United States. Central Intelligence Agency book series in reading order

by Alex Berenson

by William F. Buckley, Jr.

by Dee Davis

by L.T. Ryan

by Jeff Abbott

by Matthew Betley

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.

William F. Buckley, Jr.

55 books• 1 series

William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925-2008) was an American conservative writer, commentator and novelist. God and Man at Yale (1951) opens the catalogue, a year after Buckley graduated from Yale with honours; two years at the Central Intelligence Agency followed. Espionage and the Central Intelligence Agency sit among the recorded subjects, carried by the Blackford Oakes novels, the one recorded series. Politics, conservatism and journalism fill the rest. 55 titles are catalogued through to A Torch Kept Lit (2016), averaging 295 pages.

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).

Dee Davis Oberwetter, born in 1959, writes romantic suspense and time-travel novels as Dee Davis, and served as president of the Romance Writers of America board of directors from 2017 to 2018. The catalogue holds 32 books published between 2000 and 2023, from Everything in Its Time (2000) to Winter's Kiss (2023), with After Twilight (2001), Midnight Rain (2002), Wild Highland Rose (2003), Endgame (2005) and Enigma (2005) among them. A-Tac, Liar's Game and Matchmaker Chronicles are the series credited to Davis, and Rising Storm carries a character entry. Subjects include the Central Intelligence Agency, missing persons, time travel and contemporary romance.

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).

Iris Johansen writes crime fiction, suspense and romance, and was born on April 7, 1938, in St. Louis, Missouri. The catalogue lists 120 books from Stormy Vows (1983) to Wait and See (2026), with the 1980s as the busiest decade. Eve Duncan, Kendra Michaels and Catherine Ling are the recurring characters, and facial reconstruction and women sculptors appear among the subject headings. Johansen's series also include Sedikhan, Wind Dancer, Clanad and Delaneys.

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.

Cold War espionage is Paul Vidich's subject, written around the Central Intelligence Agency and its operations from Korea to Cuba. Seven books are catalogued: An Honorable Man (2016), The Good Assassin (2017), The Coldest Warrior (2020), The Mercenary (2021), The Matchmaker (2022), Beirut Station (2023) and The Poet's Game. George Mueller and Alex Matthews head the two series.

John Weisman's 14 catalogued books span 1973 to 2011, starting with Guerrilla Theater: Scenarios for Revolution (1973). Weisman's named series is Headhunters. Subjects include thrillers, spies, assassination and the Central Intelligence Agency, and the list takes in Shadow Warrior (1989) and KBL: Kill Bin Laden (2011). The catalogue for Weisman is likely complete.

Stuart Woods

104 books• 9 series

Crime and detective thrillers make up Stuart Woods's catalogue of 104 titles, running from Blue Water, Green Skipper (1977) to Finders Keepers (2025). The Barrington Universe, built around the recurring character Stone Barrington, is the largest strand; Teddy Fay, Ed Eagle and Rick Barron head further series, with standalone novels and non-fiction beside them. Private investigators, police and New York settings recur through the subject tags.

Mark Greaney

25 books• 4 series

Mark Greaney, born July 11, 1967, is an American thriller writer. The Gray Man novels follow Court Gentry, an assassin and CIA operative, and began with The Gray Man in 2009. Greaney co-wrote the last works of Tom Clancy and carried the Jack Ryan books forward from 2013 to 2017. The catalogue counts 26 books through The Hard Line (2026), with Dark Union announced for 2027. A Joshua Duffy series and standalone novels complete the list.

L.T. Ryan is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling thriller author with 137 books in the catalogue, from Noble Beginnings (2012) to Noble Reckoning, with Cold Light announced and the list reaching 2027. The Jack Noble and Rachel Hatch series head Ryan's profile. Other series listings include Maddie Castle, Cassie Quinn, Bear & Mandy Logan, Dalton Savage, Blake Brier, Alex Hayes Legal Thrillers, Affliction Z, Stella LaRosa, Avril Dahl and Jane Cannon. Subjects include the CIA, special operations, conspiracies, betrayal and human smuggling. Ryan also runs a publishing company.

Debra Webb, born 1958, is an American author of suspense novels and a USA Today bestseller. The catalogue credits Webb with 180 books from 1999 to 2026, starting with Tempting Trace (1999). Series include Colby Agency, Faces of Evil, Undertaker's Daughter, Shades of Death, Lookout Mountain Mysteries and Winchester, Tennessee. Subjects cover romantic suspense, private investigators, serial murderers and missing persons. The Woman I've Become (2026) is the newest title.

David Ignatius

13 books

David Ignatius writes espionage thrillers built on the Central Intelligence Agency and the Middle East. Agents of Innocence (1987) opens the catalogue, followed by Siro (1991), The Bank of Fear (1994), Body of Lies (2007), The Increment (2009), Bloodmoney (2011) and The Director (2014). Thirteen books run to Phantom Orbit in 2024, at 352 pages on median.

