestures, record the interplay of glance and movement, as a huntsman can record the twisted bracken and broken twig, or as a fox detects the signs of danger ".

Like Le Carré, former British Intelligence officerGraham Greenealso examined themoralityof espionage in left-wing, anti-imperialist novels such asThe Heart of the Matter(1948), set inSierra Leone,theseriocomicOur Man in Havana(1959) occurring in Cuba under the regime of dictatorFulgencio Batistabefore his deposition in theCuban Revolution(1953–59), andThe Human Factor(1978) about a MI6 agent's attempts to uncover a mole inapartheid-eraSouth Africa.Greene had worked as a MI6 agent in Freetown, an important British naval base during World War Two, searching for German spies who would radio information about the movements of ships to theKriegsmarine,experiences which inspiredThe Heart of the Matter.Greene's case officer during World War Two was Harold "Kim" Philby, who was later revealed in 1963 to be a long time Soviet spy, who had been recruited by Soviet intelligence in the early 1930s while he was an undergraduate at Cambridge.Greene's best known spy novelThe Quiet American(1955), set in 1952 Vietnam featured a thinly disguised version of the real American intelligence officer, Major GeneralEdward Lansdaleas the villain.Greene had covered the Vietnam war in 1951-52 as a newspaper correspondent where he met Lansdale who appears inThe Quiet Americanas Alden Pyle while the character of Thomas Fowler, a cynical, but goodhearted British journalist in Saigon was partly based on himself.

MI6 was outraged byOur Man In Havanawith its story of James Wormold, a British vacuum cleaner salesman in Cuba, recruited to work for MI6 who bamboozles his employers by selling them diagrams of vacuum cleaners, which he persuades MI6 are really diagrams of Soviet missiles.MI6 pressed for Greene to be prosecuted for violating the Official Secrets Act, claiming that he revealed too much about MI6's methods inOur Man in Havana,but it decided against charging Greene out of the fear that prosecuting him would suggest the unflattening picture of MI6 inOur Man in Havanawas based on reality.Greene's older brother, Herbert, a professional con-man had briefly worked as a spy for the Japanese in the 1930s before his employers realised that the "secrets" that he was selling them was merely information culled from the newspapers.The bumbling vacuum cleaner salesman Wormold inOur Man in Havanaseems to been inspired by Herbert Greene.InThe Human Factor,Greene portrayed MI6 again in a highly unsympathetic light, depicting theBritish governmentas supporting theapartheidregime of South Africa because it was pro-Western while the book's protagonist, the MI6 officer Maurice Castle, married to ablackSouth African woman, provides information to the KGB to thwart MI6 operations.Much of the plot ofThe Human Factorconcerned a secret plan by the British, American and West German governments to buy up South African gold in bulk in order to stabilise theeconomy of South Africa,which Greene presented as fundamentally amoral, arguing that the Western powers were betraying their values by supporting thewhite supremacistSouth African government.Much controversy ensued when shortly after the publication ofThe Human Factorit emerged that such a plan had in fact been carried out, which led to much speculation about whether this was a coincidence or whether Greene had more access to secret information than he let on.There was also much speculation that the character of Maurice Castle was inspired by Philby, but Greene consistently denied this.Other novelists followed a similar path.Len Deighton's anonymous spy protagonist ofThe IPCRESS File(1962),Horse Under Water(1963),Funeral in Berlin(1964), and others, is a working-class man with a negative view of "the Establishment".

Other notable examples of espionage fiction during this period were also built around recurring characters. These includeJames Mitchell's 'John Craig' series, written under his pseudonym 'James Munro', beginning withThe Man Who Sold Death(1964); andTrevor Dudley-Smith'sQuillerspy novel series written under the pseudonym 'Adam Hall', beginning withThe Berlin Memorandum(US:The Quiller Memorandum,1965), a hybrid of glamour and dirt, Fleming and Le Carré; andWilliam Garner's fantastic Michael Jagger inOverkill(1966),The Deep, Deep Freeze(1968),The Us or Them War(1969) andA Big Enough Wreath(1974).

Other important British writers who first became active in spy fiction during this period include PadraigManning O'Brine,Killers Must Eat(1951);Michael Gilbert,Be Shot for Sixpence(1956);Alistair MacLean,The Last Frontier(1959);Brian Cleeve,Assignment to Vengeance(1961);Jack Higgins,The Testament of Caspar Schulz(1962); andDesmond Skirrow,It Won't Get You Anywhere(1966).Dennis Wheatley's 'Gregory Sallust' (1934-1968) and 'Roger Brook' (1947-1974) series were also largely written during this period.

