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Recommendations based on Polar Starby Martin Cruz Smith
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Gorky Park
by Martin Cruz Smith
A thrilling murder mystery, set in the Soviet Union, uncovering secrets and conspiracies.
The story follows Arkady Renko , a chief investigator for the Moscow militsiya , who is assigned to a case involving three corpses found in Gorky Park , an amusement park in Moscow. The victims - two ... (Wikipedia)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
by John le Carré
A retired spy is called back into action to uncover a mole in the British Secret Service.
Control , chief of the Circus, suspects one of the five senior intelligence officers at the Circus to be a long-standing Soviet mole and assigns code names with the intention that should his agent ... (Wikipedia)
The Caine Mutiny
by Herman Wouk
A naval officer is court-martialed after leading a mutiny against his captain.
The story is told through the eyes of Willis Seward "Willie" Keith, an affluent but callow young graduate of Princeton University . Following a mediocre living as a nightclub piano player, he signs ... (Wikipedia)
Smiley's People
by John le Carré
Retired spy Smiley is thrust back into the world of espionage to uncover a deadly conspiracy.
John le Carre's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge and have earned him – and his hero, British ... (Goodreads)
The Ghostway
by Tony Hillerman
Navajo Tribal Police Officer Jim Chee investigates a murder and a missing person case, while also dealing with his personal life.
Hosteen Joseph Joe, finishing his laundry in Shiprock, New Mexico , answers questions put by a man in a new car, about Leroy Gorman. Joe does not know that man, but studies the Polaroid photo of him ... (Wikipedia)
A Thief of Time
by Tony Hillerman
Navajo Tribal Police investigate the disappearance of an archaeologist and the theft of ancient artifacts.
Emma had the brain surgery, but she did not survive it. Joe Leaphorn is grief-stricken; he is on his final leave before quitting the Navajo Tribal Police. BLM agent Thatcher takes him along on a call ... (Wikipedia)
The Day of the Triffids
by John Wyndham
A post-apocalyptic world overrun by carnivorous plants, exploring themes of survival and morality.
In 1951 John Wyndham published his novel The Day of the Triffids to moderate acclaim. Fifty-two years later, this horrifying story is a science fiction classic, touted by The Times (London) as having ... (Goodreads)
Thunderball
by Ian Fleming
A global battle of wits between a British secret agent and an international criminal syndicate.
During a meeting with his superior, M , Bond learns that his latest physical assessment is poor because of excessive drinking and smoking. M sends Bond to a health clinic for a two-week treatment to ... (Wikipedia)
Mila 18
by Leon Uris
A historical novel set in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, following the lives of Jewish resistance fighters.
It was a time of crisis, a time of tragedy and a time of transcendent courage and determination. Leon Uris's novel is set in the midst of the ghetto uprising that defied Nazi tyranny, as the Jews of ... (Goodreads)
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
by Alexander McCall Smith
The sixth book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, following the adventures of Mma Ramotswe and her friends in Botswana.
Mma Ramotswe and her new husband settle down to married life with their foster-children, but problems are piling up. The tenant of Mr JLB Matekoni's house is running an illegal drinking den. Then ... (Wikipedia)
The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler
Private eye investigates a complex case involving a wealthy family and blackmail.
Private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the home of the wealthy and elderly General Sternwood, in the month of October. He wants Marlowe to deal with an attempt by a bookseller named Arthur ... (Wikipedia)
Mortal Engines
by Philip Reeve
In a post-apocalyptic world, cities are mobile and hunt each other for resources. Two teens uncover a sinister plot that could destroy everything.
"It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea." The great traction city London has been skulking ... (Goodreads)
The Blessing Way
by Tony Hillerman
Navajo Tribal Policeman investigates a murder and discovers a web of secrets.
Anthropologist Bergen McKee comes to the Navajo Reservation to research tales of witches , visiting his college friend, Joe Leaphorn. Leaphorn is a Navajo Tribal Police lieutenant. A young man, Luis ... (Wikipedia)
Starship Troopers
by Robert A. Heinlein
A futuristic military drama, exploring the consequences of war and human nature.
The novel opens with Rico aboard the corvette transport Rodger Young (named after Medal of Honor recipient Rodger Wilton Young ), , serving with the platoon known as "Rasczak's Roughnecks". The ... (Wikipedia)
Brooklyn
by Colm Tóibín
A young Irish woman's migration to America, exploring themes of identity and belonging.
Eilis Lacey is a young woman who is unable to find work in 1950s Ireland . Her older sister Rose organises a meeting with a Catholic priest called Father Flood on a visit from New York City , who ... (Wikipedia)
Our Man in Havana
by Graham Greene
A humorous tale of espionage in Cold War Cuba, as a vacuum cleaner salesman attempts to outwit the British Secret Service.
