Book picks similar to
The KGB File of Andrei Sakharov by Joshua Rubenstein
espionage
rusland
russian-history
soviet-history
A Ryan Weller Box Set Books 1 - 3
Evan Graver - 2019
A ruthless gang of pirates. A terrifying menace buried in the ocean’s depths… Ryan Weller misses the surge of adrenaline from his days as an explosives expert. So, when his friend recruits him for an anti-terrorist organization, he gladly leaps back into dangerous waters. But he could be in over his head when his first mission puts him on the trail of deadly outlaws in the Florida Keys…Scuba diving for clues among the shipwrecks, he discovers a sinister connection with Mexican arms smugglers. And when the merciless bandits come gunning for his blood, he suspects there may be a threat to the entire U.S. lurking beneath the surface.Can Ryan stop a massive conspiracy on the high seas, or will he end up scuttled?Dark Water is the first book in the fast-paced Ryan Weller thriller series. If you like ocean adventures, non-stop action, and smack-talking heroes, then you’ll love Evan Graver’s pulse-pounding tale. Dark Ship Ryan Weller has a grudge. The former Navy EOD tech wants to put international arms dealer Jim Kilroy out of business. Kilroy's mistake was selling arms to the Aztlan Cartel who tried to start a war with the U.S. Ryan leverages his contacts at Homeland Security to gain information about Kilroy, but Kilroy has the blessing of the U.S. government, and Ryan's efforts are unsanctioned. Instead of putting Kilroy out of business, Ryan finds himself partnering with the arms dealer to deliver a ship full of weapons to a Haitian warlord. Not only has Kilroy threatened the lives of his family and friends but he has threatened to turn him into the cartel to collect the two-million-dollar bounty. Can Ryan navigate bounty hunters, rival warlords, and a hurricane to survive? Dark Horse Ryan Weller has gold fever. He knows where the Santo Domingo lies below three hundred and fifty of seawater. Unfortunately, he no longer works for Dark Water Research and he must find his own salvage vessel and crew. Retrieving the gold won't be easy at depths man wasn't meant to go. Surviving the savage ocean might be the least of his worries. Ryan is also caught between a ruthless Haitian warlord and international arms dealer, Jim Kilroy, both eager to reclaim the prize. Kilroy will stop at nothing to force Ryan to cooperate, including kidnapping Ryan's beautiful ex-girlfriend, Emily Hunt. The gold for Emily. But the warlord demands a ransom too, the gold for his life. Can Ryan escape with the girl and the gold? Reviews Ryan Weller is a true hero! - Debby A I loved this book. I couldn't put it down. I am starting the second book in the series now. I'm hooked. - Patriciaddumas Well researched, well written , worth the investment in time to enjoy. - Bill Black
Espionage - London
John Day - 2017
A simple idea became the miracle Hitler needed, to bring Britain to its knees over night. Not only that, but it would save both German and British lives and leave the infrastructure of the English towns and cities intact. This character driven story of intrigue and guile will transport you back in time to Alderney and the back streets of London, on a suicide mission. Discover the details of Germany's plan and it’s execution, exposing the best kept secret of WW2. Timing is everything, and a cruel twist of fate changes history. A super-intense John Day Thriller.
Hellyer's Trip
Philip Prowse - 2018
Not as a diplomat – that takes years to perfect – but as someone undercover, someone who’s not what they seem.’ ‘You don’t work for us and never have worked for us. This is what we would put out if you were rumbled. A rogue, a loose cannon — choose your cliché.’ Nick Hellyer is an accidental spy. Expelled in disgrace from Cambridge, he’s hurled into the contradictory and vibrant city of Alexandria as Egypt heads towards the 1967 Arab–Israeli War. His double life as a secret agent mirrors the duplicities of his relationships. But when he stumbles on a war-changing secret, who can he trust not to betray or abandon him? For fans of Charles Cumming and Philip Kerr
The Serpent's Egg
J.J. Toner - 2016
But this is Germany, 1938. Their union is against Nazi laws, as Anna is part-Jewish. A Gestapo officer agrees to authorize the marriage, but only if Max infiltrates and betrays a Marxist resistance cell, the Red Orchestra. This is not an assignment that Max can refuse. If he succeeds, Anna will get the wedding she longs for, but many brave resistance fighters will die… What early reviewers are saying about the book: JJ Toner does a fabulous job of lacing fact and fiction together. I do not often give a five-star rating, but this story surprised me, educated me, and entertained me. There was never a dull moment. Well done. JJ Toner captures perfectly the sense of paranoia and fear that prevailed in Berlin during the Third Reich, especially in the years 1938 to 1945. The convoluted intermingling of different agencies, organizations and ministries, and over all the terror of the SS and its departments, is well set out. It was really a matter of who you knew, not what you knew, if you wanted to progress. The fact that the novel is based on the actual story of the Rote Kapelle only adds to the tension
I-SPY : A peep into the world of Spies
Amit Bagaria - 2019
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.
