Books like 'Thunderball'
Readers who enjoyed Thunderball by Ian Fleming & Simon Vance also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical action / adventure 20th century thriller espionage classics suspense crime cold-war pulp
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Five Decembers by James Kestrel
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn this novel of World War II, an American police detective trapped while trailing a killer overseas struggles to survive with only the help of a total stranger and his daughter, who risk their lives to protect him. December 1941. America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe McGrady is assigned to investigate a homicide that will change his life forever...Categorized as:
crime historical-fiction law-enforcement pulp suspense thriller 20th-century action-adventure -
Red Winter by Marc Cameron
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn this previously untold adventure, a young Jack Ryan goes behind the Iron Curtain to seek the truth about a potential Soviet defector in the most shocking entry in Tom Clancy's #1 New York Times bestselling series. 1985A top secret F117 aircraft crashes into the Nevada desert... -
Charm School by Nelson DeMille
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsRead by James NaughtonSomething very strange -- and sinister -- is going on in the Russian woods at Borodino. In a place called Mrs. Ivanova's Charm School, young KGB agents are being taught by American POW's how to be model citizens of the USA. The Soviet goal -- to infiltrate the United States undetected...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction law-enforcement political-intrigue pulp suspense -
Complete Novels: Red Harvest / The Dain Curse / The Maltese Falcon / The Glass Key / The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsComplete in one volume, the five books that created the modern American crime novelIn a few years of extraordinary creative energy, Dashiell Hammett invented the modern American crime novel... -
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Retreat, Hell! by W.E.B. Griffin
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt is the fall of 1950. The Marines have made a pivotal breakthrough at Inchon, but a roller coaster awaits them. While Douglas MacArthur chomps at the bit, intent on surging across the 38th parallel, Brigadier General Fleming Pickering works desperately to mediate the escalating battle between MacArthur and President Harry Truman...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction political-intrigue suspense thriller 20th-century -
Noble House by James Clavell
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsThe setting is Hong Kong, 1963. The action spans scarcely more than a week, but these are days of high adventure: from kidnapping and murder to financial double-dealing and natural catastrophes—fire, flood, landslide. Yet they are days filled as well with all the mystery and romance of Hong Kong—the heart of Asia—rich in every trade…money, flesh, opium, power... -
Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom New York Times–bestselling author Philip Kerr, the much-anticipated return of Bernie Gunther, our compromised former Berlin bull and unwilling SS officer. With his cover blown, he is waiting for the next move in the cat-and-mouse game that, even a decade after Germany’s defeat, continues to shadow his life...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense thriller -
Counterattack by W.E.B. Griffin
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor to America's first bold counterstrike against the Japanese on the beaches of Guadalcanal, this compelling novel takes readers to the front lines of victory and defeat... -
King Stakh’s Wild Hunt by Uladzimir Karatkevich
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsKing Stakh's Wild Hunt tells the tale of Andrey Belaretsky, a young folklorist who finds himself stranded by a storm in the castle of Marsh Firs, the seat of the fading aristocratic Yanovsky family. Offered refuge by Nadzeya, the last in the Yanovskys’ line, he learns of the family curse and terrible apparitions that portend her early death and trap her in permanent, maddening fear...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction journey law-enforcement suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
Black Cross by Greg Iles
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt is January 1944 — and as Allied troops prepare for D-day, Nazi scientists develop a toxic nerve gas that will repel and wipe out any invasion force. To salvage the planned assault, two vastly different but equally determined men are sent to infiltrate the secret concentration camp where the poison gas is being perfected on human subjects... -
The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 26 ratings"In wartime," Winston Churchill wrote, "truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies."For Britain's counterintelligence operations, this meant finding the unlikeliest agent imaginable-a history professor named Alfred Vicary, handpicked by Churchill himself to expose a highly dangerous, but unknown, traitor... -
Snow Wolf by Glenn Meade
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the heart of the Cold War, they sent him to plot the ultimate assassination. Now they want him dead...It is 1953. Joseph Stalin, the world's most tyrannical dictator, is teetering on the edge of insanity, and about to plunge the world into nuclear chaos. Only one man and one woman can penetrate the Iron Curtain and stop this madman, before it's too late.But someone inside the Kremlin knows...Categorized as:
historical-fiction espionage crime cold-war thriller suspense political-intrigue fiction -
His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 46 ratings'His Last Bow', the title story of this collection, tells how Sherlock Holmes is brought out of retirement to help the Government fight the German threat at the approach of the First World War. The Prime Minister himself requests Holmes's services to hunt down the remarkable German agent, Von Bork...Categorized as:
