Spy vs. Guy fiction

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This page is the core of the fiction - "literary espionage," "the literary thriller," or maybe spy novels rather than spy novels. No one really seems to know what to call it, but it's completely distinctive. I call it Spy Vs. Guy, because that seems to be the main conflict: instead of the story being about which side spies better than the other (or averts some catastrophe), it's about the war between "spying" and "me" inside a character's head.

The distinction between these stories and Thrillers is independently described in two other works: The Silent Game: The Real World of Imaginary Spies and The Man Who Kept the Secrets. See as well Spy Fiction: A Connoisseur's Guide.

I'm serious about the kids' books being in there, too. The hero of Harriet the Spy almost becomes the anti-hero of A Perfect Spy, and fortunately does not succeed. The Stasi presence in Freya on the Wall is serious business.

1 The central authors and books
2 Older & related works
3 Kids' books
4 One-shots
5 Films and TV
6 Stage Plays

[edit] The central authors and books

Not all of each author's work is listed here; you'll see more complete lists by clicking on each.

Ted Allbeury: The Judas Factor, A Wilderness of Mirrors, The Seeds of Treason, The Crossing

Eric Ambler: Background to Danger, Epitaph for a Spy, State of Siege, The Dark Frontier, Waiting for Orders, The Mask of Dimitrios [A Coffin for Dimitrios], Doctor Frigo, The Intercom Conspiracy, Journey into Fear, Passage of Arms, The Light of Day, Cause for Alarm, A Kind of Anger, Judgment on Deltchev

Len Deighton: Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match; Spy Hook, Spy Line, Spy Sinker; The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, Billion Dollar Brain, Yesterday's Spy, Spy Story; Catch a Falling Spy, Twinkle Twinkle Little Spy

David Cornwell/John le Carré: Call for the Dead, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, The Looking-Glass War, A Small Town in Germany, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy, Smiley's People, The Little Drummer Girl, A Perfect Spy, The Russia House, The Secret Pilgrim, The Night Manager, Our Game, The Tailor of Panama, Absolute Friends, The Mission Song

Charles Cumming: A Spy By Nature, The Hidden Man, The Spanish Game

David Ignatius: A Firing Offense, Siro, Agents of Innocence, The Bank of Fear, Body of Lies

James Grady: Six Days of the Condor, Shadow of the Condor, River of Darkness, Thunder

Joseph Kanon: The Good German, The Prodigal Spy

Robert Littell: An Agent in Place, Walking Back the Cat, The Amateur, The Company: a Novel of the CIA, The Once and Future Spy, Legends: a Novel of Dissimulation, The Debriefing, The Defection of A.J. Lewinter, The Sisters, The Visiting Professor, Vicious Circle

Charles McCarry: The Miernik Dossier (note: McCarry's other novels are fairly placed in Thrillers instead)

Henry Porter: Brandenburg Gate

Anthony Price: The Labyrinth Makers, Here Be Monsters

John Trenhaile: The Man Called Kyril, A View from the Square, Nocturne for the General

W. T. Tyler/S. J. Hamrick: Ants of God, The Man Who Lost the War, The Lion and the Jackal, Rogue's March, Last Train From Berlin

Robert Wilson: The Company of Strangers, The Blind Man of Seville

[edit] Older & related works

Anthony Burgess: Tremor of Intent

Joseph Conrad: The Secret Agent, Under Western Eyes

Graham Greene: The Burnt-Out Case, The Human Factor, The Heart of the Matter, The Captain and the Enemy, Our Man in Havana, The Quiet American, The Confidential Agent, The Third Man (II)

Christopher Isherwood: The Last of Mr. Norris,

Compton Mackenzie: The Three Couriers, Extremes Meet

Norman Mailer: Harlot's Ghost

William Somerset Maugham: Ashenden

[edit] Kids' books

T. Degens: Freya on the Wall

Louise Fitzhugh: Harriet the Spy

[edit] One-shots

Kind of a grab-bag category including novelists who published one book and then vanished, young authors with only one or two books so far, limited excursions into spy fiction by more general authors, politicians, spies, or journalists who felt an overwhelming need to write fiction too, for a bit. A couple are two- or three-shots, of course.

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen: Burn After Reading (II)

Anthony Firth: The Limbo Affair

Brian Garfield: Hopscotch, Checkpoint Charlie

Ian Goult: From Russia a Virgin

Joe Haldeman: All My Sins Remembered, Tool of the Trade

John Hale: The Whistle Blower

Gary Hart and William Cohen: Double Man

Burton Hersh: The Nature of the Beast

T.H.E. Hill: Voices Under Berlin: The Tale of a Monterey Mary

Raelynn Hillhouse: Rift Zone

William Hood: Spy Wednesday, Cry Spy, The Sunday Spy

Aaron Latham: Orchids for Mother