18 books like A spy named Orphan

What to read after A spy named Orphan — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

The untouchable John Banville · 1997 · ★ 4.0 · 409p · ≈ 13h · Moderate (From the Hardcover edition) Twenty years after his "retirement," ex-spy Victor Maskell attempts to come to terms with what has happened to his life by embarking on his memoirs. This is the plot which fuels Banville's stunning new novel--a story that goes beyond the mere facts of espionage to penetrate the intricate heart of the spy. Shares: Soviet Espionage, Espionage, Spies, Great Britain

Cass Cass Pennant · 2001 · 340p · ≈ 11h · Moderate He arrived to rally the troops, the main man in the Inter City Firm and his greeting passed into football fan history. 'Afternoon, gentlemen, the name's Bill Gardner.' That introduction alone was often enough to provoke sheer terror in his opponents. He is a genuine legend to anyone who's ever stood proud on a football terrace. No serious book on the culture would be complete without at least one… Shares: Criminals & Outlaws, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Spy David Wise · 2002 · ★ 4.5 · 320p · ≈ 10h · Moderate 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. history"--and how he was finally caught in an incredible gambit by U.S. intelligence.David Wise, the nation's leading espionage writer, has called on his unique knowledge and… Shares: Espionage, Spies, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Russians Among Us Gordon Corera · 2019 · ★ 4.4 · 448p · ≈ 14h · Moderate With intrigue that rivals the best le Carré novels, Russians Among Us tells the explosive story of Russian espionage efforts against the United States and the West—from the end of the Cold War to the present and the significant threat of hacking the 2020 electionSpies have long been a source of great fascination in the world of fiction, but sometimes the best true spy stories… Shares: Espionage, Spies, True Crime, History

Once upon a Crime Jimmy Cryans · 2012 · 288p · ≈ 9h · Moderate ''Once upon a Crime'' (1992 film), 1992 American black comedy mystery film Shares: Criminals & Outlaws, True Crime, Biography & Memoir, History

The good mothers Alex Perry · 2018 · ★ 3.9 · 342p · ≈ 11h · Moderate "An unprecedented look inside a ruthless and obscenely wealthy branch of the Italian Mafia and the electrifying story of the brave women who decided to fight back"-- Shares: Criminals & Outlaws, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Hit #29 Joey. · 1974 · 248p · ≈ 8h · Moderate The New York Times–bestselling author of Killer: The Autobiography of a Mafia Hit Man reveals the true story of his most harrowing contract murder. "Joey the Hit Man" was a Bronx-born hired assassin who achieved widespread notoriety after writing a bestselling memoir and appearing on the David Susskind show. In this "down-to-earth realistic account," Joey tells the riveting story behind the… Shares: Criminals & Outlaws, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Dead Run Joe Jackson · 1999 · ★ 4.0 · 310p · ≈ 10h · Moderate "Summers are always stifling in southern Virginia, and they're even hotter on the Mecklenburg Correctional Center's Death Row when Dennis Stockton arrives there in July 1983. Charged with murder for hire, Stockton insisted he was innocent, but his jury sentenced him to die. In prison, he begins keeping a diary and it soon becomes his lifeline, nurturing dreams of freedom and publication as an… Shares: Criminals & Outlaws, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

The Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid Pat Garrett · 2008 · 128p · ≈ 4h · Moderate Hankering for a mostly true tale about the hard-living desperadoes who inhabited America's desert Southwest in the mid-1800s? This biography of the ill-fated gunslinger Billy, the Kid was written by Pat Garrett, the sheriff who shot Billy down. Although some historians now question the veracity of some of the self-aggrandizing bluster Garrett and his ghostwriter included in the book, The… Shares: True Crime, Biography & Memoir

Last Yakuza Jake Adelstein · 2017 · ★ 4.4 · 408p · ≈ 13h · Moderate The Last Yakuza tells the history of the yakuza like it’s never been told before.Makoto Saigo is half-American and half-Japanese in small-town Japan with a set of talents limited to playing guitar and picking fights. With rock stardom off the table, he turns toward the only place where you can start from the bottom and move up through sheer merit, loyalty, and brute force — the yakuza.Saigo,… Shares: True Crime, Biography & Memoir

The Spy's bedside book Graham Greene · 1957 · 256p · ≈ 8h · Moderate For everyone who’s ever wondered what it really takes to be a spy, legendary author Graham Greene (The Third Man, The Quiet American) and his brother Hugh have compiled this irresistible selection of fiction, memoir, and tricks of the trade straight from the all-time masters of espionage. Here is a perfectly safe way to discover the dangerous secrets many spies have died to learn.Want to know how… Shares: Espionage, Spies

Genocide since 1945 Philip Spencer · 2012 · 176p · ≈ 5h · Moderate "In 1948 the United Nations passed the Genocide Convention. The international community was now obligated to prevent or halt what had hitherto, in Winston Churchill's words, been a "crime without a name", and to punish the perpetrators. Since then, however, genocide has recurred repeatedly. Millions of people have been murdered by sovereign nation states, confident in their ability to act with… Shares: 20th Century, True Crime, History

The Dragon and the Raven G. A. Henty · 1800 · ★ 3.9 · 216p · ≈ 7h · Challenging For many years England was assailed by Danish hordes whose barbarians reduced the Saxons to pitiable legions of disconnected and ravished communities. In the later 800's A.D. a man named Alfred emerged from the darkened European scene and by his wisdom and knowledge and bravery, he gathered together an army of valorous warriors who banished the Vikings back to the North. This true historic tale… Shares: Great Britain, History

Blood Brother Anne Bird · 2005 · ★ 3.7 · 224p · ≈ 7h · Moderate What happens if, after being given up for adoption in childhood, you reestablish contact with your biological family -- only to discover that your newfound brother is a killer?Anne Bird, the sister of Scott Peterson, knows firsthand.Soon after her birth in 1965, Anne was given up for adoption by her mother, Jackie Latham. Welcomed into the well-adjusted Grady family, she lived a happy life. Then,… Shares: Espionage, True Crime, Biography & Memoir

The Orton Diaries John Lahr · 1986 · ★ 4.5 · 304p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Fron December 1966 to his murder in August 1967, Joe Orton kept a series of diaries that prove to be one of the most candid and unfettered accounts of that remarkable era. They chronicle his life from his literary success to his sexual escapades. Shares: 20th Century, Biography & Memoir

East German foreign intelligence Kristie Macrakis · 2009 · 256p · ≈ 8h · Moderate "We have assembled an international group of scholars to examine East German foreign intelligence as a historical problem in the intelligence areas of: politics, scientific-technical and military intelligence and counter-intelligence. Themes and topics that run through the volume include the espionage wars; the relationship to the KGB; the successes and failures of the BND… Shares: Espionage, Spies, True Crime, History

Invisible Darkness Stephen Williams · 1996 · ★ 4.0 · 553p · ≈ 18h · Moderate Invisible Darkness is the story of one of the more bizarre cases in recent memory--killings so sensational that they prompted the Canadian government, in the interests of justice, to silence its national press and to lock foreign journalists out of the courts.To all appearances, Paul and Karla Bernardo had a fairytale marriage--beautiful working-class girl weds bright upper-middle-class guy and… Shares: True Crime

Nice Girl Rachael Jane Chin · 2011 Nice Girl? is a 1941 American musical comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Deanna Durbin, Franchot Tone, Walter Brennan, Robert Stack, and Robert Benchley. Based on the play Nice Girl? by Phyllis Duganne, the film is about a young girl who finds herself attracted to one of her fathers business partners who comes to town to give her father a scholarship for his dietary studies. Shares: True Crime

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