Notable recurring characters from this era includeAdam Diment's Philip McAlpine as a long-haired,hashish-smokingfopin the novelsThe Dolly Dolly Spy(1967),The Great Spy Race(1968),The Bang Bang Birds(1968) andThink, Inc.(1971);James Mitchell's 'David Callan' series, written in his own name, beginning withRed File for Callan(1969);William Garner's John Morpurgo inThink Big, Think Dirty(1983),Rats' Alley(1984), andZones of Silence(1986); andJoseph Hone's 'Peter Marlow' series, beginning withThe Private Sector(1971), set during Israel'sSix-Day War(1967) against Egypt, Jordan and Syria. In all of these series the writing is literary and the tradecraft believable.

Noteworthy examples of the journalistic style and successful integration offictionalcharacters with historical events were the politico-military novelsThe Day of the Jackal(1971) byFrederick ForsythandEye of the Needle(1978) byKen Follett.With the explosion of technology,Craig Thomas,launched thetechno-thrillerwithFirefox(1977), describing the Anglo–American theft of a superior Soviet jet aeroplane.

Other important British writers who first became active in spy fiction during this period includeIan Mackintosh,A Slaying in September(1967);Kenneth Benton,Twenty-fourth Level(1969);Desmond Bagley,Running Blind(1970);Anthony Price,The Labyrinth Makers(1971);Gerald Seymour,Harry's Game(1975);Brian Freemantle,Charlie M(1977);Bryan Forbes,Familiar Strangers(1979);Reginald Hill,The Spy's Wife(1980); andRaymond Harold Sawkins,writing as Colin Forbes,Double Jeopardy(1982).

Philip Gooden provides an analysis of British spy fiction in four categories: professionals, amateurs, dandies and literary types.

American

During the warE. Howard Huntwrote his first spy novel,East of Farewell(1943). In 1949 he joined the recently created CIA and continued to write spy fiction for many years.Paul Linebarger,a China specialist for the CIA, publishedAtomsk,the first novel of the Cold War, in 1949. During the 1950s, most of American spy stories were not about the CIA, instead being about agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who tracked down and arrested Soviet spies. The popular American image of the FBI was as "coolly efficient super-cop" who always successful in performing his duties.The FBI director,J.E. Hoover,had long cultivated the American press and Hollywood to promote a favorable image of the FBI.In 1955,Edward S. Aaronsbegan publishing the Sam Durell CIA "Assignment" series, which began withAssignment to Disaster(1955).Donald HamiltonpublishedDeath of a Citizen(1960) andThe Wrecking Crew(1960), beginning the series featuringMatt Helm,a CIA assassin and counter-intelligence agent.

Major GeneralEdward Lansdale,a charismatic intelligence officer who was widely credited with having masterminded the defeat of the Communist Huk rebellion in the Philippines inspired several fictional versions of himself.Besides forThe Quiet American,he appeared as Colonel Edwin Barnum inThe Ugly American(1958) byWilliam J. LedererandEugene Burdickand as Colonel Lionel Teryman in the novelLa Mal Jaune(1965) by the French writerJean Lartéguy.The Ugly Americanwas written as a rebuttal toThe Quiet Americanunder which the idealistic Colonel Barnum operating in the fictional Vietnam-like Southeast Asian nation of Sarkhan shows the way to defeat Communist guerillas by understanding local people in just the same way that Lansdale with his understanding and sympathy for ordinary Filipinos was credited with defeating the Communist Huk guerrillas.The Ugly Americanwas greatly influenced by the modernization theory, which held Communism was something alike to a childhood disease as the modernization theory held that as Third World nations modernized that this created social-economic tensions which a ruthless minority of Communists exploited to seize power; what was required from the United States were experts who knew the local concerns in order to defeat the Communists until the modernization process was completed.

TheNick Carter-Killmasterseries of spy novels, initiated byMichael Avalloneand Valerie Moolman, but authored anonymously, ran to over 260 separate books between 1964 and the early 1990s and invariably pitted American, Soviet and Chinese spies against each other. With the proliferation of male protagonists in the spy fiction genre, writers and book packagers also started bringing out spy fiction with a female as the protagonist. One notable spy series isThe Baroness,featuring a sexy female superspy, with the novels being more action-oriented, in the mould of Nick Carter-Killmaster.