classics crime espionage historical-fiction law-enforcement political-intrigue realistic suspense -
Special Ops by W.E.B. Griffin
Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsW.E.B. Griffin returns to the series that launched his phenomenal career-- in an explosive new novel that pits a team of Special Forces warriors against the legendary revolutionary Che Guevara... -
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The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsMrs. Virgil (Emily) Pollifax of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was a widow with grown children. She was tired of attending her Garden Club meetings. She wanted to do something good for her country. So, naturally, she became a CIA agent. This time, the assignment sounds as tasty as a taco. A quick trip to Mexico City is on her agenda. Unfortunately, something goes wrong, and our dear Mrs...Categorized as:
classics cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction journey law-enforcement political-intrigue -
The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsThe suicide of an elderly German Jew explodes into revelation after revelation: a Mafia-like organization called Odessa, a real-life fugitive known at the "Butcher of Riga", a young German journalist turned obsessed avenger...and ultimately, of a brilliant, ruthless plot to reestablish the worldwide power of SS mass murders and to carry out Hitler's chilling "Final Solution...Categorized as:
classics cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense -
Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsOne of Sidney Sheldon's most popular and bestselling titles, repackaged and reissued for a new generation of fans. Kate Blackwell is one of the richest and most powerful women in the world. She is an enigma, a woman surrounded by a thousand unanswered questions. Her father was a diamond prospector who struck it rich beyond his wildest dreams...Categorized as:
classics crime espionage historical-fiction law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense thriller -
Blood and Honor by W.E.B. Griffin
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIf you enjoyed W. E. B. Griffin's Honor Bound, you should segue with pleasure into this involving sequel. Set in Buenos Aires in 1943, it follows the adventures of three American soldiers as they think and fight their way through a complex story about Nazi sympathizers, dedicated supporters of the Allied cause, and other people just trying to stay alive... -
Secret Army by Robert Muchamore
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBritain, 1941. The government is building a secret army of intelligence agents to work undercover, gathering information and planning sabotage operations. Henderson's boys are part of that network: kids cut adrift by the war, training for the fight of their lives. They'll have to parachute into unknown territory, travel cross-country and outsmart a bunch of adults in a daredevil exercise... -
A Quiet Flame by Philip Kerr
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPhilip Kerr returns with his best-loved character, Bernie Gunther, in the fifth novel in what is now a series: a tight, twisting, compelling thriller that is firmly rooted in history.A Quiet Flame opens in 1950... -
Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station by Dorothy Gilman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNote: This is an alternate cover edition of ISBN 0449204170.Once again, Mrs. Pollifax, the cheerful cozy little woman with the flyaway white hair and a penchant for old hats is plunged headfirst into another hair-raising CIA mission. Posing as a tourist in China, Emily Pollifax meets the sinister challenges of the Orient to safeguard a treasure for the CIA..Categorized as:
classics crime espionage historical-fiction journey law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense -
Mrs. Pollifax on Safari by Dorothy Gilman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNow the incredible Mrs. Pollifax has been sent on a safari to smoke out a very clever international assassin whose next target is the president of Zambia.“Just take a lot of pictures of everyone on that safari,” the CIA man told her. “One of them has to be our man.”It sounded simple enough. But it wasn’t. Because shortly after Mrs. Pollifax started taking pictures, someone stole her film...Categorized as:
classics crime espionage historical-fiction journey law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense -
Field Gray by Philip Kerr
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPhilip Kerr delivers a novel with the noir sensibility of Raymond Chandler, the realpolitik of vintage John le Carré, and the dark moral vision of Graham Greene...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense thriller -
London Match by Len Deighton
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWith treason epidemic in London Central, a cloud of suspicion passes over each senior agent, and each falls helplessly into Moscow Centre's brilliant, complex trap. As LONDON MATCH rushes toward its amazing climax, the ultimate, decisive confrontation is about to take place--between Samson and the British KGB agent who, from the very beginning, has held Samson's entire life in delicate balance...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction political-intrigue suspense thriller 20th-century -
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Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsBelfast, 1985, amidst the “Troubles”: Detective Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop in the Protestant RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary), struggles with burn-out as he investigates a brutal double murder and suicide. Did Michael Kelly really shoot his parents at point blank and then jump off a nearby cliff? A suicide note points to this conclusion, but Duffy suspects even more sinister circumstances...Categorized as:
crime espionage historical-fiction journey law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense thriller -
