Contemporary Espionage writers

Any thoughts on Barry Eisler's John Rain series? Has anyone read Charles Cumming?

Just saw both mentioned in the Wall Street Journal and the descriptions of their stories piqued my interest.

http://www.barryeisler.com
http://www.charlescumming.co.uk/

Eisler's are kind of cheap thrills action-movie kind of fare. Like Gardner bond, maybe. Enjoyable, but not the thing to go for if you're looking for gritty/realistic/etc.

Well, I already requested a copy on BookMooch so I'll see how I like it. What authors would you consider realistic?

Le Carre & Len Deighton are probably the gold standard there. Gritty was probably a poor choice of words. Realistic too, for that matter since I wouldn't know what it would be like to be a real spy. But certainly these are closer to what I imagine it would be like. Not so much the jujitsu & sniper rifles, more of the cerebral stuff. Having said that, Eisler has some sections on countersurveillance that I quite like.

I've been curious about Charles Cumming myself actually, but I've yet to actually buy copies of his books.

One "new" writer I'd like to get into is David Wolstencroft. As the creator of the television program Spooks, I'm worried that his style might not be as literary as I like, but I do love that show so much. Has anyone read either of his novels: Good News Bad News or Contact Zero?

Message 5 - This response comes almost 3 months too late, but I just discovered the group today. I loved both Good News Bad News and Contact Zero. Just my cup of tea.

Better late than never, kathi, so much thanks for the comment! Would you say that the novels "feel" like Spooks? Or is Wolstencroft trying to do something "un-Spooks" in his novels?

Afraid I've never seen Spooks. Where do I find it?

kathi, it's on the BBC, but if you don't live in the UK, you're going to have to look for it on DVD, which is what I had to do.

It's on in Canada as "MI-5", so it's not impossible that it's available in other markets under that name.

Yeah! I found it! I forgot I had the BBC America cable channel. Went to their website and printed a two-week schedule of MI-5 episodes. ("Spooks" is really a much cooler title.) Just what I need - another addiction. Am seriously hooked on Law & Order, Without A Trace, and Design Star. Thank God I'm a talented multi-tasker. I can read, eat, and watch the telly at the same time.

Yeah, it is Spooks in Australia.

Looking at most of his novels, Robert Wilson perhaps really really isn't a "contemporary espionage writer," but he did write one that caught my eye called The Company of Strangers. Has anyone read this?

It apparently takes place across several years, from WW2 Lisbon (also the setting of another book of his called A Small Death in Lisbon) to Cold War Berlin to the 1990s and has been described as:

One of the few post-1991 spy novels to reconsider Cold War assumptions about the goals and nature of the agencies, all wrapped around a classic love story.

Another novel that interests me is Brandenburg Gate by Henry Porter. Here's a review.

In the 1970's I started reading spy stories of John Le Carre & Len Deighton. Recently, I have read Allan Furst, Charles Cummings, Stella Rimington, David Hagberg, David Downing, Joseph Kanon.
I do not like superman spy heroes like James Bond. Le Carre's George Smiley is my ideal spy.
Please send me your suggestions of authors of spy stories.

Do you mean those who are writing now? Or stories that are set now? I really like Alan Furst's books. From what little I know about 30s and 40s Europe, they ring very true.

Robert Littell has written several excellent espionage novels. I'm reading The Sisters now and it's fairly intiruguing. The Company is another good one of his.

you might like the books by Joseph Hone like The Private Sector which are cold war disillusioned British spy stories.

18> I read Littell's "The Sisters" not long ago, as well, and enjoyed it very much. I haven't got around to any of Littell's others, but someday I'll dip back into his work.

I recently picked up The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall and have another one on order with amazon. TQM was amazing/awesome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiller

Any of Stella Rimington's novels are well worth reading. She's the former Director General of MI5.

Been watching the BBC production of Alan Furst's Spies of Warsaw. Pretty good so far.

How did I miss that!!? Argghhh!!

Check out the Davies King trilogy and the Boyd trilogy by Paul Anthony - all 6 are espionage/detective/crime thrillers

I have read and enjoyed both authors.

Here's an interesting article on what happens when real spies become novelists. http://lithub.com/do-spies-turned-novelists-use-their-old-sources/