Other important American authors who became active in spy fiction during this period includeRoss Thomas,The Cold War Swap(1966).The Scarlatti Inheritance(1971) byRobert Ludlumis usually considered the first American modern (glamour and dirt) spy thriller weighing action and reflection.Richard Helms,the director-general of the CIA from 1966 to 1973 loathed le Carré's morally grey spy novels, which he felt damaged the image of the CIA, and encouraged Hunt to write spy novels as a rebuttal.Helms had hopes that Hunt might write an "American James Bond" novel, which would be adopted by Hollywood and do for the image of the CIA what Fleming's Bond novels did for the image of MI6.In the 1970s, former CIA manCharles McCarrybegan the Paul Christopher series withThe Miernik Dossier(1973) andThe Tears of Autumn(1978), which were well written, with believable tradecraft. McCarry was a former CIA agent who worked as an editor forNational Geographicand his hero Christopher likewise is an American spy who works for a thinly disguised version of the CIA while posing as a journalist.Writing under the pen nameTrevanian,Roger Whitaker published a series of brutal spy novels starting withThe Eiger Sanction(1972) featuring an amoral art collector/CIA assassin who ostensibly kills for the United States, but in fact kills for money.Whitaker followed upThe Eiger SanctionwithThe Loo Sanction(1973) andShibumi(1979).Starting in 1976 with his novelSaving the Queen,the conservative American journalist and former CIA agentWilliam F. Buckleypublished the first of his Blackford Oakes novels featuring a CIA agent whose politics were the same as the author's.Blackford Oakes was portrayed as a "sort of an American James Bond" who ruthlessly dispatches villainous KGB agents with much aplomb.

The first American techno-thriller wasThe Hunt for Red October(1984) byTom Clancy.It introduced CIA deskman (analyst)Jack Ryanas a field agent; he reprised the role in the sequelThe Cardinal of the Kremlin(1987).

Other important American authors who became active in spy fiction during this period includeRobert Littell,The Defection of A. J. Lewinter(1973);James Grady,Six Days of the Condor(1974);William F. Buckley Jr.,Saving the Queen(1976);Nelson DeMille,The Talbot Odyssey(1984);W. E. B. Griffin,theMen at Warseries (1984–);Stephen Coonts,Flight of the Intruder(1986); Canadian-American authorDavid Morrell,The League of Night and Fog(1987);David Hagberg,Without Honor(1989); Noel Hynd,False Flags(1990); and Richard Ferguson,Oiorpata(1990).

Soviet

The culture of Imperial Russia was deeply influenced by the culture of France, and traditionally spy novels in France had a very low status.One consequence of the French influence on Russian culture was that the subject of espionage was usually ignored by Russian writers during the Imperial period.Traditionally, the subject of espionage was treated in the Soviet Union as a story of villainous foreign spies threatening the USSR.The organisation established to hunt down German spies in 1943, SMERSH, was an acronym for the wartime sloganSmert shpionam!( "Death to Spies!" ), which reflected the picture promoted by the Soviet state of spies as a class of people who deserved to be killed without mercy.The unfavorable picture of spies ensured that before the early 1960s there were no novels featuring Soviet spies as the heroes as espionage was portrayed as a disreputable activity that only the enemies of the Soviet Union engaged in.Unlike in Britain and the United States, where the achievements of Anglo-American intelligence during the Second World War were to a certain extent publicized soon after the war such as the fact that the Americans had broken the Japanese naval codes (which came out in 1946) and the British deception operation of 1943,Operation Mincemeat(which was revealed in 1953), there was nothing equivalent in the Soviet Union until the early 1960s.Soviet novels prior to the 1960s to the extent that espionage was portrayed at all concerned heroic scouts in the Red Army who during the Great Patriotic War as the war with Germany is known in the Soviet Union who go on dangerous missions deep behind the Wehrmacht's lines to find crucial information.The scout stories were more action-adventure stories than espionage stories proper and significantly always portrayed Red Army scouts rather thanChekisty( "Chekists" ) as secret policemen are always called in Russia as their heroes.The protagonists of the scout stories always almost ended being killed at the climax of the stories, giving up their lives up to save the Motherland from the German invaders.

In November 1961,Vladimir Semichastnybecame the chairman of the KGB and sent out to improve the image of theChekisty.The acronym KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti-Committee of State Security) was adopted in 1954, but the organisation had been founded in 1917 as the Cheka. The frequent name changes for the secret police made no impression with the Russian people who still call any secret policeman aChekisty.Semichastny felt that the legacy of theYezhovshchina( "Yezhovz times" ) of 1936-1939 had given the KGB a fearsome reputation that he wanted to erase as wanted ordinary people to have a more favorable and positive image of theChekistyas the protectors and defenders of the Soviet Union instead of torturers and killers.As such, Semichastny encouraged the publication of a series of spy novels that featured heroicChekistydefending the Soviet Union.It was also during Semichastny's time as KGB chairman that the cult of the "hero spies" began in the Soviet Union as publications lionised the achievements of Soviet spies such as Colonel Rudolf Abel, Harold "Kim" Philby, Richard Sorge and of the men and women who served in theRote Kapellespy network.Seeing the great popularity of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels in Britain and the United States, Soviet spy novels of the 1960s used the Bond novels as inspiration for both their plots and heroes, through Soviet prurience about sex ensured that theChekistyheroes did not engage in the sort of womanising that Bond did.The first Bond-style novel wasThe Zakhov Mission(1963) by the Bulgarian writerAndrei Gulyashkiwho had commissioned by Semichastny and was published simultaneously in Russian and Bulgarian.The success ofThe Zakhov Missionled to a follow-up novel,Zakhov vs. 007,where Gulyashki freely violated English copyright laws by using the James Bond character without the permission of the Fleming estate (he had asked for permission in 1966 and was denied).InZakhov vs. 007,the hero Avakoum Zakhov defeats James Bond, who is portrayed in an inverted fashion to how Fleming portrayed him; inZakhov vs. 007,Bond is portrayed as a sadistic killer, a brutal rapist and an arrogant misogynist, which stands in marked contrast to the kindly and gentle Zakhov who always treats women with respect.Zakhov is described as a spy, he more of a detective and unlike Bond, his tastes are modest.

