Spy Book Club | Spy books, mystery novels, and the latest thrillers

Elements of Successful Horror Media

Add a couple of these themes to your next script and you can’t go wrong.

It has been three days since I saw The Woman in Black, and I am still jumping at shadows. This is the true sign of a good horror movie (or book)—not whether or not you think the ending could have been different, not whether or not you thought a few scenes were unbelievable, but whether or not it sticks with you and the scare continues long after the lights have come on.

Just how do you do that, though? Knowing whether or not your choices will affect people deeply is hard, so the first step, I think, is to know what scares you. Whether it’s a graveyard or a creepy old house or clowns, make sure you include it in the way that it scares you (all of these items, incidentally, are included in the film above).

Next, select elements that prey on people’s biggest fears. Successful movies like 28 Days Later and I Am Legend, for example, are so scary because they feed off of our collective fear of the world ending—or, worse, what happens when most of civilization is gone and what the rest of us have to deal with. Movies like The Woman in Black and I Am Legend also deal with losing children—as do many other horror movies—which is the ultimate horror for a huge percentage of the population, including parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. I keep worrying that I’ll see her, and I have a young child. That’s pretty terrifying, if you know what happens after you see her—and I’ve been avoiding windows ever since!

While a good scary movie should not have endless gory sequences—this is just pure laziness in MOST cases, as I have seen—it should have a couple of really strong visuals that stick with you after the movie. These are the ones that will likely pop into your head long after seeing the film or reading the book—whether it’s Bev’s blood-in-the-bathroom scene from It (one of my most haunting scenes, though there were several) or the creepy monster with eyes on his hands in Pan’s Labyrinth (again, among many stunning yet terrifying visuals).

Finally, a good scary piece of media has you constantly looking over your shoulder—and this is often accomplished with subtleties that can be hard to master. Creeping dread that is done with a lot of building tension and there, then not-there imagery that makes you jump hard is a good way to establish this. Once you master that, let me know how it’s done!

eBook Price Swings Make Finding Good Books Difficult

Call Me Princess by Sara Blaedel

Call Me Princess I've been interested in Call Me Princess for a couple of months, ever since my library added it to their ebook collection, though I haven't had a chance to pick it up until recently. Though my library had it available, I was very excited to see the ebook on sale for $2.99 a week or so ago, so I bought it -- I much prefer the flexibility to read at my own pace than to be on my library's schedule.

So I was shocked tonight when I looked up the book for this blog post, and found the ebook was now priced at $16.24! That's not much less than the hardcover, especially once you consider discounts that many stores offer for bestsellers.

The book itself looks great. The author is Danish, and the book seems to be in the same vein as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Three Seconds, both of which I've discussed on this blog -- especially the former, which deals quite a bit with crimes against women. In Call Me Princess, Detective Inspector Louise Rick discovers that a rape victim met her attacker on a dating site, and goes undercover on the site in order to try to discover the rapist's identity.

I'm not far into the book yet, but so far it seems like a tense thriller, especially if the description holds true. Too bad the wild pricing swings on the ebook are sure to turn away potential buyers. Sixteen bucks is just too much for many people to feel comfortable paying for an ebook!

Real-Life Spies

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Nickel and Dimed Perhaps it's partly because I think the idea of someone going undercover is so compelling, in real life as well as in fiction, but I've always been fascinated with undercover journalism. One outstanding book that I absolutely loved was Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, in which the author took various minimum wage jobs around the country and tried to make ends meet for a few months at a time, just to demonstrate how impossible it is to get by on minimum wage.

From the way each chapter is written, it's perfectly obvious that her employers didn't realize what she was doing, or that their companies would be written up in a book. She basically allotted herself a certain amount of move-in money every time she moved to a new area and took a new job, found the cheapest apartment she could, and got a minimum wage with which to (try to) pay her bills. In each case, the money she earned was not enough to continue paying even the minimum of bills she could possibly have, and this was her alone -- no family to support, no kids to raise or pets to care for. Not only that, but as she said, most working class people don't even have as much extra money on hand as she allotted herself for move-in costs, which means that every time they move, they get further and further behind.

So why am I writing about this on a spy blog? Well, I think it's an excellent example of real-life "spying." Sure, maybe there's not the glory of international warfare (or cold war), but the author had to pretend to be something she wasn't, all the same. I think that's what makes me so interested in undercover journalism -- that a writer could pretend to be something they are not, and then write an expose about their experiences.

There are many other examples of real-life "spies" in our society. What else can you think of? I can think of a few -- undercover drug busts and that sort of thing -- and I think all of them would make equally compelling books, whether fiction or nonfiction!

Sympathetic or Unsympathetic: Different Points of View

Tamar by Mal Peet

Tamar When I think about spy novels, there's actually a lot more that comes to mind than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Three Seconds. One in particular is Mal Peet's Tamar, a fantastic book from a few years ago about the Dutch Resistance during World War II.

