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...
Spybrarian John Koenig has an impressive Spybrary and reads several books a week. He has a keen eye for an enthralling spy thriller and he has kindly sent us his thoughts on The Fourth Protocol. This is the Koenig Memo. Reading The Fourth Protocol in 2018 (it was published in 1984) is a captivating experience....
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...
Our Man From Sadisto – Clyde Allison – Brush Pass Review Hi everybody it's Jeff Gelb I'm trying my hand at the brush pass to introduce you guys and gals to the wonderful world of Clyde Allison and his amazing character 0008 or Trevor Anderson who is Our Man From Sadisto. Believe it or not...
Transmission received from Spybrarian Matthew Kresal: Review of The Little Drummer Girl by John le Carre. One of the familiar tropes of the spy genre is an intelligence agency recruiting a civilian into an operation. In fact, one might even say it's become a cliche at this point. So perhaps it comes as something of...
Anthony Horowitz and James Bond is BACK with Forever And A Day! Forever and a Day review by the Spybrary Podcast. Listen to our round table of Bond fans who give you their review of the latest Anthony Horowitz 007 novel 007 is dead. Long live 007. The heavily anticipated James...
If you are at all a reader of non-fiction related to the world of espionage, the name Ben Macintyre is likely a familiar one. He is, after all, the author of such books as Agent Zigzag and the superb Kim Philby biography A Spy Among Friends. Back in 2008, however, he covered the most famous...
A False Flag – A Review of The Naive and Sentimental Lover by John le Carre. By Edward Bloomfield. This review was expertly written and published over at our Spybrary listeners Facebook Group. I know many of our listeners are not Facebook members so wanted to share this review here. I also acknowledge that the...
William Boyd's Restless Reviewed on the Spybrary Podcast On Episode 31, Professor Penny Fielding of Edinburgh University (and organiser of Edinburgh spy week) told Spybrary listeners that she felt the spy novel with the most convincing female characters is Restless by William Boyd. Spybrary podcast listener Clarissa Aykroyd has some well documented issues...
‘Sinister rumors link clandestine Arab arms dealing with the man who led the old anti-Nazi Guernica network. It's time to re-open the master file on yesterday's spy…' Agent Palmer, yes really Agent Palmer makes his debut on the Spybrary Podcast to deliver his brush pass review on Len Deighton's Yesterday's Spy! On Episode 33 of...