In 1966, the Soviet writerYulian Semyonovpublished a novel set in the Russian Civil War featuring a Cheka agent Maxim Maximovich Isaуev as its hero.Inspired by its success, the KGB encouraged Semyonov to write a sequel,Semnadtsat' mgnoveniy vesny( "Seventeen Moments of Spring" ), which proved to one of the most popular Soviet spy novels when it was serialized inPravdain January–February 1969 and then published as a book later in 1969.InSeventeen Moments of Spring,the story is set in the Great Patriotic War as Isayev goes undercover, using the alias of a Baltic German noblemanMax Otto von Stierlitzto infiltrate the German high command.The plot ofSeventeen Moments of Springtakes place in Berlin between January–May 1945 during the last days of the Third Reich as the Red Army advances onto Berlin and the Nazis grew more desperate.In 1973,Semnadtsat' mgnoveniy vesnywas turned into a television mini-series, which was extremely popular in the Soviet Union and turned the Isayev character into a cultural phenomena.The Isayev character plays a role in Russian culture, even today, that is analogous to the role James Bond plays in modern British culture.As aspect ofSeventeen Moments of Spring,both as a novel and the TV mini-series that has offended Westerners who are more accustomed to seeing spy stories via the prism of the fast-paced Bond stories is the way that Isayev spends much time interacting with ordinary Germans despite the fact these interactions do nothing to advance the plot and are merely superfluous to the story.However, the point of these scenes are to show that Isayev is still a moral human being, who remains sociable and kind to all people, including the citizens of the state that his country is at war with.Unlike Bond, Isayev is devoted to his wife who he deeply loves and despite spending at least ten years as a spy in Germany and having countless chances to sleep with attractive German women remains faithful towards her.Through Isayev is a spy for the NKVD as the Soviet secret police was known from 1934 to 1946, it is stated quite explicitly inSemnadtsat' mgnoveniy vesny(which is set in 1945) that he left the Soviet Union to go undercover in Nazi Germany "more than ten years ago", which means that Isayev was not involved in theYezhovshchina.

Later

The June 1967Six-Day Warbetween Israel and its neighbours introduced new themes to espionage fiction - the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, against the backdrop of continuing Cold War tensions, and the increasing use of terrorism as a political tool.

Writers on Cold War era: 1945–1991

Author(s)	Title	Publisher	Date	Notes
Ambrose, Stephen E.	Ike's Spies: Eisenhower and the Intelligence Establishment	—	1981–	—
Andrew, ChristopherandVasili Mitrokhin	The Sword and the Shield: TheMitrokhin Archiveand the Secret History of the KGB	Basic Books	1991, 2005	ISBN0-465-00311-7
Andrew, Christopher, and Oleg Gordievsky	KGB: The Inside Story of Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev	—	1990	—
Aronoff, Myron J.	The Spy Novels of John Le Carré: Balancing Ethics and Politics	—	1999	—
Bissell, Richard	Reflections of a Cold Warrior: From Yalta to the Bay of Pigs	—	1996	—
Bogle, Lori,ed.	Cold War Espionage and Spying	—	2001–	essays
Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin	The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World	—	—	—
Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin	The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West	Gardners Books	2000	ISBN978-0-14-028487-4
Colella, Jim	My Life as an Italian Mafioso Spy	—	2000	—
Craig, R. Bruce	Treasonable Doubt: The Harry Dexter Spy Case	University Press of Kansas	2004	ISBN978-0-7006-1311-3
Dorril, Stephen	MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service	—	2000	—
Dziak, John J.	Chekisty: A History of the KGB	—	1988	—
Gates, Robert M.	From The Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents And How They Won The Cold War	—	1997	—
Frost, Mike and Michel Gratton	Spyworld: Inside the Canadian and American Intelligence Establishments	Doubleday Canada	1994	—
Haynes, John Earl,andHarvey Klehr	Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America	—	1999	—
Helms, Richard	A Look over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency	—	2003	—
Koehler, John O.	Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police	—	1999	—
Persico, Joseph	Casey: The Lives and Secrets of William J. Casey-From the OSS to the CIA	—	1991	—
Murphy,David E.,Sergei A. Kondrashev,and George Bailey	Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War	—	1997	—
Prados, John	Presidents' Secret Wars: CIA and Pentagon Covert Operations Since World War II	—	1996	—
Rositzke, Harry.	The CIA's Secret Operations: Espionage, Counterespionage, and Covert Action	—	1988	—
Srodes, James	Allen Dulles: Master of Spies	Regnery	2000	CIA head to 1961
Sontag Sherry, andChristopher Drew	Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage	Harper	1998	—
	Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies and Secret Operations	Greenwood Press	2004	—