The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWhen Emily Pollifax answers the phone that Sunday morning, she quickly forgets all about her Garden Club tea that afternoon. For the voice on the other end belonged to a man she had never seen, a man from the CIA who asked her if she could leave immediately on a mission that would take her halfway across the world! What could Mrs...Categorized as:
classics cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense -
The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAn entire navy had tried to silence the guns of Navarone and failed. Full-scale attacks had been driven back. Now they were sending in just five men, each one a specialist in dealing death...Categorized as:
classics crime espionage historical-fiction political-intrigue suspense thriller 20th-century -
Spoils of Victory: A Mason Collins Novel by John A. Connell
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFrom the author of Ruins of War comes an electrifying novel featuring U.S. Army criminal investigator Mason Collins, set in the chaos of post-World War II Germany. When the Third Reich collapsed, the small town Garmisch-Partenkirchen became the home of fleeing war criminals, making it the final depository for the Nazis’ stolen riches. There are fortunes to be made on the black market...Categorized as:
cold-war crime historical-fiction law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense thriller 20th-century -
Todo lo peor by César Pérez Gellida
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSigue la Guerra fría, sigue en pie el muro que divide Alemania en dos partes. Todo lo peor sucederá en estas circunstancias.Un asesino comienza a matar. Sus víctimas son homosexuales y sus crímenes parecen tener un componente religioso... -
While Still We Live by Helen MacInnes
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsEnglish girl Sheila Matthews’ innocent holiday to Poland becomes a nightmare when the German Army invade in the summer of 1939. Working for the Polish underground as a double-agent, she plays a dangerous game, and is soon suspected by the Germans. Forced to flee to the forest and hunted by a ruthless German officer, she must rely on the dashing Captain Adam Wisniewski to help her home... -
Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel, Charles W. Bailey II
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"Gentleman Jim" Scott was a brilliant magnetic general. Like a lot of people, he believed the President was ruining the country. Unlike anyone else, he had the power to do something about it, something unprecedented and terrifying. Colonel "Jiggs" Casey was the Marine who accidentally stumbled onto the plot...Categorized as:
classics cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction political-intrigue suspense thriller -
The Assassination Option by W.E.B. Griffin, William E. Butterworth IV
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJames Cronley’s first successful mission for the new Central Intelligence Directorate has drawn all kinds of attention, some welcome, some not, including from the Soviets, his own Pentagon, and a seething J. Edgar Hoover...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction political-intrigue suspense thriller 20th-century -
Eagle Day by Robert Muchamore
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsLate summer, 1940.Hitler has conquered France. Now he intends to cross the Channel and defeat Britain before winter arrives.A group of young refugees led by British spy Charles Henderson faces a stark choice. To head south into the safety of neutral Spain, or go north on a risky mission to sabotage the German invasion plans.For official purposes, these children do not exist... -
Dark Star by Alan Furst
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe acclaimed author of Night Soldiers offers a dramatic and exciting spy thriller of Eastern Europe on the brink of World War II. In the back alleys and glittering salons of Europe, there is a thin line between survival and betrayal, as Soviet NKVD agents and the Nazi Gestapo confront each other in a brilliant duel of espionage. Like watching Casablanca for the first time.--Time... -
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Midnight Flit by Elin Gregory
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMiles Siward and Briers Allerdale return for another thrilling Jazz Age adventure.“Silk stockings on expenses.” Miles’s aristocratic mother has information of importance to the British Government and he must escort her home from Bucharest immediately, but their plans go violently awry and Miles and Lady Siward find themselves on a train to Belgrade - where Miles’s lover is posted...Categorized as:
historical-fiction espionage suspense law-enforcement crime political-intrigue romance historical -
A Game of Lies by Rebecca Cantrell
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJournalist Hannah Vogel returns in A Game of Lies by award-winning author Rebecca Cantrell In preparation for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the Nazis have rid the streets of anti-Semitic material and other propaganda, and present a peace-seeking face to the world. Journalist and part-time spy for the British, Hannah Vogel, shudders to think of what lies under the temporary coat of gloss... -
The Tightrope Walker by Dorothy Gilman
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratings“They’re going to kill me soon…”When the quiet and shy Amelia Jones reads these words, her life changes irrevocably. She’s just become the new owner of the Ebbtide Shop, a musty antique store filled with merry-go-round horses and hurdy-gurdies, and it is while fixing one of these barrel organs that the scrawled and threatening note falls out...Categorized as:
crime espionage law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Spy Sinker by Len Deighton
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSpy Sinker is a 1990 spy novel by Len Deighton. It is the final novel in the second of three trilogies about Bernard Samson, a middle-aged and somewhat jaded intelligence officer working for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Spy Sinker is part of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy, being preceded by Spy Hook and Spy Line... -
