Intelligence officers book series in reading order

by Daniel Silva

by Adam Hall

by Brad Thor

by Alex Berenson

by Andy McNab

by Jack Higgins

by Clive Egleton

by David Hagberg

by Kenneth Cameron

by Duncan Falconer

by Brett Battles

by Stephen Coonts

by Jeff Abbott

by Andrew Peterson

by Dorothy Gilman

by Stuart Woods

by Stella Rimington

by Chris Ryan

by Jane Thynne

by William F. Buckley, Jr.

Vince Flynn

26 books• 2 series

Vince Flynn, an American political thriller novelist born April 6, 1966, built a series around Mitch Rapp, a fictional assassin. The catalogue opens with Term Limits (1997), followed by Transfer of Power (1999), The Third Option (2000), Separation of Power (2001) and Executive Power (2003). Terrorism, intelligence officers, presidents and Washington, D.C. are among the recorded subjects. Flynn also worked as a story consultant on the fifth season of the television series 24, and died of prostate cancer on June 19, 2013. The listing carries titles dated well after that year, up to Double Tap (2026).

Ted Bell, born Theodore Augustus Bell III (July 3, 1946 – January 20, 2023), was an American suspense novelist. Bell's New York Times bestselling spy thrillers feature Lord Alexander Hawke and include Hawke (2003), Assassin (2004), Pirate (2005), Spy (2006), Warlord (2010) and Phantom (2012). Nick of Time (2000) is the first catalogued book and Warmonger (2026) the newest; Nick McIver Adventures Through Time is a second series, and time travel appears in the subjects. Before writing novels, Bell served as president and chief creative officer of the Leo Burnett Company in Chicago and later as vice chairman and worldwide creative director of Young & Rubicam.

Donald Eugene Pendleton (December 12, 1927 to October 23, 1995) was an American author of fiction and non-fiction who created Mack Bolan, a character with hundreds of millions of copies sold since a 1969 debut. From 1980, other authors wrote the Bolan books under the Pendleton name, at first with Pendleton's editorial guidance. Pendleton also wrote six Joe Copp, Private Eye novels and six Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective novels. Early titles include The Insatiables (1967), War Against the Mafia (1969) and Miami Massacre (1970).

Alex Berenson

24 books• 4 series

John Wells, an intelligence officer working undercover, leads Alex Berenson's espionage thrillers from The Faithful Spy (2006). Berenson's catalogue holds 24 books, opening with The Number (2003) and reaching The Fatherhood Manifesto in 2026, with the Unreported Truth titles and other non-fiction beside the novels. Terrorism, the CIA and undercover operations supply the material.

Daniel Silva

30 books• 3 series

Daniel Silva writes espionage thrillers. The catalogue holds 30 books between The Unlikely Spy (1995) and Ransom (2026), with the Gabriel Allon novels as the main sequence, a shorter Michael Osbourne series beside it, and several standalone titles. Art restorers, assassins, terrorism and Israeli intelligence officers run through the subject tags. Silva is still publishing.

Robert Ludlum (May 25, 1927 to March 12, 2001) was an American thriller author who wrote 27 novels and created Jason Bourne. Between 300 million and 500 million copies of Ludlum's books are estimated to be in print, in 33 languages and 40 countries. The catalogue opens with The Scarlatti Inheritance (1971), followed by The Osterman Weekend (1972) and The Matlock Paper (1973). Ludlum also wrote as Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd. The catalogue also carries Covert-One and Paul Janson entries, plus titles dated after 2001 such as The Bourne Revenge (2026).

Manning Coles was two people: Adelaide Frances Oke Manning (1891-1959) and Cyril Henry Coles (1899-1965), neighbours in East Meon, Hampshire, who wrote spy thrillers together from 1940 into the early 1960s. Coles served with British Intelligence in both World Wars and Manning worked at the War Office in the first. Thomas Elphinstone Hambledon, a Foreign Office man, carries 26 of the books, and a second series follows Charles and James Latimer. Drink to Yesterday (1940) opens a catalogue of 29 titles, with ghosts turning up in part of the later work.

