I write spy fiction because I’ve lived close to the seams of power—working and traveling across the U.S., Europe, and China—and I’m obsessed with how ideas turn into decisions. I read philosophy for clarity, history for humility, and intelligence studies for the uncomfortable truth that good intentions aren’t enough.
My novel, A Spy Inside the Castle, grew from years of research and the harder work of translating it into human stakes. I’m passionate about books that illuminate secrecy and strategy without losing sight of people. These five shaped my thinking and, more importantly, kept me honest on the page.
I love Durant because when I read him, I feel pulled into another world. It’s the world that actually was.
The philosophers I thought I knew from dusty textbooks suddenly feel alive—full of quirks, flaws, and fire. The history I got in high school was flat compared to this. Durant tells stories that breathe. He makes Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche feel like people you could argue with over dinner.
Anytime I need to transport myself through time, especially after a rough day, I go right to this audiobook.
A brilliant and concise account of the lives and ideas of the great philosophers, from Plato to Dewey.
Few write for the non-specialist as well as Will Durant, and this book is a splendid example of his eminently readable scholarship. Durant's insight and wit never cease to dazzle; The Story of Philosophy is a key book for anyone who wishes to survey the history and development of philosophical ideas in the Western world.
I read The Mission because it opened my eyes to the real story behind the headlines.
Weiner takes you inside CIA missions from the 21st century and shows what was happening behind the curtain while the public only saw the surface.
I was struck by how different the secret history looks compared to the official version. He makes you feel like you’re finally getting the account that no one saw at the time. For me, that transparency is incredibly powerful.
'No one has opened up the CIA to us like Weiner has, and The Mission deserves to win him a second Pulitzer' JOHN SIMPSON, GUARDIAN
The epic successor to Tim Weiner's National Book Award-winning classic, Legacy of Ashes: a gripping and revelatory history of the CIA in the 21st century, reaching from 9/11 through the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to today's battles with Russia and China - and with the President of the United States.
At the turn of the century, the Central Intelligence Agency was in crisis. The end of the Cold War had robbed the agency of…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
What struck me about Agent Josephine is how it reminds you that spies are human first.
Josephine Baker wasn’t born an operative—she was a performer, an artist, a woman making choices in a world on fire. Courage alongside vulnerability.
It made me think differently about espionage. Behind every code name is a person with fears, hopes, and a life beyond the mission. Reading it grounded me; it reminded me that in the end, the heart matters as much as the tradecraft.
I was drawn to Walton because he shows the CIA and other services evolving over decades, almost like living ecosystems.
What I valued most was how he highlights technology’s growing role in shaping intelligence work—how tools and data became as decisive as human agents. That perspective mirrored my own fascination with labyrinths: systems that adapt, feed on complexity, and reshape themselves in response to pressure.
Walton’s history is sweeping yet precise, and it left me seeing the intelligence world as something organic, not static—a reminder that secrecy and technology co-evolve, often faster than our ability to control them.
The riveting story of the hundred-year intelligence war between Russia and the West with lessons for our new superpower conflict with China
'A masterpiece' CHRISTOPHER ANDREW, author of The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5
'The book we have all been waiting for' BRENDAN SIMMS, author of Hitler: A Global Biography
'Gripping, authoritative... A vivid account of intelligence skulduggery' Kirkus
Espionage, election meddling, disinformation, assassinations, subversion, and sabotage - all attract headlines today about Putin's dictatorship. But they are far from new. The West has a long-term Russia problem, not a Putin problem. Spies mines hitherto secret…
A corrupt kingdom. A rising darkness. Can a broken warrior save a world?
Mithranar is a country divided by ignorance and magic. Oppressed by their winged folk rulers, humans struggle to eke out an existence. Their only help comes from the mysterious Shadowhawk, a criminal who has evaded all attempts…
Kissinger is the ultimate political realist, and that’s why I find World Order so fascinating.
It’s always eye-opening to read someone who strips away illusions and shows the bedrock of power as it really is. For me, it was fun—and sobering—to see how he frames the world not as an ideal system but as a fragile balance of fear and bargains.
What I took away most was the reminder that “world order” is a phrase we use to comfort ourselves. In reality, there is no such thing, only shifting arrangements that hold until they don’t. That honesty made me think harder about how nations truly operate. While I don’t subscribe to this way of thinking, it’s always fun to explore.
In World Order, Henry Kissinger - one of the leading practitioners of world diplomacy and author of On China - makes his monumental investigation into the 'tectonic plates' of global history and state relations.
World Order is the summation of Henry Kissinger's thinking about history, strategy and statecraft. As if taking a perspective from far above the globe, it examines the great tectonic plates of history and the motivations of nations, explaining the attitudes that states and empires have taken to the rest of the world from the formation of Europe to our own times.
A Spy Inside the Castle is a high-stakes spy thriller about betrayal, power, and the dangerous price of prediction. When private intelligence consultant Ethan Briar is drawn into a secretive program anchored by a predictive supercomputer, he’s ordered to uncover FOXGLOVE—the elusive mole buried deep inside the system and leaking the machine’s secrets.
To survive, Ethan must navigate a world of shifting allegiances, moral compromises, and hidden networks stretching from Washington to Europe. As crises ripple across both sides of the Atlantic, Ethan races against time to expose FOXGLOVE before the labyrinth closes in. Blending espionage, geopolitics, and history with page-turning suspense, the novel ultimately follows Ethan’s journey—forcing him to decide how far he will go to feel safe, and what freedom really means when certainty itself becomes a weapon.
A corrupt kingdom. A rising darkness. Can a broken warrior save a world?
Mithranar is a country divided by ignorance and magic. Oppressed by their winged folk rulers, humans struggle to eke out an existence. Their only help comes from the mysterious Shadowhawk, a criminal who has evaded all attempts…
Looking for clean romantic suspense with spiritual undertones?
Look no further than the Acts of Valor series by Rebecca Hartt. With thousands of reviews and 4.7-5.0 stars per book, this 6-book series is a must-read for readers searching for memorable, well-told stories by an award-winning author.
