Recommendations based on The Little Drummer Girlby John le Carré

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. The Russia House

    by John le Carré
    An espionage mission filled with suspense and intrigue set during the Cold War.

    In 1987, Bartholomew "Barley" Scott Blair, a British publisher , is at a book fair in Moscow . With business friends he goes on a drunken retreat to a secluded dacha in the forest near Peredelkino . ... (Wikipedia)

  4. 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)

  5. Berlin Game

    by Len Deighton
    A British spy in Cold War Berlin must uncover a traitor in his own agency. Full of twists and turns, it's a classic espionage thriller.

    The time is the early 1980s. A highly placed agent in East Germany codenamed "Brahms Four" wants to come to the West. Brahms Four is one of Britain's most reliable, most valuable agents behind the ... (Wikipedia)

  6. The Day of the Jackal

    by Frederick Forsyth
    An assassin attempts to kill the president of France in a thrilling race against time.

    The book begins in 1962 with the (historical) failed attempt on de Gaulle 's life plotted by, among others, Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry in the Paris suburb of Petit-Clamart : ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Night Soldiers

    by Alan Furst
    Espionage thriller set in 1930's Europe, as the world slowly descends into war.

    Bulgaria, 1934. A young man is murdered by the local fascists. His brother, Khristo Stoianev, is recruited into the NKVD, the Soviet secret intelligence service, and sent to Spain to serve in its ... (Goodreads)

  8. 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)

  9. Marathon Man

    by William Goldman
    A young man's race against time to save his family from a deadly conspiracy.

    Tom "Babe" Levy is a runner in every sense: racing tirelessly toward his goals of athletic and academic excellence–and endlessly away from the specter of his famous father's scandal-driven suicide. ... (Goodreads)

  10. The Ipcress File

    by Len Deighton
    A British spy investigates a brainwashing scheme. Full of twists and turns, it's a classic espionage thriller.

    The novel is framed as the unnamed protagonist delivering his personal report on "the IPCRESS affair" directly to the Minister of Defence , thus making the novel itself the 'IPCRESS File' of the ... (Wikipedia)

  11. The Charm School

    by Nelson DeMille
    A former CIA agent must stop a group of ex-KGB agents from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

    The novel's hero is U.S Air Force Colonel Sam Hollis, a former F-4 Phantom Fighter pilot , who fought in Vietnam . Hollis was shot down during the war , and was disqualified from flying. Later on he ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Eye of the Needle

    by Ken Follett
    A thrilling tale of espionage and wartime romance, set in the chaos of WWII.

    In 1940, Henry Faber, a German spy nicknamed 'die Nadel' ('The Needle') due to his trademark weapon being a stiletto , is working at a London railway depot, collecting information on troop movements. ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Noble House

    by James Clavell
    Epic tale of business deals, struggles for power, and the constant battle for control of Hong Kong.

    Noble House is set in 1963. The tai-pan , Ian Dunross, struggles to rescue Struan's from the precarious financial position left by his predecessor. To this end, he seeks partnership with an American ... (Wikipedia)

  14. The Eagle Has Landed

    by Jack Higgins
    A daring mission to kidnap Winston Churchill from his English home in World War II.

    In November of 1943, an elite team of Nazi paratroopers descends on British soil with a diabolical goal: to abduct Winston Churchill and cripple the Allied war effort. The mission, ordered by Hitler ... (Goodreads)

  15. Love in the Time of Cholera

    by Gabriel García Márquez
    An epic love story spanning decades, exploring the power of true love.

    The main characters of the novel are Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. Florentino and Fermina fall in love in their youth. A secret relationship blossoms between the two with the help of Fermina's ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Breakfast of Champions

    by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
    A humorous exploration of life's absurdities, through a madcap journey of a protagonist.

    Kilgore Trout is a widely published, but ignored and virtually invisible writer who is invited to deliver a keynote address at a local arts festival in distant Midland City. Dwayne Hoover is a ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

    by Susanna Clarke
    A whimsical tale of two magicians mastering the mysteries of English magic.

