I am sure you’ve seen at least one, if not more of the 26 films made on fictional British spy 007. You may’ve also seen TV shows like The Americans, Blindspot, Chuck, Covert Affairs, Homeland, Nikita, Quantico, The Blacklist, and/or The Night Manager. I wrote this book after I realised that the average person may not know even one-sixth of what I know about spies and spying. Almost each of the Top 50 nations (by GDP, population or military power) has a spy agency/service. Many countries have more than one ‘secret service’ or ‘intelligence agency’. USA has 16. Some countries’ spy agencies are more powerful than entire smaller nations, with annual budgets larger than their GDPs. This books attempts to tell the story of 20 of the world’s largest and most powerful spy agencies, details their important missions, reveals their darkest secrets, and gives you an inside perspective of the often quite gory but thrilling ‘world of spies’. It gives you a 360º view of those spy agencies you only read about or see in a movie or TV show. With one chapter per agency, you can read only chapters you may be interested in. The life of most spies is not as glamorous as it is made out to be. You may think it is all about high-tech and guns and car chases and ‘hot’ women, but that’s not the case. In the real spy world, the techniques boil down to the interpretation of basic human psychology. Even though a spy learns several action techniques on how to get out of a dangerous situation, including how to withstand torture, if he/she is resorting to car chases, it means they’re doing something wrong. Spies don’t get paid very well. Gambling at a casino or flying on a private jet may be part of the job, but a spy doesn’t get to spend this kind of money on personal expenses. Spies cannot disclose the nature of their work to their family and friends, to maintain secrecy. Many have to live away from home for weeks, months, even years. Married life is a mess, as the spouse starts suspecting the spy of having an affair. Who can become a spy? Do you need a law enforcement (police) or military background? Not really. Spies have degrees as diverse as law, political science, finance, economics – even professional athletes have become successful spies.

    

    The man who will help him is U.S. Marshal One-Eyed Jack Black, a one-time famous gunslinger with an unquestionable reputation who has realized the times are changing and the need for his kind is dwindling – that is until outlaw Steele Hellstrom turns up on the scene. Action-packed with a dash of romance and humor, Seven Killers is Amazon’s bestseller author Ash Lingam’s best novel to date.

    She knows God handed her a life of hardship, especially when her Dad gives her away in marriage to a man she doesn't know. However, she proves to be a true mountain girl with spirit, determination, feistiness and fiery spunk. Laine's unabashed account of events, before and during the first months of her marriage, draws the reader spellbound into a story that will linger like mists shrouding distant mountains.

    That is until a beautiful raven-haired whirlwind blows into his life. Nisha Raine is a free-spirited, unstoppable force. She races into town on a coal-black mare with the speed of a hurricane and the heart of a champion, intent on competing in the Dawson Derby. When Nisha and Eric meet, a clash of wills ensues. However, neither can deny their intense attraction. Can they bridge the divide and cross the finish line together, or will their differences make them falter and lose the race?

    Determined to keep the family together, Zetta and their toddlers join Asa and her brothers at the Golden Gate coal camp just before Christmas 1922. She is eight months pregnant. During the first week in the dismal camp, Zetta suffers fearful nightmares of cut trees and fresh dirt--Appalachian signs of trouble. Asa dismisses his wife's pleas to return to their farm, insisting their three-month stay will provide the $400 they need to give their children better lives. Disappointed, Zetta draws strength from her plump red-haired neighbor, Dosha, and the strong willed granny woman, Clarie, who will deliver her baby. And each morning, she thanks the Lord they are one more day closer to home. Or are they?

     As an adult, she is armed with skills that most would covet, yet she lives in a boarding house, works as a waitress and struggles financially. Most single women in the area didn’t stay single long. Most, but not her. The one man she had said yes to was dragging his feet. The townspeople all agree she is in need of a husband. Even the young girls in her Sunday School Class have taken action and writing an ad for the paper. Wanted: Husband for Rebecca Mueller. **Must be handsome, nice, like children, and live within walking distance of Carrie Town School. Will her circumstances change and allow her to hold out for true love?

    . . a real page turner' Sheila Newberry 1860s London Orphaned at a young age, Rosa has always looked out for her younger sister, Grace, protecting her from the dangers and bullies of the workhouse.So when Grace is suddenly faced with a world without Rosa, she finds herself alone and forced to make difficult decisions about her future. Can she really walk away from everything she has built to protect the children Rosa has left behind?Returning to the gang-ruled streets of south-east London, Grace is determined to build a better future for herself and for the children of Bell Lane - no matter what the cost . . .

    Adultery. Betrayal. Murder. Hattie Durham committed some Unthinkable Sins in her lifetime, but now she’s gone, leaving her three sons and their wives behind to deal with the fallout. THE SONS… Junior – wants to escape his past as he learns the truth about how his mother died. But will his need for revenge and his own past sins come between him and the family he loves? Carl – has been carrying a terrible secret alone all these years and can’t bear the weight anymore. Can he keep it together with his family’s help or will the burden break him? Jerome – is blessed with everything a man could want – influence, power and a destiny to fulfill. But when life deals him an unexpected blow, will the family have his back or will they fall apart around him? …AND THEIR WIVES Donetta – finds her self-confidence growing along with her doubts about her husband’s fidelity. Are their marriage vows enough to keep her in the family now that she has what it takes to make it on her own? Trudy – senses the strain on the family in the wake of her mother-in-law’s death. Will she able to help keep the ones she loves from self-destructing or is her own life in danger? Susan – managed to escape an uncertain past, leaving behind a few bodies in her wake. Will her dreams of love and success finally come true or ultimately be overshadowed by Hattie Durham’s death? Find out now in UNTHINKABLE SINS 2: The Family

    She's lost her home in a bomb attack, and with her husband in the army, her daughters evacuated to Wales, and her mother killed and father injured in the attack, Ruth is left to face the devastation alone. But she finds comfort in the camaraderie of the Civil Defence office where she works and in her friendship with Lucy, a clippie on the buses. Lucy's husband is at sea, and the two women dream of the day when they'll be reunited with their loved ones. But as victory approaches, Ruth finds that the legacy of war is more powerful than even she had imagined...