Like many good historical mysteries, the book weaves together two time lines: the events during World War II and two men who were involved in the Dutch Resistance, and modern day (or, more precisely, 50 years later), which focuses on the granddaughter one of the men. There is a pretty major mystery about what happened to the two men during the war, and as you are finding out the truth, so is the granddaughter.

The book is well written, but one of the most interesting things is how the character of the grandfather -- the survivor -- is open to interpretation. When I read this book, I viewed him as a sympathetic character. As I found out what he had done, I could understand it and forgive it. But my mom, on the other hand, found him to be a very unsympathetic character, and to her the point of the book was how he couldn't be forgiven for what he had done.

My mom and I had several very heated conversations about his character, actually, and why we each felt so very differently about this character, why we read different things into his story. But in retrospect, I actually feel that this is a mark of an excellent novel or author -- to present a character with all his flaws, but not to try to influence your feelings about him or her. Because of the nature of the spy genre, I think there are a lot of characters that fit the bill: characters who have both good and bad qualities, and who readers could interpret either as sympathetic or unsympathetic.

Can you think of any other favorite characters in the genre like this?

The Original Stieg Larsson

Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy

The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson In my last post, I discussed Three Seconds, whose authors -- when I read it -- were being hailed as the next Stieg Larsson. Now, I actually read Three Seconds first, and then the Millennium Trilogy, so I had a reversed perspective on the books.

I read Three Seconds as part of Barnes & Noble's now-defunct First Look program, in which members of the B&N forum could get advance review copies of upcoming releases. In exchange for being given a free book, essentially, we were to participate in forum discussions about the book.

Honestly, if someone on the forum hadn't said that they thought Three Seconds was actually quite different from Stieg Larsson's books, I don't know if I could have brought myself to read the Millenium Trilogy. It wasn't that I really disliked Three Seconds, it just wasn't my style. But a couple of people on the forum said that no, they thought there were quite a few differences in Larsson's books, including character development -- which was encouraging for me, since that was one of my major issues with Three Seconds.

I found that all three of Larsson's books -- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest -- started off a little slow. I guess we'll have to chalk it up to Larsson's setting up the rest of the novel, because in all three cases, once you were a hundred or so pages in, you were hooked!

And actually, it might be a little less than that for the third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest -- my favorite. That one picked up right where the previous book had left off, so the action was already rolling from the first sentence. But what I really liked about the third book was all the stuff about the court case and Lisbeth's defence. I love how Larsson brings everything together in the third book.

While I think Three Seconds is the kind of book that will most appeal to people who like the genre, I think the Millennium Trilogy is one that a much broader audience can appreciate. Those who read other genres will still be able to enjoy Larsson's books, because of the way they are written, and the skill with which he draws you in and makes you care about the characters.

The Next Stieg Larsson?

Three Seconds by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom

When I first picked up Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom's Three Seconds, they were being hailed as the next Stieg Larsson -- a pair of authors writing bestselling spy fiction in Sweden. While the book was good, though, I'm not sure if I would put it on the same level as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the other two in Larsson's trilogy.

Three Seconds was an excellent book, but the scenes were much shorter and terser, and it jumped around more than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I thought the jumping around was to the point of being rather excessive -- but the biggest problem was that it never allowed the characters to develop very much, or allowed you to become very attached to them. The heroes of the story -- the spy who's been imprisoned, and the detective who is trying to figure out what's going on -- seem fairly detached from the reader, and not very sympathetic.

In contrast, all three of Larsson's books start out somewhat slow, but build both suspense and an attachment to the characters. By about halfway through you're hooked; by the climax, you're finding it next to impossible to put the book down. That's the way it was, at least for me, with all three of the books in Larsson's trilogy.

Don't get me wrong, Three Seconds is a good book -- entertaining, but also a big story about corruption in the Swedish system. It's obviously written by people who know that system very well, and it's believable. What it just doesn't have is the riveting storytelling that Larsson demonstrates so beautifully. If you enjoy this genre, I think you'll enjoy the book, but for its entertainment value, and not necessarily an example of one of the best in the genre.

Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal

by Ben Macintyre

Amazon is offering Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by Ben Macintyre for only $10.20 with FREE shipping if you spend over $25.

"Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began. Based on recently declassified files, Agent Zigzag tells Chapman’s full story for the first time. It’s a gripping tale of loyalty, love, treachery, espionage, and the thin and shifting line between fidelity and betrayal."

"Carte Blanche", a new James Bond book by Jeffery Deaver

007 is now in Dubai?

Carte Blanche, the new book by author Jeffery Deaver stars everyone's favorite spy - James Bond. The new book will actually be taking place in Dubai, of all places, which is making more news than the book itself. I guess location really does play a role in our society - even when we are just reading about it.

