Review by John Koenig. Post-war Berlin is the epicenter of Paul Grant’s third entry in his fine trilogy, Berlin: Uprising. Change is happening in Germany, even after the relentless upsets of World War II and the Russian “liberation” and occupation of Berlin and much of the country. Berlin: Uprising stands on it’s own, but getting your hands on the...

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...

On today's Spybrary Spy Podcast, Spybrarian Jason King joins host Shane Whaley to share with us his 5 favourite spy books for 2018! He reveals why any respectable spy fan should be reading these 5 choices from 2018 and why they are ‘premier cru' for spy book fans. Agree? Disagree? Come and tell Jason on...

A review of The Company written by Robert Littell and reviewed by John Koenig for the Koenig Memorandum. Spy Book review – The Company by Robert Littell. The Company is pleasantly paced, detailed to an extreme, bringing places and people alive on the page in memorable fashion, yet never bogging down. Somehow Littell maintains a...

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...

Spybrarian John Koenig is back from his expedition visiting almost every used book store from Michigan to Washington State. When he wasn't scaling ladders (why are the good spy books always on the top shelf?) or scouring dark nooks and crannies he penned several review of recent spy reads.  Here is his latest – The...

On Episode 61 of the Spybrary Spy Podcast, Shane and Karl talk about the recently released book from Geoff Dyer titled ‘Broadsword Calling Danny Boy' on Where Eagles Dare. In this no holds barred discussion two well read spy fans give you their assessment of the book. In the interest of being balanced please do...

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...

Spybrary Spy Podcast with Matthew Kresal Robert Sellars – Battle for Bond – Brush Pass Review -Episode 58 of the Spybrary Spy Podcast After a rejuvenating few months at Shrublands our Brush Pass Reviews makes a welcome return to the Spybrary Spy Podcast.Matthew Kresal's brush pass has been decoded. Tune in and hear his transmission...

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....