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The Manchurian Candidate

Richard Condon · back to the book

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24 books with the same feel

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The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

John le Carre · 240 pages

*The Spy Who Came in from the Cold* is a 1963 Cold War spy novel by the British author John le Carré. It depicts Alec Leamas, a British intelligence officer, being sent to East Germany as a faux defector to sow disinformation about a powerful East German intelligence officer. It serves as a sequel to le Carré's previous novels *Call for the Dead* and *A Murder of Quality,* which also featured the

Cold War EraPsychological ManipulationConspiracyPolitical Intrigue
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Child 44

Tom Rob Smith · 480 pages

A propulsive, relentless page-turner.A terrifying evocation of a paranoid world where no one can be trusted.A surprising, unexpected story of love and family, of hope and resilience.CHILD 44 is a thriller unlike any you have ever read."There is no crime."Stalin's Soviet Union strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs. One of its fundamental pillars is that its cit

Cold War EraPropagandaConspiracyPsychological Manipulation
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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Stieg Larsson · 602 pages

> Lisbeth Salander—the heart of Larsson’s two previous novels—lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She’s fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she’ll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have t

ConspiracyPolitical IntriguePsychological ManipulationAssassins
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Gorky Park

Martin Cruz Smith · 384 pages

A triple murder in a Moscow amusement center: three corpses found frozen in the snow, faces and fingers missing. Chief homicide investigator Arkady Renko is brilliant, sensitive, honest, and cynical about everything except his profession. To identify the victims and uncover the truth, he must battle the KGB, FBI and New York police as he pursues a rich, ruthless, and well-connected American fu

Cold War EraConspiracyTense and SuspensefulThriller
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Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare · 136 pages

PropagandaConspiracyAssassinsPolitical Intrigue
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The Bourne Identity

Robert Ludlum · 576 pages

Cold War EraConspiracyAssassinsPolitical Intrigue
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Darkness at Noon

Arthur Koestler · 254 pages

"The newly discovered lost text of Arthur Koestler's modern masterpiece, Darkness at Noon--the haunting portrait of a revolutionary, imprisoned and tortured under totalitarian rule--is now restored and in a completely new translation. Editor Michael Scammell and translator Philip Boehm bring us a brilliant novel, a remarkable discovery, and a new translation of an international classic"--

PropagandaPsychological ManipulationPolitical IntrigueClassics
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From Russia With Love

Ian Fleming · 258 pages

James Bond is marked for death by the Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH in Ian Fleming’s masterful spy thriller, and the novel that President John F. Kennedy named one of his favourite books of all time. SMERSH stands for ‘Death to Spies’ and there’s no secret agent they’d like to disgrace and destroy more than 007, James Bond. But ensnaring the British Secret Service’s most lethal opera

Cold War EraAssassinsPolitical IntrigueThriller
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Shutter Island

Dennis Lehane · 392 pages

U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, come to Shutter Island's Ashcliffe Hospital in search of an escaped mental patient, but uncover true wickedness as Ashcliffe's mysterious patient treatments propel them to the brink of insanity.

Cold War EraPsychological ManipulationConspiracyUnreliable Narrator
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Clear and Present Danger

Tom Clancy · 760 pages

The sudden and surprising assassination of three American officials in Colombia. Many people in many places, moving off on missions they all mistakenly thought they understood. The future was too fearful for contemplation, and beyond the expected finish lines were things that, once decided, were better left unseen.

Cold War EraConspiracyPolitical IntrigueTense and Suspenseful
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The Man in the High Castle

Philip K. Dick · 249 pages

The Man in the High Castle is an alternate history novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. Published and set in 1962, the novel takes place fifteen years after an alternative ending to World War II, and concerns intrigues between the victorious Axis Powers—primarily, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany—as they rule over the former United States, as well as daily life under the resulting totalitarian

PropagandaCold War EraPolitical IntrigueTense and Suspenseful
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Psychological ManipulationPropagandaDarkSurveillance State
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Shadow Puppets

Orson Scott Card · 352 pages

As the nations of the earth attempt to control the children trained at Battle School, Peter Wiggin continues to consolidate his power with the help of Bean and Petra.

PropagandaConspiracyPolitical IntrigueTense and Suspenseful
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The Moscow Club

Joseph Finder · 539 pages

Cold War EraConspiracyPolitical IntrigueTense and Suspenseful
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Animal Farm / 1984

George Orwell · 378 pages

THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY of George Orwell's birth has brought these two groundbreaking novels together for the first time, along with a revealing new introduction by Christopher Hitchens. ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution is the account of the bold struggle, initiated by the animals, that transforms Mr. Jones'

Psychological ManipulationPropagandaPolitical IntrigueTense and Suspenseful
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The Day of the Jackal

Frederick Forsyth · 408 pages

In a class by itself. Unputdownable' Sunday TimesOne of the most celebrated thrillers ever written, The Day of the Jackal is the electrifying story of an anonymous Englishman who in, the spring of 1963, was hired by Colonel Marc Rodin, Operations Chief of the O. A. S., to assassinate General de Gaulle. The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, gray eyes. A killer at the top of his pro

ConspiracyAssassinsCold War EraPolitical Intrigue
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The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (a Hunger Games Novel)

Suzanne Collins · 528 pages

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will revisit the world of Panem sixty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games.

PropagandaPsychological ManipulationPolitical IntrigueDark
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The Tears of Autumn

Charles McCarry · 276 pages

Influential secret agent Paul Christopher pursues a dangerous theory about the assassination of President Kennedy, an investigation that threatens American foreign policy.

Cold War EraConspiracyPolitical IntrigueTense and Suspenseful
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The Ipcress File

Len Deighton · 223 pages

Len Deighton's classic first novel, whoseprotagonist is a nameless spy – later christened Harry Palmer and made famous worldwide in the iconic 1960s film starring Michael Caine.The Ipcress File was not only Len Deighton's first novel, it was his first bestseller and the book that broke the mould of thriller writing.For the working class narrator, an apparently straightforward mission to find a mis

Cold War EraConspiracyUnreliable NarratorClassics
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The Innocent

David Baldacci · 448 pages

Very good plot. Two people on the run cross paths one the hired assassin helps the other a young girl whose parents were murdered. It is the first in this series. Ok

ConspiracyAssassinsPolitical IntrigueTense and Suspenseful
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Istanbul Passage

Joseph Kanon

"From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Stardust, The Good German, and Los Alamos--a gripping tale of an American undercover agent in 1945 Istanbul who descends into the murky cat-and-mouse world of compromise and betrayal that will come to define the entire post-war era. A neutral capital straddling Europe and Asia, Istanbul has spent the war as a magnet for refugees and spies. Even American b

Cold War EraPolitical IntrigueConspiracyTense and Suspenseful
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A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess · 188 pages

A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian satirical black comedy novel by English writer Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. It is set in a near-future society that has a youth subculture of extreme violence. The teenage protagonist, Alex, narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him. The book is partially written in a Russian-influenced argot called "Na

Psychological ManipulationPropagandaUnreliable NarratorSurveillance State
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When the Doves Disappeared

Sofi Oksanen · 320 pages

PropagandaCold War EraPolitical IntrigueSurveillance State
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Deception Point

Dan Brown · 585 pages

Penzler Pick, December 2001: In the world of page-turning thrillers, Dan Brown holds a special place in the hearts of many of us. After his first book, Digital Fortress, almost passed me by, he wrote Angels and Demons, which was probably one of the half-dozen most exciting thrillers of last year. It is a pleasure to report that his new book lives up to his reputation as a writer whose research and

AssassinsConspiracyPolitical IntrigueTense and Suspenseful
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