Donnie Brasco vs Spy: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Spies, United States, True Crime, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir
Donnie Brasco
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Posing as jewel thief "Donnie Brasco," FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone carried out the most audacious sting operation ever, working undercover for six years to infiltrate the flamboyant community of mafia soldiers,…
Spy
“Disaster. Inside the Soviet counterintelligence section at FBI headquarters in Washington, there could be no other word for what had happened: the two KGB agents who were the bureaus's highly secret sources inside the Soviet embassy in Washington had somehow been discovered.”
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Spy tells, for the first time, the full, authoritative story of how FBI agent Robert Hanssen, code name grayday, spied for Russia for twenty-two years in what has been called the "worst intelligence disaster in U.S.…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate Spy highest: Spy 4.3 · Donnie Brasco 4.1.
- Donnie Brasco has the widest readership — 8509 ratings behind its score.
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Scores by source
| Donnie Brasco | Spy | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.1 (8509) | — |
| Hardcover | 3.5 (11) | 4.0 (1) |
| Google Books | — | 5.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (347) | 4.5 (80) |
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Reception
| Donnie Brasco | Spy | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 8509 | 80 |
| Editions | 7 | 5 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Wikipedia attention | 69009 | 19109 |
| Pages | 393 | 320 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Donnie Brasco or Spy?
Spy has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Spy 4.3/5, Donnie Brasco 4.1/5).
Which is shorter to read: Donnie Brasco or Spy?
Spy is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Spy (320 pages, ≈ 5 h 56 m); Donnie Brasco (393 pages, ≈ 7 h 17 m).
Which is harder to read: Donnie Brasco or Spy?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Donnie Brasco: Moderate; Spy: Moderate.