• Anderson, NicholasNOCEnigma Books 2009 – Post-Cold War era
• Ishmael JonesThe Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture,Encounter Books 2008, rev. 2010

Writers of other nationalities

• Michael Ross,The Volunteer: The Incredible True Story of an Israeli Spy on the Trail of International TerroristsMcClelland & Stewart 2007, rev. 2008
• Jean-Marie Thiébaud,Dictionnaire Encyclopédique International des Abréviations, Singles et Acronyms, Armée et armament, Gendarmerie, Police, Services de renseignement et Services secrets français et étrangers, Espionage, Counterespionage, Services de Secours, Organisations révolutionnaires et terrorists,Paris, L'Harmattan, 2015, 827 pFrench journalistGérard de Villiersbegan to write hisSASseries in 1965. The franchise now extends to 200 titles and 150 million books.
• Julian Semyonovwas an influential spy novelist, writing in theEastern Bloc,whose range of novels and novel series featured aWhite Russianspy in theUSSR;Max Otto von Stierlitz,a Sovietmolein the Nazi High Command, andFelix Dzerzhinsky,founder of theCheka.In his novels, Semyonov covered much Soviet intelligence history, ranging from the Russian Civil War (1917–1923), through theGreat Patriotic War(1941–45), to the Russo–American Cold War (1945–91).
• Swedish authorJan Guilloualso began to write hisCoq Rougeseries, featuring Swedish spy Carl Hamilton, during this period, beginning in 1986.

Post–Cold War

The end of the Cold War in 1991 mooted theUSSR,Russiaand otherIron Curtaincountries as credible enemies of democracy, and the US Congress even considered disestablishing theCIA.Espionage novelists found themselves at a temporary loss for obviousnemeses.The New York Timesceased publishing a spy novel review column. Nevertheless, counting on the aficionado, publishers continued to issue spy novels by writers popular during the Cold War era, among themHarlot's Ghost(1991) byNorman Mailer.

In the US, the new novelsMoscow Club(1991) byJoseph Finder,Coyote Bird(1993) by Jim DeFelice,Masquerade(1996) byGayle Lynds,andThe Unlikely Spy(1996) byDaniel Silvamaintained the spy novel in the post–Cold Warworld. Other important American authors who first became active in spy fiction during this period includeDavid Ignatius,Agents of Innocence(1997);David Baldacci,Saving Faith(1999); andVince Flynn,withTerm Limits(1999) and a series of novels featuring counter-terrorism expert Mitch Rapp.

In 1993, the American novelistPhilip RothpublishedOperation Shylock,an account of his supposed work as a Mossad spy in Greece.The book was published as a novel, but Roth insisted that the book was not a novel as he argued that the book was presented only as a novel in order to give it deniability.At the end of the book, the character of Philip Roth is ordered to publish the account as a novel, and it ends with Roth the character saying: "And I became quite convinced that it was my interest to do that...I'm just a good Mossadnik".

In the UK,Robert Harrisentered the spy genre withEnigma(1995). Other important British authors who became active during this period includeHugh Laurie,The Gun Seller(1996);Andy McNab,Remote Control(1998);Henry Porter,Remembrance Day(2000); andCharles Cumming,A Spy By Nature(2001).

Post–9/11

The terrorist attacks against the US on 11 September 2001, and the subsequentWar on Terror,reawakened interest in the peoples and politics of the world beyond its borders. Espionage genre elders such as John le Carré, Frederick Forsyth,Robert Littell,andCharles McCarryresumed work, and many new authors emerged.

Important British writers who wrote their first spy novels during this period includeStephen Leather,Hard Landing(2004); andWilliam Boyd,Restless(2006).

New American writers includeBrad Thor,The Lions of Lucerne(2002);Ted Bell,Hawke(2003);Alex Berenson,with John Wells appearing for the first time inThe Faithful Spy(2006);Brett Battles,The Cleaner(2007); Ellis Goodman,Bear Any Burden(2008);Olen Steinhauer,The Tourist(2009); and Richard Ferguson,Oiorpata(2012). A number of other established writers began to write spy fiction for the first time, includingKyle Mills,Fade(2005) andJames Patterson,Private(2010).

