Secrets Of The Best Spy Novels

Many of the best thrillers are so-called espionage novels. What are the secrets of the best espionage novels (and I don't mean the plot)? Some novelists write for personal pleasure, but most write with the aim of generating some income. If one's writing is not purely for pleasure, then an author must take account of the expected audience. For spy novels that means the readers will be fairly sophisticated.

Key Ingredients

The best espionage novels will have some of the following subject areas cooperating, together with the basics of any well-written fiction - strong character development and a credible plot, well delivered so as to capture the reader. This list is just a starter!

Duplicity

What are spies if not cheats and liars? The whole genre is founded on cheating, stealing secrets and living double lives. The best authors will include portrayal of the stresses with which spies live on a day-to-day basis. These include cover story management (which is linked to identity), for example.

Running an Agent

Many spy novels have been written with a focus only on this aspect of spying - the interplay between handler and spy is the process of making the marriage work once the initial courtship has been consummated.

Fieldcraft

This subject underpins almost every one of the topics here, and is present in almost all espionage novels. Dead letter boxes, communications, cutouts, and the whole area of technology ranging from lemon juice to the use of miniature cameras - all provide an insight into this invidious world.

The Secrets

The detail of the information which a spy passes on is not central to the best thriller novels, though interesting secrets can form the heart of a good tale. Many espionage stories are built around one particular secret, but some do not need any secret at all.

The Organisation

CIA, KGB, GRU, Savak, - the list of organisations is lengthy, and each (or several together) can form the basis of an espionage novel. This is a challenging area effectively to write about, because (just like the police procedure genre), it requires detailed knowledge of operational methods in order to portray it credibly. There is another view that the detail can be invented and deficiencies can be ironed out by the use of editorial advisors. The intelligence world is very shadowy, though, and finding suitable consultants (who would be breaking secrecy laws) is not easy.

In Conclusion

The very best thriller novels will build in several of these topics, with one, or perhaps two, explored in detail as the heart of the novel. Spy novels are a difficult genre in which to write well, because they often involve characters of high intellect. Developing those characters, their motivations, and surrounding plots requires a high degree of skill on the part of the novelist. The concepts reviewed in this brief sketch are just a few of those used in the best thriller novels.