    The novel opens in 1806 in northern England with The Learned Society of York Magicians, whose members are "theoretical magicians" who believe that magic died out several hundred years earlier. The ... (Wikipedia)

  18. The Last Enchantment

    by Mary Stewart
    Epic adventure of a young man's quest to save Camelot from destruction.

    This novel covers the time from when Arthur Pendragon first becomes king to the time Merlin, now getting on in years, begins to lose his powers and becomes a sort of master spy to assist King Arthur ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Cat's Cradle

    by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
    A satirical exploration of human folly, exposing the dangers of unchecked science and technology.

    Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon and, worse still, surviving it ... Dr Felix Hoenikker, ... (Goodreads)

  20. The Merchant of Venice

    by William Shakespeare
    A tale of justice, mercy, and revenge, a struggle between religious and secular law.

    Bassanio, a young Venetian of noble rank, wishes to woo the beautiful and wealthy heiress Portia of Belmont. Having squandered his estate, he needs 3,000 ducats to subsidise his expenditures as a ... (Wikipedia)

  21. The General's Daughter

    by Nelson DeMille
    A murder investigation of a general's daughter leads to uncovering dark secrets of the military.

    Captain Ann Campbell is a West Point graduate, the daughter of legendary General "Fighting Joe" Campbell. She is the pride of Fort Hadley until, one morning, her body is found naked and bound on the ... (Wikipedia)

  22. Cryptonomicon

    by Neal Stephenson
    A thrilling journey through the past and present, combining tech, history and adventure.

    The action takes place in two periods—World War II and the late 1990s, during the Internet boom and Asian financial crisis . In 1942, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, a young United States Navy code ... (Wikipedia)

  23. The Neon Rain

    by James Lee Burke
    A detective's search for justice in a crime-ridden city, uncovering long-buried truths.

    While fishing on a back country bayou New Orleans Police Department officer Dave Robicheaux finds a body. Robicheaux, once a U.S. Army infantry lieutenant who fought in the Vietnam War , , becomes ... (Wikipedia)

  24. The Hollow Hills

    by Mary Stewart
    A young man's quest to restore peace to a magical kingdom and become its rightful leader.

    Keeping watch over the young Arthur Pendragon, the prince and prophet Merlin Ambrosius is haunted by dreams of the magical sword Caliburn, which has been hidden for centuries. When Uther Pendragon is ... (Goodreads)

  25. The Fourth Protocol

    by Frederick Forsyth
    A thrilling espionage story set in the Cold War, and a race against time to prevent a nuclear disaster.

    On New Year's Eve 1986, professional thief James Rawlings breaks into the apartment of a senior civil servant and inadvertently discovers stolen top secret documents. Despite being a notorious and ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Beat to Quarters

    by C.S. Forester
    Naval officer's daring mission to track down a powerful enemy warship.

    In June 1808, Hornblower is in command of the 36-gun frigate HMS Lydia , with orders to sail to the Pacific coast of Nicaragua (near modern Choluteca, Choluteca ) and supply a local landowner, Don ... (Wikipedia)

  27. The Devil's Star

    by Jo Nesbø
    Murder mystery set in Oslo involving a mysterious pentagram symbol.

    A young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat. One finger has been severed from her left hand, and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star - a pentagram, the ... (Goodreads)

  28. Revelation

    by C.J. Sansom
    A gripping tale of betrayal and conspiracy set in Tudor England.

    The plot centres around the challenges of Reformation England , and draws on the prophesies of the Book of Revelation and features Archbishop Cranmer . , Revelation was short listed for the Books ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Decline and Fall

    by Evelyn Waugh
    A satirical comedy of manners, exploring the fall of an irresponsible young man in the British social class system.

    Modest and unassuming theology student Paul Pennyfeather falls victim to the drunken antics of the Bollinger Club and is subsequently expelled from Oxford for running through the grounds of Scone ... (Wikipedia)

  30. Lonesome Dove

    by Larry McMurtry
    Epic tale of two former Texas Rangers on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana.

    It is the late 1870s. , Captain Woodrow F. Call and Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae, two famous retired Texas Rangers , run the Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium in the small Texas border ... (Wikipedia)