SwedeStieg Larsson,who died in 2004, was the world's second best-selling author for 2008 due to hisMillennium series,featuring Lisbeth Salander, published posthumously between 2005 and 2007. Other authors of note include AustralianJames Phelan,beginning withFox Hunt(2010).

Recognising the importance of the thriller genre, including spy fiction,International Thriller Writers(ITW) was established in 2004, and held its first conference in 2006.

Insider spy fiction

Many authors of spy fiction have themselves been intelligence officers working for British agencies such as MI5 or MI6, or American agencies such as the OSS or its successor, the CIA. 'Insider' spy fiction has a special claim to authenticity and overlaps with biographical and other documentary accounts of secret service.

The first insider fiction emerged after World War 1 as the thinly disguised reminiscences of former British intelligence officers such asW. Somerset Maugham,Alexander Wilson,andCompton Mackenzie.The tradition continued during World War II withHelen MacInnesandManning Coles.

Notable British examples from the Cold War period and beyond includeIan Fleming,John le Carré,Graham Greene,Brian Cleeve,Ian Mackintosh,Kenneth Benton,Bryan Forbes,Andy McNabandChris Ryan.Notable American examples includeCharles McCarry,William F. Buckley Jr.,W. E. B. GriffinandDavid Hagberg.

Many post-9/11period novels are written by insiders.At the CIA, the number of manuscripts submitted for pre-publication vetting doubled between 1998 and 2005.American examples includeBarry Eisler,A Clean Kill in Tokyo(2002); Charles Gillen,Saigon Station(2003);R J Hillhouse,Rift Zone(2004); Gene Coyle,The Dream Merchant of Lisbon(2004) andNo Game For Amateurs(2009);Thomas F. Murphy,Edge of Allegiance(2005); Mike Ramsdell,A Train to Potevka(2005);T. H. E. Hill,Voices Under Berlin(2008); Duane Evans,North from Calcutta(2009);Jason Matthews,Red Sparrow(2013).;andT.L. Williams,Zero Day: China's Cyber Wars(2017).

British examples includeThe Code Snatch(2001) byAlan Stripp,formerly a cryptographer atBletchley Park;At Risk(2004),Secret Asset(2006),Illegal Action(2007), andDead Line(2008), byDame Stella Rimington(Director General of MI5from 1992 to 1996); andMatthew Dunn'sSpycatcher(2011) and sequels.

Spy television and cinema

Cinema

Much spy fiction was adapted asspy filmsin the 1960s, ranging from the fantasticalJames Bond seriesto the realisticThe Spy Who Came in from the Cold(1965), and the hybridThe Quiller Memorandum(1966). While Hamilton'sMatt Helmnovels were adult and well written, their cinematic interpretations were adolescentparody.This phenomenon spread widely in Europe in the 1960s and is known as theEurospygenre.

English-languagespy filmsof the 2000s includeThe Bourne Identity(2002),Mission: Impossible(1996);Munich(2005),Syriana(2005), andThe Constant Gardener(2005).

Among thecomedy filmsfocusing on espionage are 1974'sS*P*Y*S,1985'sSpies Like Us,and theAustin Powersfilm series starringMike Myers.

Television

The American adaptation ofCasino Royale(1954) featured Jimmy Bond in an episode of theClimax!anthology series. The narrative tone of television espionage ranged from the drama ofDanger Man(1960–68) to the sardonicism ofThe Man from U.N.C.L.E(1964–68) and the flippancy ofI Spy(1965–68) until the exaggeration, akin to that of William Le Queux and E. Phillips Oppenheim before theFirst World War(1914–18), degenerated to the parody ofGet Smart(1965–70).

In 1973, Semyonov's novelSeventeen Moments of Spring(1968) was adapted to television as a twelve-part mini-series about the Soviet spyMaksim Isaevoperating in wartimeNazi Germanyas Max Otto von Stierlitz, charged with preventing a separate peace between Nazi Germany and America which would exclude the USSR. The programmeTASS Is Authorized to Declare...also derives from his work.

However, the circle closed in the late 1970s whenThe Sandbaggers(1978–80) presented the grit and bureaucracy of espionage.

In the 1980s, US television featured the light espionage programmesAirwolf(1984–87) andMacGyver(1985–92), each rooted in the Cold War yet reflecting American citizens' distrust of their government, after the crimes of theNixonGovernment (the internal, political espionage of theWatergate Scandaland theVietnam War) were exposed. The spy heroes were independent of government; MacGyver, in later episodes and post-DXS employment, works for a non-profit, privatethink tank,and aviator Hawke and two friends work free-lance adventures. Although each series features anintelligence agency,the DXS inMacGyver,and the FIRM, inAirwolf,its agents could alternately serve as adversaries as well as allies for the heroes.