Espionage, terrorism and the Second World War supply Jack Higgins with his material. Higgins published the earliest of 76 catalogued books as Harry Patterson, among them Sad Wind from the Sea (1959), Cry of the Hunter (1960) and Hell Is Too Crowded (1962). Sean Dillon, Paul Chavasse, Liam Devlin and Martin Fallon head series of their own, alongside standalone thrillers. The Midnight Bell, published in 2016, closes the catalogue.

Ian Fleming

23 books• 5 series

Ian Fleming (Ian Lancaster Fleming, 28 May 1908 to 12 August 1964) was a British writer best known for the postwar James Bond spy novels. Casino Royale (1953) opens the catalogue, followed by Live and Let Die (1954), Moonraker (1955), Diamonds Are Forever (1956), From Russia with Love (1957) and Goldfinger (1959). The listing holds 23 books, including The Diamond Smugglers (1957) and the collection Talk of the Devil: The Collected Writings of Ian Fleming (2025). Fleming came from a wealthy family tied to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co. and was educated at Eton and Sandhurst. Subjects include espionage, secret service and diamond smuggling.

Adam Hall is the pen name Elleston Trevor used for his Cold War thrillers about Quiller, a British secret agent. The Quiller books begin with The Berlin Memorandum, also published as The Quiller Memorandum (1965), and run to Quiller Balalaika (1996). An earlier sequence follows Hugo Bishop through chess-piece titles, from Knight Sinister (1951) and Queen in Danger (1952) to Bishop in Check (1953). This catalogue holds 28 books; Trevor wrote over 100 across several pseudonyms and died in 1995.

Brad Thor

30 books• 4 series

Brad Thor, born Bradley George Thor Jr. on August 21, 1969, is an American writer of thriller novels. Scot Harvath is the recurring character, and terrorism and espionage run through the subject headings. The catalogue counts 30 books, from The Lions of Lucerne (2001) to Choke Point (2026). The Last Patriot drew a Best Thriller of the Year nomination from the International Thriller Writers Association, and NPR listeners voted Blowback onto a list of 100 Best Ever Killer Thrillers. Thor also wrote the short story "The Athens Solution" for the anthology Thriller, edited by James Patterson.

Andy McNab is the pen name of Steven Billy Mitchell, born 28 December 1959, a British novelist and former Special Air Service soldier. Public recognition came with Bravo Two Zero, an account of a Gulf War mission McNab led with the SAS, for which the Distinguished Conduct Medal followed; the Military Medal had come in 1979 for gallantry with the Royal Green Jackets in Northern Ireland. The catalogue lists 57 titles, among them two autobiographies, thrillers built around the intelligence officer Nick Stone, and books for younger readers in the Boy Soldier and Street Soldier sequences. The Rescue (2023) is the newest entry, and no further title is scheduled.

Naval aviation and espionage define Stephen Coonts's thrillers. Jake Grafton leads the series that opens with Flight of the Intruder (1986), Tommy Carmellini heads a later one, and the Saucer books and Deep Black sit alongside. Terrorism, conspiracies, undercover operations and the Vietnam War are recurring subjects. Thirty-eight books run to Dragon's Jaw in 2019, and nothing new has appeared since.

Charles McCarry wrote espionage fiction around Paul Christopher, an American intelligence officer. The Miernik Dossier (1973) opens that sequence, followed by The Tears of Autumn, The Secret Lovers, The Better Angels and The Last Supper. Twenty-one catalogued books, non-fiction included, run to The Mulberry Bush in 2015.

Raymond Benson

52 books• 15 series

James Bond novels published from 1997 to 2003 are what Raymond Benson, an American writer born in 1955, is known for. The catalogue lists Zero Minus Ten (1997), The Facts of Death (1998), Doubleshot (2000), Never Dream of Dying (2001) and The Man With the Red Tattoo (2002), after an earlier title, The James Bond Bedside Companion (1984). The catalogue holds 52 books up to The Hook and the Eye (2026). Black Stiletto, Spike Berenger, Metal Gear Solid, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Tom Clancy's EndWar are among the series, and espionage thrillers and intelligence officers lead the subjects.

