One of the joys of listening to and being involved with the community around the Spybrary podcast has been discovering books I might never have heard of otherwise. Clive Egleton's The Russian Enigma (aka Pandora's Box) is just such an example of that, having been posted about by C.G. Faulkner whom I had the pleasure of meeting (alongside other Spybrarians) at last spring's Spy-Con. Though it took … [Read more...] about The Kresal Dossier – The Russian Engima
The Kresal Dossier: Doctor Who – Endgame
Philby. Burgess. Maclean. If you're a student of Cold War spies (and if you're at Spybrary there's a decent chance you are), those names will be very familiar. The latter pair's 1951 defection helped to make public the most famous spy scandal of the era. In the decades since, they've also inspired countless works of fiction on page and screen. One of the more unusual comes from the realm of … [Read more...] about The Kresal Dossier: Doctor Who – Endgame
Review – The Avengers: Too Many Targets
If you're a fan of the spy-fi side of spy fiction chances are you're a fan of The Avengers. With Patrick Macnee as the debonair John Steed alongside fellow agents such as Diana Rigg's Emma Peel, it's become a quintessential piece of 1960s British television. Indeed, the series was part of my teenage years as I watched re-runs of it and The Saint on BBC America some four decades after it originally … [Read more...] about Review – The Avengers: Too Many Targets
Review – Into The Shadows: Assassination Corps
Having read and very much enjoyed The Fever, the opening salvo from Michael Brady's Into The Shadows range, I was eager to dig into the second volume. This one would take the firmly established CIA non-official cover (NOC) officer Michael Brennan to Asia in what seemed to be another tale potentially ripped from the headlines. Would it live up to volume one, though? As the book opens, Brennan is … [Read more...] about Review – Into The Shadows: Assassination Corps
‘Jack Ryan’ Goes Prime
First appearing nearly thirty-five years ago in the pages of The Hunt For Red October, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan is arguably the closest thing to an American James Bond. Not only with a highly successful series of novels but also a trilogy of successful films in the early 1990s. Recently, however, the CIA analyst has struggled a bit at cinemas with two reboots not quite hitting it off with audiences. … [Read more...] about ‘Jack Ryan’ Goes Prime
‘The Very Best Men’ Of The CIA’s Early Years
My recent viewing of the film The Good Shepherd and my reading of the CIA History Staff's 2007 critique of the film left me curious about the fact behind the Hollywood fiction. Hitting upon a recommendation from that analysis and the film's archived website, I bought a book that had been sitting for months already on my Amazon wishlist. Published in 1995 with an updated preface in 2006, Evan … [Read more...] about ‘The Very Best Men’ Of The CIA’s Early Years
Review – Into The Shadows: The Fever
Having heard Shane interview author Michael Brady on the show nearly a year ago, Into The Shadows: The Fever has long been on my radar. It wasn't until Spy-Con this past spring that I finally acquired a copy of the novel in question and only in the last couple of weeks that I've had the chance to read it. What a read it turned out to be. If you've heard Episode 20, you'll likely know about the … [Read more...] about Review – Into The Shadows: The Fever