Television espionage programmes of the late 1990s to the early 2010s includeLa Femme Nikita(1997–2001),Alias(2001–2006),24(2001–2010, 2014),Spooksin the UK (release asMI-5in the US and Canada) (2002-2011),NCIS(2003–present), CBBC'sThe Secret Show(2006-2011), NBC'sChuck(2007-2012), FX'sArcher(2009–2023),Burn Notice,Covert Affairs,Homeland,The Americansand ABC'sAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.(2013-2020).

In 2015,Deutschland 83is a German television series starring a 24-year-old native of East Germany who is sent to the West as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi.

For children and adolescents

Books and novels

In every medium, spy thrillers introduce children and adolescents to deception and espionage at earlier ages. The genre ranges from action-adventure, such asChris Ryan'sAlpha Forceseries, through the historical espionage dramas of Y. S. Lee, to the girl orientation ofAlly Carter'sGallagher Girlsseries, beginning withI'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You.

Leading examples include theAgent Cody Banksfilm, theAlex Rideradventure novels byAnthony Horowitz,and theCHERUBseries, byRobert Muchamore.Ben Allsop, one of England's youngest novelists, also writes spy fiction. His titles includeSharpandThe Perfect Kill.

Other authors writing for adolescents includeA. J. Butcher,Joe Craig,Charlie Higson,Andy McNabandFrancine Pascal.

Films and shows

Spy-related films that are aimed towards younger audiences include movies such as theSpy Kidsseries of films andThe Spy Next Door.Shows and series in this category also include asubplotofPhineas and FerbfollowingPerry the Platypusin his attempt to sabotageDoofenshmirtz'splans to take over the geographically ambiguousTri-state area.However, theCartoon NetworkshowCodename: Kids Next Dooris solely focused on the eponymous Kids Next Door organization, consisting of child spies andchild soldiersfighting and spying on adult andteenagevillains, who arepersonificationsof the things children dislike while growing up (e.g.bullying,grounding,homework,going to thedentist,going toschool,beingforce-fedvegetables,getting banned from drinkingsoda,helicopter parenting,piano lessons,andspanking), and whilst not being traditional government sponsored intelligence, the Kids Next Door market themselves as so. Another example of a kids' show in the spy genre isDisney'sKim Possible,which centers on theeponymous protagonistas she fights megalomaniac villains in a similar manner toJames Bond,while foiling the evil plans of the main antagonist of the show,Dr. Drakken.

Video games, tabletop roleplaying games and theme parks

In contemporary digital video games, the player can be a vicarious spy, as inTeam Fortress 2and theMetal Gear series,especially in the series' third installment,Metal Gear Solid,unlike the games of thethird-person shootergenre,Syphon Filter,andSplinter Cell.The games feature complex stories and cinematic images. Games such asNo One Lives Foreverand the sequelNo One Lives Forever 2:A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Wayhumorously combine espionage and 1960s design.Evil Genius,areal-time strategygame and contemporary of theNo One Lives Foreverseries, allows the player to take on the role of the villain in a setting heavily influenced by spy thriller fiction like theJames Bondseries.

TheDeus Exseries, particularlyDeus Ex: Human RevolutionandDeus Ex: Mankind Divided,are also examples of spy fiction. ProtagonistAdam Jensenmust frequently use spycraft and stealth to obtain sensitive information for a variety of clients and associates.

Top Secret,TSR, Inc.,(1980) is acontemporaryespionage-themedtabletop role-playing game

James Bond 007:Role-Playing In Her Majesty's Secret Service,Victory Games(1983), is atabletop roleplaying gamebased on Flemming's 007 novels.

ActivisionpublishedSpycraft: The Great Game(1996), notable for the collaboration with former CIA directorWilliam Colbyand former KGB Major-GeneralOleg Kalugin,who also appear in the game as themselves.

Namco Bandai'sTime Crisisseries oflight gun shooterscenters on the exploits of a fictional multinationalintelligence agencycalled the VSSE (Vital Situation, Swift Elimination), whose agents, armed with alicense to kill,must stop terrorists and megalomaniac villains in a similar manner toMission: Impossibleand theJames Bondmovies.

TheSpylandespionage theme park, in theGran Scalapleasure dome, in Zaragoza province, Spain, opened in 2012.

