Ten spy thrillers featuring Russia versus the West

CrimeReads senior editor Dwyer Murphy tagged ten thrillers featuring Russia versus the West, including:

Ian Fleming, From Russia with Love

And finally, 007. Go ahead, enjoy yourself, no need to feel guilty. From Russia with Love is easily one of Fleming’s best, and if you need the extra motivation, remember that at least one US President—none other than JFK—counted this among his favorite novels. Soviet co-intel sends a phony defector—an attractive young woman, as it happens—into Bond’s hands. The goal is to compromise 007 and ultimately dispatch him. (Yes, sex is involved. Tuxedos and negligee, too. A classic honey trap.)

Read about the other entries on the list.

From Russia with Love also made Sarah Ward's top ten list of trains in novels, John Lawton's top ten list of Cold War noir novels, Sinclair McKay's five best list of books on ciphers and codebreakers during World War II and after, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best housekeepers in literature, ten of the best chess games in fiction, ten of the best punch-ups in fiction, and ten of the best breakfasts in literature, and a list of eleven presidents' favorite books. It is on Keith Jeffery's five best list of books on Britain's Secret Service and Samuel Muston's ten best list of spy novels.

--Marshal Zeringue