10 Riveting Real-Life Spy Books

Family of Spies is a staggering new account by author Christine Kuehn, chronicling her own family’s secret identity as Nazi and Japanese spies during WWII and the key role they played in the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

For years, Kuehn’s father Eberhard kept the dark reality hidden. The story began when Kuehn’s aunt Ruth became entangled with a Nazi leader back in Germany. When the Nazis found out Ruth was half-Jewish, they sent the entire family to Hawaii to establish a covert spy operation — passing secrets to Japan and culminating in the bombing of the Pearl Harbor naval base. Told here for the first time, Kuehn’s account is as “taut as a spy thriller ― but shockingly real” (Adam Makos, bestselling author of Devotion).

Ben Macintyre, bestselling author of Operation Mincemeat and Agent Zigzag, is a modern maestro of the real-life spy book. The Spy and the Traitor centers on Oleg Gordievsky, a Russian-born son of two KGB agents raised to be a spy for the Soviet regime. While working his way up the ranks, Gordievsky flipped sides and began working as a double agent for Britain’s MI6. His secret actions helped foil multiple Soviet intelligence plots during the Cold War — and sparked an intense search for the double agent on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Exhilarating and fast-paced, The Spy and the Traitor is well worth the read. 

A Woman of No Importance recounts the remarkable true story of Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who lived a double life as a spy for England and the Allied Powers during WWII. She was the first Allied woman to go behind enemy lines and establish large spy networks throughout France, playing a pivotal role in the French Resistance. When a bounty was placed on her head, she refused to evacuate. Once her cover was blown, she embarked on a death-defying hike across the Pyrenees to Spain for safety — only to return to France and help the French fight the Nazis after D-Day! “Excellent… This book is as riveting as any thriller, and as hard to put down” (The New York Times Book Review).

Liza Mundy traces three generations of CIA servicewomen in her national bestseller The Sisterhood, celebrating the many ways women have revolutionized spy craft throughout the decades. Named a best book of the year by Smithsonian, Mundy’s true spy story spans three periods of espionage — from WWII through the Cold War to the 9/11 era — and celebrates the transformative role women played in each.

A Pulitzer Prize winner and national bestseller, David E. Hoffman’s The Billion Dollar Spy tells the story of Adolf Tolkachev, an engineer in a Soviet military design bureau who worked as a double agent for the Americans. Tolkachev risked everything to deliver troves of Soviet secrets to the U.S., helping the Americans dominate the skies during the Cold War. But like any great spy tale, a stunning betrayal puts Tolkachev’s identity — and his life — in jeopardy. 

Larry Loftis’s Code Name: Lise is a propulsive nonfiction espionage tale set during WWII. It focuses on Odette Sansom, a daring spy whose life was threatened when the Gestapo captured her. Enduring brutal torture, Sansom refused to give up information. Loftis’s riveting tale of secrecy and survival vividly captures Sansom’s unbreakable spirit, delivering “a true-life thriller... [and] a vivid history of wartime heroism” (Kirkus Reviews).

Alex Kershaw’s Avenue of Spies transports you to Paris’s Avenue Foch, an exclusive enclave in occupied France that doubled as a hotbed for spies, secret police, and Vichy collaborators. Among the neighborhood’s residents was Sumner Jackson, an American physician who chose to join up with the Liberation network of the French Resistance, risking his life and the safety of his family in the fight for freedom. When his Nazi neighbors uncovered his secret identity, Jackson and his family were forced to flee, embarking on a death-defying race across war-torn Europe. 

In this New York Times bestseller, Lynne Olson tells the extraordinary true story of Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, an indomitable woman who ran the largest spy network in occupied France during World War II. Madame Fourcade was a revolutionary force to be reckoned with. Her spy ring provided more intel and outlasted any other network of the era. She was an expert at disguise, regularly changing her hair color, clothing, and name to keep her true identity a secret, and moving her headquarters every few weeks. Even after being caught by the Nazis — twice! — Madame Fourcade managed to escape and return to lead her spy network to victory. 

The Secret War is but one of Sir Max Hastings’ many acclaimed works of history, most of which center on war. This one is set during WWII, and it delves into the shadowy world of wartime intelligence. Rather than focus on a single country’s espionage agency, however, Hastings examines all sides of the engagement, highlighting successes and failures from operations conducted by the United States, Britain, Soviet Russia, Germany, and Japan. Each nation has its own character and perspective, and every intelligence mission helped shape the course of the war. A New York Times bestseller, Hastings’ epic true spy book is not to be missed.  

We round out our list with a book by a true spy master: The Pigeon Tunnel by John Le Carré. Le Carré is the author of iconic espionage thrillers like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Night Manager, and he has quite a life story. He served in British intelligence during the Cold War before deciding to become a mystery writer, and his decades-long career has taken him to Cambodia, Lebanon, Russia, Rwanda, and more. Written with humor, heart, and the charming wink of a raconteur, Le Carré’s bestselling memoir is a treat for fans of espionage thrillers — both fictional and true-life.