Books like Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life — picked by fans

This book is the first in the Jaded Trilogy. It’s set in New Zealand during the 1970s. It’s a twisty plot (which I particularly love) and there are Russian spies.

NZ in the ’70s (mid-Cold War) when nothing was as it seemed and everyone had an agenda, whether it was stealing a painting, growing and distributing weed, or counter surveillance on a Russian diplomat. And things overlapped as they do in New Zealand.

This is a fun exciting book. It reminded me of what the world was like before phones became computers back when everything was analog. As a writer of spy/PI thrillers, it was a great read. (I’m a fan, I’ve read all of Nick Spill’s work including his non-fiction.)

This book is set in the late 70’s/early 80’s in Wellington. Even the cover is a familiar image to me (my father was involved in the construction/ finishing of the building depicted).

I will say that the dialogue was hard to get used to because it is very clipped but the story set in a city that I knew at that time was great. It centres around a police officer which is something else that’s familiar to me.

I did struggle a bit with the dialogue because it was difficult to tell who was speaking if there weren’t attributes but I couldn’t put it down because I really wanted to know what happened to Felicity Daniels. Setting wise this book is a trip down memory lane and I loved the journey.

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.

This book is a quick reference to body language whereas What Every Body Is Saying is a much longer more detailed look at body language. I use both when I’m writing.

I keep this book handy because if I use it often. I use it to add authenticity to scenes like an interrogation or I want a character to appear slightly nervous or maybe as if they want out of the conversation, then The Dictionary Of Body Language is a fantastic resource.

It’s also fun if you use it in conjunction with observing people. Just take yourself somewhere there are a lot of people and watch. It’s amazing what you’ll see. And yes, I love doing that. It’s a form of research for characters. Because I’ve read this book a lot, I can usually pick fairly quickly what is going on, and then I can always check later. 

I first heard of The Disaster Diaries from an interview with author Sam Sheridan. While not a book strictly related to a grid failure, it was still about disaster and surviving the breakdown of societal norms. 

What was so amazing about the book—and something that endeared the author to me, was his humility regarding his own lack of preparedness. Here was a man who had been an EMT, a mixed martial arts fighter, a fire-fighter, and a cowboy, and yet he still didn’t feel prepared enough to survive a disaster!

What follows is a unique journey as he learns stunt driving, knife fighting, even how to steal a car, all to help him prepare for “The Big One.” 

A little levity may be required as we watch the world crumble around us. Anne Washburn’s play reads as a multi-generational game of telephone. Beginning shortly after the apocalypse, with television now obsolete, people gather round a campfire and begin retelling what they remember from random episodes of The Simpsons. In the second act, the retelling has evolved into an oral tradition far from the original. By the third act, we’re eighty years removed from the apocalypse, and the story has become its own bizarre and surreal performance. I read Mr. Burns and saw the play in person years ago, but I still think about it and laugh. It might also somehow be a fairly accurate depiction of our post-apocalyptic world.

I loved this book for two main reasons: the technology and science engineering were fascinating to me, and told to me in a way I could understand; and the socio-political aspect of this book I thought was very imaginative and realistic.

I liked the fact that the story jumped ahead thousands of years to tell me how the experiment actually played out. For me, it portrayed one imaginative outcome of what would happen if Earth became uninhabitable.

I first read this extraordinary, heartwarming story of self-reliance and survival when my own children were growing up, and I’ve returned to reading Island of the Blue Dolphins often throughout my adult years, typically at times when I find myself struggling to regain my footing as I face personal problems and challenges.

Published in 1960, this book tells the story of a young girl named Karana who spends nearly two decades abandoned and alone on the desert island her tribe evacuates after a deadly conflict with Aleutian otter hunters. I’ve often recommended this slight but powerful tale to women friends suffering from feelings of desolation and helplessness, and Karana’s courage, resilience, and creativity have succeeded in lifting their spirits and inspiring hope.

This book is tense! Jess is alone in the Canadian wilderness, still injured from the car accident that killed her mom, and now her dad has been murdered and his cabin burned down. Jess must figure out how to survive in the cold with no shelter and no way out when nobody knows where she is. This is part survival story and part thriller. Jess is driven by her desire to survive as much as her desire for revenge. The survival aspect here is enough to keep you reading, but I also loved trying to piece together the mystery of why her dad was killed. 

This is a classic “I Can’t Put It Down” book.

Ashley is lost in the woods, an emotional and physical wreck, and she’s got to figure a way out. The two things she has going for her are serious survival skills and a fierce determination to never give up. Some of her challenges border on the unbelievable, but then, so do so many real-life stories we’ve all read about.

The reader gets to know and understand Ashley, with all her flaws exposed, as the worsening events force her to dig deep into who she is and what she’s capable of. The author might push the limit of what qualifies as YA, and as an adult I loved it, but when I was fifteen, I would have loved it even more.