Like most secret agents, SPYSCAPE scours the world searching for intrigue and adventure.
We’ve found it in far-flung places with some of our favorite writers like Tatsuya Endo, author of the Japanese manga Spy x Family series, and June Hur, the South Korean-born author of The Red Palace.
We’ve also found amazing novels closer to home so read on for our 15 top spy, secrets, and superhero novels to keep you in the know.
Alma Katsu’s Red Widow
CIA agent Theresa Warner can't avoid the spotlight in Red Widow. She is the infamous ‘Red Widow’, the wife of a former director killed in the field under mysterious circumstances. Also, don’t miss Katsu’s The Fervor about a mysterious disease spreading through a Japanese American internment camp in WWII.
Peng Shepard’s The Cartographers
Perfect for lovers of The Book of M, Peng Shepard’s The Cartographers is a thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map that once belonged to her deceased father holds an incredible, deadly secret - one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.
Grace D. Li’s Portrait of a Thief
A heist novel inspired by the true story, Grace D. Li’s Portrait of a Thiefinvolves Chinese art and Will Chen, a senior at Harvard who is contacted by a mysterious benefactor who reaches out to him with an impossible - and illegal - job offer. Will soon finds himself leading a heist to steal back priceless sculptures looted from Beijing, along with hacker Alex Huang, an MIT dropout. Can they pull it off?
This story is part of our weekly briefing. Sign up to receive the FREE briefing to your inbox.
Like most secret agents, SPYSCAPE scours the world searching for intrigue and adventure.
We’ve found it in far-flung places with some of our favorite writers like Tatsuya Endo, author of the Japanese manga Spy x Family series, and June Hur, the South Korean-born author of The Red Palace.
We’ve also found amazing novels closer to home so read on for our 15 top spy, secrets, and superhero novels to keep you in the know.
Alma Katsu’s Red Widow
CIA agent Theresa Warner can't avoid the spotlight in Red Widow. She is the infamous ‘Red Widow’, the wife of a former director killed in the field under mysterious circumstances. Also, don’t miss Katsu’s The Fervor about a mysterious disease spreading through a Japanese American internment camp in WWII.
Peng Shepard’s The Cartographers
Perfect for lovers of The Book of M, Peng Shepard’s The Cartographers is a thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map that once belonged to her deceased father holds an incredible, deadly secret - one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.
Grace D. Li’s Portrait of a Thief
A heist novel inspired by the true story, Grace D. Li’s Portrait of a Thiefinvolves Chinese art and Will Chen, a senior at Harvard who is contacted by a mysterious benefactor who reaches out to him with an impossible - and illegal - job offer. Will soon finds himself leading a heist to steal back priceless sculptures looted from Beijing, along with hacker Alex Huang, an MIT dropout. Can they pull it off?
The School for Good Mothers involves Frida Liu, a struggling mother who remembers taking Harriet and changing her nappy then dashing to work to retrieve a file on her desk. Now, the state has decided that Frida is not fit to care for her daughter. Chan has written a thrilling novel about the pressures of perfectionism.
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer
Viet Thanh Nguyen set his Pulitzer-winning spy novel The Sympathizer in Saigon in April 1975. A general of the South Vietnamese Army is drawing up a list of those who will be given passage aboard the last flights out. The general and his compatriots start a new life in Los Angeles, unaware the captain is secretly observing and reporting on the group to the Viet Cong.
Eldo Yoshimizu’s Ryuko (Two Volumes)
From creator Eldo Yoshimizu comes a stunning manga that tells the tale of Ryuko, a fierce woman of the Yakuza thirsty for revenge. Ryuko is a hard-hitting, motorcycle-riding, high-ranking member of the Japanese mafia stationed in the Middle East. After a fierce battle with the government, she becomes embroiled with a mysterious terrorist organization.
Sarah Kuhn’s Heroine Complex
Sarah Kuhn’s Heroine Complexseries stars San Francisco’s favorite superheroines, Evie and Bea Tanaka and Aveda Jupiter, as they keep their city safe from otherworldly threats.
Tatsuya Endo’s Spy x Family
Part of an ongoing series, Tatsuya Endo’s Spy x Family is a comedy about a fake family that includes a spy, an assassin, and a telepath. Master spy Twilight is unparalleled when it comes to dangerous missions but when he receives the ultimate assignment - to marry and have a child - he may finally be in over his head.
Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club is set in America in 1954 where it is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father despite his citizenship, Lily and Kath are risking everything.
Maurene Goo’s Silk Vol. 1.
By day, Cindy Moon is an intrepid reporter for the upstart new media empire Threats & Menaces, under her old boss J. Jonah Jameson. By night she’s Silk, a crime-fighting superhero! But Cindy’s worlds are about to collide when her latest investigation puts Silk and everyone she loves in danger!
June Hur’s The Red Palace
The Red Palace is June Hur’s third evocative historical mystery. Through hard work and study, 18-year-old Hyeon has earned a position as a palace nurse. All she wants is to keep her head down and win her estranged father's approval. But Hyeon is thrust into the dark world of court politics and murder.
Bullet Train
Bullet Train- soon to be a major movie starring Brad Pitt - involves Satoshi who looks like an innocent schoolboy but he is really a cunning psychopath. Kimura's young son is in a coma thanks to him, and Kimura has tracked him onto the bullet train heading from Tokyo to Morioka to exact his revenge.
Asian American Spies involves deep behind enemy lines; double agents; a Chinese American James Bond; black propaganda radio broadcasters; guerrilla fighters; pirates; and Asian Americans collaborating with Axis Powers. All form the story of Asian Americans in the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of today's CIA.
The Last Exiles
Jin and Suja fall in love at university in Pyongyang in The Last Exiles. She is a young journalist from a prominent family, while he is from a small village of little means. Outside the school, North Korea has fallen under political upheaval, plunged into famine. When Jin returns home to find his family starving, he makes a rash decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Mike Chen’s We Could be Heroes
We Could be Heroes involves Jamie, who awoke in an empty apartment with no memory and only a few clues to his identity, but with the ability to read and erase other people’s memories, a power he uses to hold up banks to buy coffee, cat food and books.
This story is part of our weekly briefing. Sign up to receive the FREE briefing to your inbox.
Gadgets & Gifts
Put your spy skills to work with these fabulous choices from secret notepads & invisible inks to Hacker hoodies & high-tech handbags. We also have an exceptional range of rare spy books, including many signed first editions.
We all have valuable spy skills - your mission is to discover yours. See if you have what it takes to be a secret agent, with our authentic spy skills evaluation* developed by a former Head of Training at British Intelligence. It's FREE so share & compare with friends now!
.jpg)
