Entertaining Espionage Books for Fans of Slow Horses

This suspenseful spy story by Alma Katsu stars another operative with a career on shaky ground. While Lyndsey Duncan was once known as “the human lie detector” at the CIA’s Moscow Field Station, she finds herself getting placed on administrative leave after her last assignment. Things take a turn, though, when she gets called back in by the Chief of the Russia Division to conduct an internal investigation. As she teams up with an agent named Theresa Warner, the widow of a former director, the pair begin to uncover a web of lies ensnaring their department.

Like Slow Horses, this action-packed assassin story promises plenty of dark humor, as well as a protagonist trying to move on from his notorious past. While Mark was once known as the most dangerous assassin-for-hire in the world, he’s changed his ways, given up this questionable career, and joined a program to help him turn things around. Unfortunately, there seems to be someone who wants him dead, and this will send Mark on a hunt around the world trying to figure out who’s got it out for him.

This spy series by Tess Gerritsen follows a discredited CIA agent who settles into retirement along the coast of Maine in the aftermath of a failed mission. Just as Maggie Bird begins adjusting to her quiet new life on a farm, a body appears in her driveway. As with the characters in Slow Horses, Maggie has a solid crew of old spy friends ready to help her get to the bottom of this new mystery!

For dark humor and twisty crime shenanigans, look no further than Kōtarō Isaka, the Japanese author of the bestselling book Bullet Train. While Bullet Train is the second book in Isaka’s Assassins series, this is the first book. There are four books out now, and all are worth reading! Suzuki’s ordinary life in Tokyo shatters after his wife is murdered. In an effort to find answers and get revenge, Suzuki lands a job with a company run by the organized crime group involved in his wife’s murder. Before long, he meets an eccentric group of assassins, including The Cicada, The Pusher, and The Whale.