The book is still in a 007 secret phase of writing so there is not a lot more to report, other than Bond will be going to Dubai in search of a criminal.

The book is not even out on store shelves and the plans for a movie are already in the works, as reported by the AFP. There is just something about James Bond and his adventures that gets to the core of all of us. I am still a little iffy about the emirate of Dubai being the next location for his adventure but maybe the exotic location will really pick up the story - only time will tell.

Lindsay Moran, "Blowing My Cover"

Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy is both frankly honest and kind of a let-down. For anyone who picks up a CIA spy's memoirs and expects sizzling tales of high intrigue, counter-ops, sneaky gadgets, and diplomatic malfeasance, Blowing My Cover will be a real shock.

I picked up Blowing My Cover off the discount rack, intrigued by the idea of a memoir by a female CIA agent. The CIA is notoriously female-unfriendly, and I was interested to hear about Moran's experiences. It turns out that being a spy is often boring, sometimes aggravating, and occasionally dangerous, but nothing like what you see in the movies. Who would have guessed?

I would expect a lot of people to be outraged and disappointed by this book, and checking the Amazon reviews, I can see that I am not wrong. In many ways, Blowing My Cover is the exact opposite of every other "I worked for the CIA" memoir ever written. Moran portrays life with the CIA as just another job - a job with a lot more bureaucracy and lies, but at heart just a job. One with an aggravating amount of business travel.

The ennui Moran experiences at the CIA is palpable, and her frustration with the deeply embedded sexism and culture of secrecy are both laid out without any prevarication. This is not a hard boiled tale of deception and intrigue; it is a portrait of life in the belly of the world's biggest bureaucracy. The people at the CIA are real people, not vat grown super soldiers, and they have all the failings and foibles of real people - weight problems, gossip, bitching about the boss, complaining about the dress code; it's just like your own office. But with a bigger petty cash budget.

Blowing My Cover was published after 2001, and interestingly enough, Moran's 9/11 experience swam against the tide. In the wake of the bombings, Moran seems to have woken up to what the CIA's incompetence really means. While she had previously been content to sit back and shake her head with bemusement, 9/11 brought home what "CIA intelligence failures" could really mean. In the wake of the bombings, when so many people were volunteering for military and intelligence jobs, Moran quit hers.

I am not hugely experienced with the spy literature genre, but Blowing My Cover struck me as the first truly modern spy memoir. It is rife with "the banality of the ordinary life," which is part of why so many Amazon reviewers found it so shocking and unpleasant. Most people don't read spy jobs to find out that working for the CIA is just another job, and that bungling takes place at every possible level. That the CIA's culture of secrecy in fact frequently contributes to the bungling, because the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing "for its own good."

What really sticks with me is Moran's explanation of how the CIA field agents gather intelligence. Put simply, they pay for it. If you have some information, you tell it to Moran, and she gives you money for it. There is no fact-checking involved, how could there be? Therefore, you could pass along just about anything, call it "intelligence," earn some American cash, and walk away happy.

And we wonder what happened to all those WMDs in Iraq.

I Spy is a National Phenomenon

I Spy has certainly come a long way since my childhood! Remember when we were kids and we used to play the game on long car trips (without many things to spy, of course)?

“I spy something…green.”

“The trees again.”

“Yep! How did you know?!”

It was even more fun to play in the yard, when there were limitless possibilities. Wasn’t it always fun to spy something your friend couldn’t find—like their own headband!—and then just completely stump them altogether? Good times.

Today’s kids can get even more fun out of the spying game we all know and love. My daughter loves to play “I Spy Bingo,” in which you draw out a card, quickly pick an object on the card, and see if it’s on your Bingo sheet (with each square containing several items instead of a single one). She’s really been learning her letters well this way, and it’s so much fun to look for the tiny treasures on the cards.

But that’s just the beginning. If you go to the Scholastic I Spy website, you will find the I Spy brand on everything. I was delighted to learn that there were so many other I Spy games available to play. Did you know that there’s I Spy Memory, I Spy Travel, I Spy Private Eye, and many more games out there? There are also card games, puzzles, online video games, and even a TV show for kids on HBO Family. If you didn’t think that was a lot, there are also Wii, Nintendo, Leapster and other I Spy Games—as well as an I Spy iPhone App!

Of course, there are also the books. These search-and-find puzzle books are fun and educational for kids of all ages, and they’re available for just about all ages as well. My sisters always had the classic I Spy books growing up (I don’t know if they were available when I was a child or not), but I wish I had known about the I Spy board books for babies—how much fun are those?

They come in a range of topics and themes, from Christmas to hearts to mystery and more, making them perfect for both boys and girls. There are even paperback beginning reader and phonics I Spy books to help young children learn to read and recognize letters as they play—much like my own daughter is doing with the I Spy Bingo game. The I Spy series is a wonderful way for children to learn and play at the same time.