A Dying Light in Corduba by Lindsey Davis
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsNobody is poisoned at the dinner for the Society of Olive Oil Producers; the assassination attempt comes afterward. Falco ought to know, he is at the banquet along with some unexpected guests, including Anacrites the Chief Spy and Falco's own hostile brat of a brother-in-law, Aelianus... -
Spy Line by Len Deighton
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBritish agent Bernard Samson finds himself inexplicably hunted as a traitor, forced to abandon his life, his job, his position, and plunge into hiding in the most dangerous and darkest corner of Berlin. What is happening? What has he done? Nothing makes sense until Samson discovers that the Secret Service has known all along where he is. In fact, they have never taken him off the payroll... -
If The Dead Rise Not by Philip Kerr
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAn instant classic in the Bernie Gunther series, with storytelling that is fresher and more vivid than ever. Berlin, 1934: The Nazis have secured the 1936 Olympiad for the city but are facing foreign resistance. Hitler and Avery Brundage, the head of the U.S. Olympic Committee, have connived to soft-pedal Nazi anti- Semitism and convince America to participate... -
Avenger by Frederick Forsyth
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsAttorney Calvin Dexter hangs his shingle in a quiet New Jersey town, has a reasonably successful practice, and takes the hills strong while triathalon training. But Dexter is no ordinary man.The summer before he goes to college, Ricky Colenso travels to Bosnia to volunteer as an aid worker. A few weeks later, he disappears and is never heard from again...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction political-intrigue suspense thriller 20th-century -
Our Woman In Moscow by Beatriz Williams
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsThe New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives returns with a gripping and profoundly human story of Cold War espionage and family devotion.In the autumn of 1948, Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her American diplomat husband and their two children. The world is shocked by the family's sensational disappearance...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction journey political-intrigue suspense thriller -
Berlin Game by Len Deighton
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsWhen a valuable agent behind the Iron Curtain signals he wants out, it's up to Bernard Samson, once active in the field but now anchored to a London desk, to undertake the crucial rescue. But soon, Samson is confronted with evidence that there is a traitor among his colleagues...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense thriller -
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The Deceiver by Frederick Forsyth
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsAs an intrepid and inventive field agent, McCready's independent style has often driven him beyond the rules. He has not been afraid to press the CIA to the explosion point - or to play cat-and-mouse with the KGB. He has successfully tricked Qaddafi and the IRA and once even set himself up as governor of a remote Caribbean island torn between Fidel Castor and the Colombian drug trade...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction political-intrigue suspense thriller 20th-century -
The Wrecker by Clive Cussler, Justin Scott
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt is 1907, a year of financial panic and labor unrest. Train wrecks, fires, and explosions sabotage the Southern Pacific Railroad's Cascades express line and, desperate, the railroad hires the fabled Van Dorn Detective Agency... -
Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha by Dorothy Gilman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNote: This is an alternate cover edition of ISBN 0449209830.Something dangerous is in the Hong Kong air...Faster than she can say her name, the newly married Mrs. Pollifax is packed and ready to go on another adventure - her most dangerous assignment yet...Categorized as:
classics crime espionage historical-fiction law-enforcement political-intrigue suspense thriller -
Broken April by Ismail Kadare
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom the moment that Gjorg's brother is killed by a neighbour, his own life is forfeit: for the code of Kanun requires Gjorg to kill his brother's murderer and then in turn be hunted down. After shooting his brother's killer, young Gjorg is entitled to thirty days' grace - not enough to see out the month of April.Then a visiting honeymoon couple cross the path of the fugitive...Categorized as:
classics crime historical-fiction journey realistic 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Mexico Set by Len Deighton
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA lot of people had plans for Bernard Samson…When they spotted Erich Stinnes in Mexico City, it was obvious that Bernard Samson was the right man to ‘enrol’ him. With his domestic life a shambles and his career heading towards disaster, Bernard needed to prove his reliability. and he knew Stinnes already - Bernard had been interrogated by him in East Berlin...Categorized as:
cold-war crime espionage historical-fiction political-intrigue suspense thriller 20th-century -
Spandau Phoenix by Greg Iles
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Spandau Diary—what was in it? Why did the secret intelligence agencies of every major power want it? Why was a brave and beautiful woman kidnapped and sexually tormented to get it? Why did a chain of deception and violent death lash out across the globe, from survivors of the Nazi past to warriors in the new conflict now about to explode? Why did the world's entire history of World War II...
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