82 Books Like Darker than the Sun

As a former intelligence officer, I love books that tell me about the places where real spies (and even some fictional ones) operated.

Roy Berkeley has done just that in cracking form with A Spy's London, which is an exhaustive guide to where the spies were in London (and still are).

Although I would challenge his assertion that London is the espionage capital of the world (hint: it’s Berlin), his book tells you the story and then shows you how to get there with walking tours, maps, and photos.

I especially love his description of the “ops” and how he brings them to life, whether they went well or failed spectacularly!

The American Southwest is not the usual place one thinks about in connection to espionage, but some of the most notorious spy incidents in U.S. history happened here during World War II and are still happening!

Former CIA officer E. B. Held brings these events to life (and in some cases death) with just the right amount of historical background to interest any traveler or spy aficionado in exploring these amazing stories. 

I love how the author shows the importance of New Mexico to espionage history from Leon Trotsky to the Manhattan Project to today’s events at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This book will give you a new perspective on “The Land of Enchantment."

I love this book because it details the story of America’s first spy ring, the Culper Spy Ring, set up by George Washington in 1778.

Author Bill Bleyer “turns” much of the TV misinformation around and corrects the record while giving us a succinct history and guide to the still-existing Revolutionary War sites on Manhattan and Long Island. 

He sets the stage with Washington’s retreat from Long Island and then fills the book with historical notes, maps, and diagrams, including a very good history of the doomed spy Nathan Hale and what Washington did to avenge his execution.

The author provides much detail on the what, where, when, and how of Washington’s spies and how the visitor can find what remains today. 

I love all aspects of the Spy Game, from the places, to books, to film, to the food, and (of course) the drinks, so where best to go to find that kind of info than in a great book like A Spy Walked Into A Bar…? 

I love the premise, the stories, and the how to make a drink. Put it all together, and you have not only a mixology but a captivating history of an “interesting” side of espionage.

Written by two senior CIA officers who know the business and what it takes to survive, which includes a cocktail once in a while. With this book, you can go into a bar and spot the spies or their targets… maybe.

Spy Tradecraft coupled with Spy Barcraft at its best. I’ll have a Talisker 18, double, straight up, in a cold glass, please!

A man is sent to visit a mysterious count in his secluded mountaintop fortress, where a diabolical plot unfolds, involving an attack on England using his Angels of Death, women under his hypnotic command. The man finds himself slowly becoming a prisoner, leading to his planning an escape and a race to stop the Count’s plot from unfolding.

Sound familiar? It is, essentially, the plot of Dracula. It is also the plot of Ian Fleming’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the tenth James Bond novel. If Count Dracula is the king of vampires, then James Bond is inarguably the king of spies.

I have to mention either John Le Carre or Ian Fleming. I’ll go for guilty pleasure over great mastery. I haven’t read this since I was a kid. But I loved it back then. The Bond of the books is more realistic and complex than the cartoon character of the movies but, don’t worry, this isn’t a tale of gritty realism. A lot of fun and a great way to dispose of a few hours of excess reality.

Dr. No was the sixth James Bond novel Fleming wrote but it was the first one I was finally able to read in paperback when I was about twelve years old.

It transfixed me. I had never read anything quite like it, transporting a boy trapped in small-town Ontario into a wider world of sophistication, sex, and violence.

I devoured the other Bond adventures as fast as I could get my hands on them. If any books made me hunger for faraway glamorous places, it was the Bond novels.

If you can’t imagine the influence Fleming’s worldly writing had on me, you have only to read one of the Priscilla Tempest mysteries.

Drawing on Fleming's experiences in Jamaica, MI6 intelligence officer Bond, James Bond, not only outwits the villain's attempt to turn him into shark and barracuda bait but also deploys a limpet mine to good effect in order to save himself and his female companion from death by coral reef dragging, a device I pay homage to in a later novel.

Fleming's Bond novels introduced the world to a clever hero required to take direct responsibility for stopping great evil. Bond doesn't shy away from brute force when required, but prefers more elegant solutions, inspiring later writers.

Like millions of others, the popular movies introduced his work to me, but Fleming was the early master of the art of an espionage/action thriller novel, inspiring many who followed.

The first section of this book feels so accurate in its depiction of the Smersh (death to spies) training camp that I hardly missed 007 at all, who appears on page 95 in part two of the book. I first came across James Bond when my sister, who was three years my senior, got me to see the 1963 film. I was twelve at the time. I wonder what today’s politically correct regime would have to say about that? My sister was probably underage as well but looked older, so she passed muster.

This book is my favorite of Fleming’s Bond books. I have read it many times, yet when I pick it up to start again, there is that air of excitement; I can almost smell the exotic location of Istanbul, Bond being pitched against a dangerous adversary, and, to top it all, the remarkable character, Colonel Rosa Klebb,… show more.

I found this book to be like a mix between Gallagher Girls and Alex Rider, with maybe a bit of Mean Girls in the mix—all in a good way!

One thing that sets this book apart from other teen spy books is that all the characters are damaged and yet they use that to fight back and to show the world what they’re made of. I felt like I was watching a movie while reading the book, and the scenes felt like I was in a James Bond movie! I can’t wait to crack open book 2.