Subgenres

• Spy comedy: usuallyparodytheclichésandcampelements characteristic to the espionage genre.
• Spy horror: spy fiction withhorror fiction.
• Spy-fi:spy fiction with elements ofscience fiction.
• Spy thriller: the most common subgenre of spy fiction

Notable writers

Deceased

• Edward Aarons
• Eric Ambler
• Desmond Bagley
• Kenneth Benton
• John Buchan
• William F. Buckley Jr.
• Leslie Charteris
• Erskine Childers
• Tom Clancy
• Andrew Britton
• Brian Cleeve
• Manning Coles
• Jonathan de Shalit
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Joseph Conrad
• James Fenimore Cooper
• Desmond Cory
• Ian Fleming
• Vince Flynn
• Bryan Forbes
• David Hagberg
• Colin Forbes
• John Gardner
• William Garner
• Michael Gilbert
• Graham Greene
• Adam Hall
• Donald Hamilton
• Jack Higgins
• Reginald Hill
• E. Howard Hunt
• Rudyard Kipling
• Stieg Larsson
• John le Carré
• Gaston Leroux
• Paul Linebarger
• Robert Ludlum
• Charles McCarry
• Helen MacInnes
• Ian Mackintosh
• Alistair MacLean
• Norman Mailer
• Somerset Maugham
• James Munro
• Manning O'Brine
• E. Phillips Oppenheim
• Baroness Orczy
• Anthony Price
• William le Queux
• Ibn-e-Safi
• Raymond Harold Sawkins
• Desmond Skirrow
• Cordwainer Smith
• Craig Thomas
• Ross Thomas
• Gérard de Villiers
• Dennis Wheatley
• Alexander Wilson
• Charlie Flowers
• W. E. B. Griffin
• Jason Matthews
• Ted Bell
• Qazi Anwar Hussain

Living

• David Baldacci
• Brett Battles
• Raymond Benson
• Alex Berenson
• William Boyd
• Sean Buckley
• A. J. Butcher
• Ally Carter
• Stephen Coonts
• Gene Coyle
• Joe Craig
• Charles Cumming
• Jeffery Deaver
• Jim DeFelice
• Len Deighton
• Nelson DeMille
• Adam Diment
• David Downing
• Matthew Dunn
• Tatsuya Endo
• Barry Eisler
• Duane Evans
• Joseph Finder
• Richard Ferguson
• Ken Follett
• Frederick Forsyth
• Brian Freemantle
• Alan Furst
• Charles E. Gillen
• Ellis Goodman
• James Grady
• John Griffin
• Jan Guillou
• Robert Harris
• Mick Herron
• Charlie Higson
• T. H. E. Hill
• R J Hillhouse
• Joseph Hone
• Anthony Horowitz
• Noel Hynd
• David Ignatius
• Joseph Kanon
• Hugh Laurie
• Stephen Leather
• Y. S. Lee
• Robert Littell
• Gayle Lynds
• Andy McNab
• Kyle Mills
• David Morrell
• Robert Muchamore
• Thomas F. Murphy
• James Patterson
• James Phelan
• Henry Porter
• Mike Ramsdell
• Stella Rimington
• Chris Ryan
• Gerald Seymour
• Daniel Silva
• Olen Steinhauer
• Alan Stripp
• Khaled Talib(Smokescreen)
• Ron Terpening
• Brad Thor
• T.L. Williams

See also

• History of espionage
• Spy-fi
• Spy film
• List of fictional secret agents
• List of thriller writers
• Thriller (genre)
• List of genres
• Category:Spy films
• Category:Espionage television series
• Category:Espionage television series by country

References

• Aronoff, Myron J.The Spy Novels of John Le Carré: Balancing Ethics and Politics(1999).
• Bong, InYoung (Spring 2014). "A" White Race "without Supremacy: Russians, Racial Hybridity, and Liminality in the Chinese Literature of Manchukuo".Modern Chinese Literature and Culture.26(1): 137–190.
• Britton, Wesley.Spy Television.The Prager Television Collection. Series Ed. David Bianculli. Westport, CT and London: Praeger, 2004.ISBN0-275-98163-0.
• Britton, Wesley.Beyond Bond: Spies in Fiction and Film.Westport, CT and London: Praeger, 2005.ISBN0-275-98556-3.
• Britton, Wesley.Onscreen & Undercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage.Westport, CT and London: Praeger, 2006.ISBN0-275-99281-0.
• Cawelti, John G.The Spy Story(1987)
• Jens, Erik (June 2017). "Cold War Spy Fiction in Russian Popular Culture: From Suspicion to Acceptance viaSeventeen Moments of Spring".Studies in Intelligence.61(2): 37–47.
• Polmar, Norman; Allen, Thomas (1998).The Spy Book The Encyclopedia of Espionage.New York: Random House.ISBN0-375-70249-0.
• Priestman, Martin, ed.The Cambridge Companion to Crime Fiction(2003).
• Ripley, Mike (2017).Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: The Boom in British Thrillers from Casino Royale to The Eagle Has Landed.London: HarperCollins.ISBN9780008172237.

External links

• WorldCat Spy Stories