18 books like The river line

What to read after The river line — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Horizon, a novel Helen MacInnes · 1946 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Challenging A wartime story of conflicting emotions and loyalties. Some Tyrolean citizens, north and south, sick of being under Italian rule, look to the Nazi invasion as a liberation, their promises of freedom as something worth fighting for. Other wiser heads, including liberated POW Roy know the Nazi's treachery. Roy is holed up for 8 months in a family home as liaison between the local resistance and… Shares: Espionage, World War II, Spy Fiction

The Vanished Messenger Edward Phillips Oppenheim · 1914 · ★ 3.8 · 245p · ≈ 8h · Challenging There were very few people upon Platform Number Twenty one of Liverpool Street Station at a quarter to nine on the evening of April 2 possibly because the platform in question is one of the most remote and least used in the great terminus. The station master, however, was there himself, with an inspector in attendance. A dark, thick set man, wearing a long travelling ulster and a Homburg hat, and… Shares: Espionage, Spy Fiction

The kingdom of the blind Edward Phillips Oppenheim · 1909 · ★ 3.9 · 220p · ≈ 7h · Challenging E. Phillips Oppenheim’s 1916 thriller follows the search for a German spy in Great Britain during World War I, and highlights wartime tensions among the British upper class. Shares: Espionage, Spy Fiction

City of gold Len Deighton · 1992 · ★ 3.6 · 576p · ≈ 19h · Moderate "The pace of the story is compulsive . . . it is a real pleasure to be swallowed up in Deighton's description of wartime Cairo."—Daily TelegraphJanuary 1942. Rommel, the fabled "Desert Fox," has pushed back the British Army three hundred miles in a matter of weeks. His seemingly invincible Afrika Korps is at the gates of Egypt, soon to threaten Cairo itself. And Rommel has a spy in the city—a… Shares: World War II, Spy Fiction

A Colder War Charles Cumming · 2014 · ★ 4.0 · 400p · ≈ 13h · Moderate Internationally acclaimed as “a premier writer of espionage thrillers” (USA Today), Charles Cumming is “among the most skillful spy novelists” (Washington Post) and “a worthy successor to the masters…like John le Carré and Len Deighton” (Chicago Sun-Times). Now, with A COLDER WAR, Cumming returns with MI6 agent Tom Kell (A Foreign Country), in a tour de force that will dazzle readers and critics… Shares: Espionage, Spy Fiction

SS-GB Len Deighton · 1978 · ★ 3.8 · 367p · ≈ 12h · Moderate For nine months Britain has been occupied - a blitzed, depressed and dingy country. However, it's 'business as usual' at Scotland Yard run by the SS when Detective Inspector Archer is assigned to a routine murder case. Life must go on.But when SS Standartenfuhrer Huth arrives from Berlin with orders from the great Himmler himself to supervise the investigation, the resourceful Archer finds… Shares: Espionage, World War II

The Chemist Stephenie Meyer · 2016 · ★ 3.8 · 528p · ≈ 17h · Moderate She used to work for the U.S. government, one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn't even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came without warning, and they killed the only other person she trusted. When her former handler offers her a way out, it is her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But the information she acquires only makes… Shares: Espionage, Spy Fiction, Romance & Relationships

Octopussy and the Living Daylights Ian Fleming · 1966 · ★ 3.6 · 111p · ≈ 3h · Moderate Octopussy: the darling, was a bit surly. The tentacle she lashed around Major Smythe's arm that morning was none to gentle. So when Smythe found himself the sudden quarry of James Bond at cocktail time, the Major had a brilliant, if rather gruesome, inspiration... The Living Daylights: are about to blasted out of a living target on a crowded Berlin street. Crouched behind a .308 International… Shares: Espionage, Spy Fiction

Mysterious Mr. Sabin Edward Phillips Oppenheim · 1900 · 370p · ≈ 12h · Challenging "The mysterious Mr. Sabin is an unscrupulous French royalist who aids the German government in a conspiracy of war against England. His part in the plot is that of securing valuable papers recording the coast defenses of England, for which services he demands Germany's conquest of France and the restoration of the monarchy in the person of Prince Henri and his cousin, Helene of… Shares: Spy Fiction

Pray for Brave Heart Helen MacInnes · 1955 · 256p · ≈ 8h · Moderate About the undeclared and ever-waging war of our time, the war for men's minds, and the action takes place in Switzerland. Shares: Spy Fiction

Windmills of the gods Sidney Sheldon · 1987 · ★ 3.9 · 384p · ≈ 12h · Moderate A college professor, a naive Kansan, becomes the US ambassador to Romania and learns a lot about life. Shares: Spy Fiction

The Whip Hand Victor Canning · 1965 · ★ 4.0 · 271p · ≈ 9h · Moderate A 1960s London PI's search for a missing au pair leads to sinister evil in this classic spy series opener by the author of The Rainbird Pattern.Meet Rex Carver, the suave and laconic private investigator.His job is to track down a German au pair, Katerina Saxmann, who has gone missing in Brighton. But when the security services show up at his apartment within hours of him accepting the… Shares: Spy Fiction

If you can't be good Ross Thomas · 1973 · ★ 4.1 · 249p · ≈ 8h · Moderate An old CIA connection brings trouble for a Washington, DC, barman in this thriller from "America's best storyteller" (The New York Times Book Review).   As the saying goes, you can't pick your friends. If you could, Mac McCorkle would disown Padilla. They owned a bar together in Bonn, the West German capital, and stayed partners even after Padilla's sideline as a CIA operative got the bar… Shares: Spy Fiction

The man who lost the war W. T. Tyler · 1980 · ★ 3.5 · 434p · ≈ 14h · Moderate Set in post-war Berlin, a disillusioned former CIA operative and a Russian spy cross paths in their search for an elusive double agent. Shares: Spy Fiction

The second lady Irving Wallace · 1980 · ★ 3.9 · 383p · ≈ 12h · Moderate On a state visit to Moscow, Billie Bradford, the beautiful and brilliant wife of the President of the United States, is abducted by the Soviets and replaced by Vera Vazilova, a superbly trained Russian undercover agent and actress who is the First Lady's physical double.The impostor's mission--to induce the President to reveal a U.S. secret that will drastically tip the world balance toward… Shares: Spy Fiction

Family Trade James Carroll · 1982 · ★ 3.5 · 400p · ≈ 13h · Moderate A New York Times Notable Book"A rich, seductive meld of characters real and fictive, of history and fancy."  — New York Times Book ReviewIn this compelling family saga set during a tumultuous era in Boston history, 1960-1984, acclaimed author James Carroll chronicles the lives of two brothers, Nick and Terry Doyle, as they strive to move beyond the strictures of their working-class… Shares: Spy Fiction

Neither 5 nor 3 Helen MacInnes · 1951 · 350p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Paul Haydn was on his way home at last, to New York and the civilian life he longed for, after years of War. Yet he would never forget the tormented people, desperate for refuge in Berlin. They had survived the War - but now a new, sinister presence  threatened them, their families, the whole of society.Now he discovered that, back home, some of his former colleagues had dangerous political… Shares: Spy Fiction, Romance & Relationships

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, Spy Fiction

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