Graham Greene's classic Cuban spy story, now with a new package and a new introduction, First published in 1959,, Our Man in Havana, is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a ... (Goodreads)
Pompeii
by Robert Harris
A thrilling historical fiction novel set in Pompeii, leading up to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
Marcus Attilius Primus arrives in the Bay of Naples from Rome to take charge as aquarius ( hydraulic engineer ) of the Aqua Augusta , the aqueduct that supplies water to the towns in the region ... (Wikipedia)
The Hunt for Red October
by Tom Clancy
A thrilling adventure of a submarine captain's race against the clock in a thrilling game of cat and mouse.
During the Cold War ,(the story must be set in 1982, according to the days assigned to the dates in the novel, e.g. Dec. 17 was a Friday only in 1982,1976 and 1971 ) Marko Ramius, a Soviet Navy ... (Wikipedia)
The Odessa File
by Frederick Forsyth
The uncovering of a sinister Nazi plot, while searching for the truth of a young boy's death.
In November 1963, shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy , Peter Miller, a German freelance crime reporter, follows an ambulance to the apartment of Salomon Tauber, a Holocaust survivor ... (Wikipedia)
An Officer and a Spy
by Robert Harris
A story of espionage and betrayal set against the backdrop of the Dreyfus Affair.
Upon being promoted to run the Statistical Section , the top secret headquarters of French military intelligence, Georges Picquart begins to discover that the evidence used to convict Alfred Dreyfus ... (Wikipedia)
Casino Royale
by Ian Fleming
A secret agent is sent on a mission to defeat a dangerous criminal mastermind.
M , the enigmatic leader of the British Secret Service , assigns James Bond , a young agent newly promoted to "007" status after killing a Norwegian double agent during the war , to bankrupt Le ... (Wikipedia)
The Beekeeper's Apprentice
by Laurie R. King
A young girl’s journey to becoming a detective apprentice, uncovering crime and solving mysteries.
After losing her family in a tragic motor accident in California, fifteen-year-old Mary Russell goes to live with her aunt in Sussex, England. Wandering the Sussex Downs in April 1915, she literally ... (Wikipedia)
Slow Horses
by Mick Herron
A group of disgraced MI5 spies are tasked with solving a murder case, uncovering secrets in the process.
The first book in CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning British espionage series starring a team of MI5 agents united by one common bond: They've screwed up royally and will do anything to redeem themselves. ... (Goodreads)
The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov
A fantastical, satirical examination of Soviet life, intersecting with the supernatural.
The novel has two settings. The first is Moscow during the 1930s, where Satan appears at Patriarch's Ponds as Professor Woland . He is accompanied by Koroviev, a grotesquely-dressed valet; Behemoth , ... (Wikipedia)
The Wrong Side of Goodbye
by Michael Connelly
A retired detective is hired to investigate a mysterious case, uncovering secrets from the past.
This novel finds semi-retired Harry Bosch alternating between two investigations. As a private detective he is summoned by billionaire industrialist Whitney Vance. The elderly, never-married Vance ... (Wikipedia)
The Honourable Schoolboy
by John le Carré
A British agent's efforts to uncover a Soviet spy network in Southeast Asia.
In 1974 George Smiley , the chief of the British secret intelligence service referred to as The Circus, is repairing the damage done to their operations by double agent Bill Haydon and looking for ... (Wikipedia)
Empire of the Sun
by J.G. Ballard
A young British boy's life is turned upside down during WWII as he is separated from his parents and forced to survive in a Japanese internment camp.
The novel recounts the story of a young British boy, Jamie (“Jim”) Graham (named after Ballard's two first names, "James Graham"), who lives with his parents in Shanghai . After the Pearl Harbor ... (Wikipedia)
The Cold Dish
by Craig Johnson
Small-town sheriff investigates a grizzly murder, uncovering dark secrets in the process.
Walt Longmire, sheriff of Wyoming's Absaroka County, knows he's got trouble when Cody Pritchard is found dead. Two years earlier, Cody and three accomplices had been given suspended sentences for ... (Goodreads)
Gates of Fire
by Steven Pressfield
Epic tale of ancient Spartan warriors on a mission of heroism and sacrifice.
The novel is narrated by Xeones, a perioikos and one of only three Greek survivors of the Battle of Thermopylae . His story is dictated to King Xerxes and transcribed by his court historian , ... (Wikipedia)
The Prince of Tides
by Pat Conroy
A man's search for solace and understanding in his troubled family's past.
Tom Wingo is a middle-aged man with a wife and three young daughters who has recently lost his job as a high school English teacher and football coach. He learns that his twin sister, Savannah, has ... (Wikipedia)
