Best spy novels of all time to read for a classic espionage yarn

Pressed collars and impossibly polished cufflinks. Concealed deadly gadgetry and dashes across foreign borders with expertly doctored passports. An absurdly beautiful woman, or two, waiting patiently in a penthouse suite. Such are the tropes of modern spy fiction as popularised by iconic authors such as Ian Fleming.

This suave and idealistic characterisation paired with mouth-wateringly appealing mystery, violence and excess is what helped to propel fictional espionage into a classic, canonical genre. Yet there’s so much more to historical espionage – both fictional and non-fictional – than 007.

The history and evolution of global espionage and the enduring appeal of double agentry tend to centre around the two World Wars, the Cold War, and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. Throughout these tumultuous decades, trust was obsolete, and paranoia was paramount. Indeed, it’s no wonder Arthur Miller decided to write a parabolic play which was about the Salem Witch Trials on the surface, and the dangers of McCarthyism in America beneath.

In the 20th and early 21st centuries, the world was so clearly divided in two – as was reflected in Berlin, still pressed by the