GOD & SPIES: RECENTLY DECLASSIFIED TOP SECRET OPERATION
Garry Matheny - 2018
Author GM Matheny was a US Navy saturation diver on the nuclear submarine USS Halibut. Involved in Operation Ivy Bells. America's most important (and most dangerous of the Cold War) clandestine operations. If you like good old fashioned American bravado, espionage and American history, you will enjoy this book. GOD & SPIES is a firsthand account of America's greatest intelligence coup! Operation Ivy Bells was not a onetime intercept of foreign intelligence but an ongoing operation of multiple Soviet military channels! Another reason for the high interest in our operation was the audacious nature in which it was done—with not one person risking his neck but the crews of two US Navy nuclear submarines which rendezvoused in Soviet territorial waters. “How did I end up as a navy diver, four hundred feet down in a frigid Russian sea? After making my dad totally disgusted with me, I set out to make him happy. ‘Honor thy father’ - I struggled with a decision to serve God. ‘Lord, I will give my life to you and serve you if you let me make this dive.’ But I had the impression He only wanted to know one thing: ‘What if I do not let you? Will you serve me anyway?’”
The Aviator: A Novel of the Sino-American War (The Aviator: Stories of Future Wars Book 1)
Craig DiLouie - 2021
The Assassin's Betrayal
Auston King - 2020
A trained killer. A spy. He'd done bad things, for bad people.He knew what he was. He was a monster.When he was given a target, he'd execute his orders with little prejudice.Clinical efficiency was all that mattered.But his current mission finds himself confronted with the past. And like a bad hangover, the painful memories of what he'd done to get to where he is have left him weak and vulnerable.The only the way out, is to go through hell.He has to kill the woman he loves.If he doesn't, Washington, D.C. will go up in flames.The Assassin's Betrayal is Auston King's shocking debut thriller. It's raw, gritty, and full of twists and turns that will shock you.
Eagle's Claw
Morgan Jameson - 2017
But the Gestapo needs a man-hunter to apprehend an Allied agent who has killed three men, and worse, absconded with Top Secret Luftwaffe documents which detail a secret plan that could alter the course of the war. The Reich cannot let the information, and the man who stole it, make it back to Allied territory. The deal? Catch the killer and the Gestapo will free his family from the death camp where they are jailed. Fail...
The Spy in a Box
Ralph Dennis - 2019
Will Hall is a CIA agent in a South American country on the brink of Civil War. But when the moderate, rebel leader that Hall covertly supported is assassinated, the spy resigns and retreats to a cabin in the North Carolina woods. His quiet, civilian life is shattered when an unknown adversary frames him for revealing Agency secrets, putting a kill-on-sight target on his back. Hall runs in a global chase to evade death, clear his name, and free himself from the flawless "box job" that could become his coffin. Praise for Ralph Dennis: "A breathless, lean noir thriller. Every line is razor sharp. Jason Bourne fans will find a lot to like." Publishers Weekly "Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment." New York Times "Believable and constantly thrilling." The Spy Guys & Gals Site "His prose is muscular, swift and highly readable. " Joe R. Lansdale, New York Times bestselling author "Exceptional characterization, strong and vigorous prose." Mystery Scene Magazine "Straight-up, hardboiled crime fiction, written in a tight, evocative voice with a wicked, dark sense of humor." Lee Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author
Deep Blue
Alan Judd - 2017
During a time of political disruption and rising anti-nuclear sentiment, MI5 discovers that an extremist fringe group, Action Against Austerity, appears to have links to an established political party while planning sabotage using something or someone called Deep Blue. Banned from investigating British political parties, the head of MI5 seeks advice from Charles Thoroughgood, his opposite number in MI6. Agreeing to help unofficially with the case, Charles must delve deep into his own past, to an unresolved Cold War case linked to his private life. Using the past as key to the present, he soon finds himself in a race against time to prevent a plot which is politically nuclear … Authoritative and packed with in-depth knowledge, Deep Blue is a gripping new spy thriller from a master of the genre.‘Judd infuses his writing with insider knowledge’ New Statesman
The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia's Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB
Andrei Soldatov - 2010
While Vladimir Putin has been president and prime minister of Russia, the Kremlin has deployed the security services to intimidate the political opposition, reassert the power of the state, and carry out assassinations overseas. At the same time, its agents and spies were put beyond public accountability and blessed with the prestige, benefits, and legitimacy lost since the Soviet collapse.The security services have played a central— and often mysterious—role at key turning points in Russia during these tumultuous years: from the Moscow apartment house bombings and theater siege, to the war in Chechnya and the Beslan massacre. The security services are not all-powerful; they have made clumsy and sometimes catastrophic blunders. But what is clear is that after the chaotic 1990s, when they were sidelined, they have made a remarkable return to power, abetted by their most famous alumnus, Putin.
The Spy Who Swapped Shoes
Geoffrey Davison - 2011
A deadly game of cat and mouse — but who has the upper hand? Eastern Europe, 1964 Three men and a woman are seated in a train carriage travelling from Istanbul to Vienna. As they cross the Bulgarian border, a fourth man enters and joins them. That man ends up dead. The other passengers get to work transforming a British agent into a Soviet spy – taking the dead man’s clothes and stealing his identity. Under hypnosis, the British agent must forget all memories of his past. That life is gone, and he is now Comrade Dimitri Nickovitch. But will the months of training be enough? Can the British agent infiltrate the Soviet camp? Or could this foray through the Iron Curtain be his last…? THE SPY WHO SWAPPED SHOES is the first classic international Cold War mystery in the Stephen Fletcher espionage thrillers series: intriguing political double-dealing spread over Europe and the Middle East. THE STEPHEN FLETCHER ESPIONAGE THRILLER SERIES: Book One: The Spy Who Swapped Shoes Book Two: Nest of Spies Book Three: The Chessboard Spies