Jeff Abbott

23 books• 4 series

Jeff Abbott's crime fiction runs from small-town Texas to the international thriller. Jordan Poteet, a librarian in Mirabeau, leads the first series from Do Unto Others (1994); Whit Mosley and then Sam Capra follow. Assassins, the Mafia and intelligence officers enter with the later books. Twenty-three titles reach January and July in 2026, at 390 pages on median.

Olen Steinhauer

16 books• 5 series

Espionage is Olen Steinhauer's subject, first in Eastern Europe and then at the CIA. The Ruthenia Quintet runs from The Bridge of Sighs (2003) through The Confession, 36 Yalta Boulevard, Liberation Movements and Victory Square, following police work in a fictional communist state. Milo Weaver takes over with The Tourist (2009) and The Nearest Exit, reaching The Last Tourist in 2020. Sixteen titles make up the catalogue.

Dan Fesperman

14 books• 2 series

Espionage and crime drive Dan Fesperman's fiction. A former Baltimore Sun reporter whose assignments took him to Germany, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East, Fesperman turns that reporting into thrillers about journalists, investigators and intelligence services. The catalogue holds 14 books published between 1999 and 2025, from Lie in the Dark (1999) through Pariah (2025). Two series run inside it, Vlado Petric and Claire Saylor, and Fesperman is still publishing.

Robert Littell, born 8 January 1935 in Brooklyn to a family of Russian Jewish origin, writes spy fiction. Littell's novels turn on the CIA and the Soviet Union, drawing on a working life that took in a 1956 degree from Alfred University, four years in the US Navy as navigator, antisubmarine warfare officer and communications officer, and years at Newsweek during the Cold War, including a posting as foreign correspondent from 1965 to 1970. Littell lives in France. The catalogue holds 26 books, from If Israel Lost the War (1969) to Bronshtein in the Bronx (2025).

Seven catalogued books by Matthew Betley run from Overwatch (2016) to The Council (2026), with Oath of Honor, Field of Valor, Rules of War, AMIRA and The Neighborhood in between. The Logan West series anchors the run, and the Logan West Universe extends it alongside standalone novels. Betley's thrillers take in the FBI, the CIA, the Marine Corps, undercover operations and Iraq. Betley is an American former Marine.

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.

James Grady, born April 30, 1949, is an American writer and investigative journalist known for thrillers of espionage and intrigue as well as police procedurals. Grady wrote for television with Stephen J. Cannell, worked on films with Brandon Lee, William Katt and David Hasselhoff, and has edited fiction anthologies. London's Daily Telegraph listed Grady among 50 crime writers to read before you die in 2008. The catalogue lists 25 books, from Six Days of the Condor / Three Days of the Condor (1974) and Shadow of the Condor (1975) to Shadows on Sidewalks (2026). Condor, John Rankin and Devlin Rourke are the series.

Catherine Mann is an American author of romance fiction and a winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award, with books at Berkley, Sourcebooks and Harlequin Desire. Mann holds a master's degree in theatre from UNC-Greensboro and a fine arts degree from the College of Charleston. The catalogue holds 87 books, from Grayson's Surrender (2002) to The Sweet Tea Odyssey (2026), and the 2010s are the heaviest decade. Wingman Warriors, Dark Ops, Elite Force, Alaskan Oil Barons, Top Dog Dude Ranch and Landis Brothers are among the series credited to Mann. Suspense, undercover operations and the United States Air Force appear in the subject records.

Spies run through Gina Robinson's romantic suspense: the recorded subjects name the Central Intelligence Agency, undercover operations, women spies and terrorism, alongside married couples. The catalogue holds 56 books dated 2004 to 2021, from Spy Candy (2004) to Loves Billionaires and Weddings (2021). Agent Ex, Spy Camp, Switched at Marriage, Duke Society, Billionaire Duke, Jet City Kilt and Jet City Matchmaker are among the series under the Robinson name. No title in this listing carries a date after 2021.

Ted Allbeury, born Theodore Edward le Bouthillier Allbeury, was a British writer of espionage fiction who lived from 24 October 1917 to 4 December 2005. From 1940 to 1947 Allbeury served as an intelligence officer in the Special Operations Executive and rose to lieutenant colonel. Allbeury is thought to be the only British secret agent to parachute into Nazi Germany during the war, staying until the Allied armies arrived. During the Cold War, Allbeury was captured and tortured while running agents across the border between East and West Germany. The catalogue opens with A Choice Of Enemies (1973) and Snowball (1974), includes a title published as Richard Butler, and lists the Tad Anders series.