    The year is 1805 and Nelson has robbed the French of their way across The Channel, but Napoleon’s Grande Armee’ remains a potent threat. Faced with this, the Secretary of State for War gathered all possible forces to resist invasion. This included sweeping up into Detachment Battalions the surviving soldiers of various minor disasters and combining them together with a very much less than re-assuring mixture of recruits. This is the story of one such Battalion, a collection of veterans, social outcasts, untried Militia, volunteers, criminals and poachers who march and train together until the desperate British military deem them fit to be part of General Stuart’s army that invades Calabria to support one the few allies Britain has, the King of Naples. There they confront a veteran French army on the plains of Maida for the first set piece confrontation between the armies of Great Britain and Napoleon’s all-conquering forces. At the campaign’s end, as a Detachment Battalion, usually considered as inherently inferior, they could be broken up and sent to reinforce under strength, well established, Regiments. Or, perhaps, by their own deeds and prowess, they deserve to be recognised as a numbered Regiment, and be““Worth Their Colours.”

     American Xanthe Schneider finds herself catapulted into the world of British espionage, and is sent into the heart of Nazi Germany: Berlin. Her task? To find out whether Ralph Lancing-Price – a former government minister she had known briefly in London – is a patriot or traitor. And what of the code he talked about so abstrusely? Using her guise as an American correspondent, Xanthe sets out to find him. But not all is what it seems. Xanthe soon becomes drawn into a web of intrigue involving a project entitled "Enigma" - and she also unexpectedly falls in love. As the weeks go by, and Germany begins to mobilise its armies, Xanthe has to question who she can trust - and how she can survive? The Berlin Affair is a page-turning thriller, full of historical insight and dramatic reversals of fortune. A must read for fans of Robert Harris, David Downing and Alan Furst. Praise for David Boyle ‘Authentic and compelling... Boyle captures the paranoia and peril of the era.’ Roger Moorhouse, author of Berlin at War ‘The Berlin Affair is the first book in what I'm sure will prove to be a gripping series... For fans of Alan Furst and Robert Harris.’ - Richard Foreman, author of A Hero of our Time ‘Exhilarating’ - Daily Mail ‘A book that is engagingly sensitive’ Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times David Boyle is a British author and journalist who writes mainly about history and new ideas in economics, money, business and culture. He lives in Crystal Palace, London. His books include Alan Turing: Unlocking the Enigma, Before Enigma, Operation Primrose,Rupert Brooke: England’s Last Patriot, Peace on Earth: The Christmas Truce of 1914, Jerusalem: England’s National Anthem, Unheard Unseen: Warfare in the Dardanelles, Towards the Setting Sun: The Race for America and The Age to Come.

    The runaway evacuees who give her shelter call her Nellie, the only girl in 'Toff' Hecht's gang, until, yet again, tragedy strikes, and she is forced to move on. But when Nellie meets the great music hall illusionists, Monsieur and Madame Pierre - alias Bert and Doris Beckwith - her life begins again. In the magical world of bright lights and greasepaint she finds a wonderful new family. But even as she is happily stitching costumes backstage, Nellie can't stop thinking about her old life in the bombed-out rubble - and more particularly, about the restless young Jewish boy, 'Toff' Hecht...

    He is quickly disappointed when a dead body turns up floating in the Great Dismal Swamp. And this is not just any dead body. Ashley Myrtle was the wife of a prominent local politician. Greg soon discovers that Ashley, an apparent drowning victim, may have been murdered. Unfortunately, no one wants to believe him. The mayor, the woman's husband, an old boyfriend and even her coworkers seem eager to rule her death an accidental drowning. With help from a reluctant FBI agent, Greg follows a trail of small town secrets and lies to discover what really happened on that cold spring day. Refusing to give up, he discovers a vital clue deep in the swamp that leads to the killer. But justice won't be served until he can prove it was a case of murder.

    It is the late 1960s and the family enjoy an idyllic life in the Vale of Kashmir, despite the area being riddled with conflict and poverty. But after a devastating earthquake wipes out her entire family, Jaya is taken into the care of relatives in Delhi, who attempt to marry her off and keep secret from her the possibility that Tahir, her younger brother, has survived the earthquake. After escaping from the arranged marriage Jaya is put through medical training in Scotland, as she had always dreamed, and where she develops feelings for her foster family’s eldest son, Alastair, who is engaged to someone else. In the meantime, Tahir has been abducted by a band of Kashmiri freedom fighters, who have made him one of their own. Jaya finally returns to her troubled homeland to find him and come to terms with the loss of her family. Alastair, who arrives in Kashmir to announce his love for Jaya, is kidnapped by the freedom fighters, forcing her to risk everything to get him back.