Clive Egleton (1927-2006) was a British author of spy and crime novels who also wrote as John Tarrant and Patrick Blake. The Peter Ashton books follow an intelligence officer, and separate sequences cover David Garnett and Charles Winter. Egleton's 44 catalogued titles run from A Piece of Resistance (1970) to Pandora's Box (2008), with the 1970s the busiest decade and espionage the steady subject.

John Le Carre

30 books• 5 series

John le Carré was the pen name of David John Moore Cornwell, an English novelist of espionage who lived from 19 October 1931 to 12 December 2020. During the 1950s and 1960s Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and late in life took Irish citizenship. The catalogue counts 30 books, from Call for the Dead (1961) to A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré (2022). The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), the third novel, was an international bestseller and an award-winning film. George Smiley is the recurring figure, with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) and Smiley's People (1979) in the list. Subjects include the Cold War, spies and intelligence officers.

Kyle Mills, born August 26, 1966, is an American writer of thriller fiction. The catalogue holds 24 books, from Rising Phoenix (1997) to Fade In (2025). Terrorism, espionage, intelligence officers and government investigators run through the recorded subjects, and Mitch Rapp is listed among the characters, with Vince Flynn sharing the credit on one title. Mark Beamon and Fade are the series credited to Mills, alongside a set of standalone novels. Mills is still publishing.

David Hagberg (October 9, 1942 to September 8, 2019) was an American novelist of techno-thrillers. Kirk McGarvey, a super-spy, is the character most associated with Hagberg. The listing also carries the Wallace Mahoney, Magic Man, Bill Lane and Nate Osborne and Ashley Borden series, Flash Gordon novels and non-fiction. Espionage, terrorism, intelligence officers and assassins are among the subjects, and Traitor (2022) is the newest listed title.

Matthew Dunn, born in 1968, is a British spy novelist and a former MI6 intelligence officer. Will Cochrane is Dunn's principal character, introduced in the Spycatcher series that opens the catalogue in 2011, and a second series follows Ben Sign. Dunn's 15 books were published between 2011 and 2022, closing with The Private Spy. Intelligence services, terrorism and operations across Britain, the United States and Russia are the recurring subjects.

Kenneth Cameron writes espionage and mystery fiction, with the early novels published as George Bartram. The Alan Craik books follow a US Navy intelligence officer, and the Denton series, the Arms novels and Louisa Conan Doyle make up the rest. Fair Game (1973) opens the catalogue under the Bartram name, which carries on through A Job Abroad (1975), Under the Freeze (1984) and In the Noonday Sun (1985). Thirty-three books run to The Oxford Fellow (2013).

Brett Battles

53 books• 12 series

Brett Battles has 54 books in the catalogue, from The Cleaner (2007) to Hostile Intent (2026), with Fool Proof listed for 2027. Jonathan Quinn and Logan Harper are recurring characters, and intelligence officers, conspiracies and organized crime appear among the subject headings. Other Battles series include Project Eden, Excoms, Rewinder, Night Man Chronicles, Alexandra Poe and the Trouble Family Chronicles. Battles is an American writer and computer engineer from Los Angeles.

Andrew Britton wrote espionage thrillers around the recurring character Ryan Kealey, with terrorism, intelligence officers and the Central Intelligence Agency among the subjects. The 7 catalogued books run from The American (2006) to Threatcon Delta (2014), taking in The Assassin (2007), The Invisible (2008), The Exile (2010), The Operative (2012) and The Courier (2013). Britton was born in Britain in 1981, moved to the United States at seven, and published a first novel at 23. Britton died in 2008, and the catalogue continues to 2014.

Edward S. Aarons (September 11, 1916 to June 16, 1975) was an American writer of more than 80 novels, published from 1936 until 1975. Thirty of those novels appeared under the name Edward Ronns and one, Dead Heat, as Paul Ayres. The Assignment spy thrillers, begun in 1955 and continued until Aarons died, star CIA agent Sam Durell across 42 novels set around the world and translated into 17 languages. Aarons also wrote for detective magazines including Detective Story Magazine and Scarab. The catalogue holds 63 books from 1947 to 1989, among them Terror in the Town (1947), State Department Murders (1950) and The Sinners (1953).