Book and Film Recommendations

Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm
2025

A new Danish Security and Intelligence Service agent goes undercover to infiltrate a brutal criminal organization that has eluded the grasp of the intelligence service for some time. Adopting a completely new identity, the agent must befriend the criminal mastermind's girlfriend, Ashley, to gather crucial intelligence. But as the agent gets closer to Ashley and witnesses the grim reality of her life within Miran's controlling and criminal cobweb, doubts emerge about where her loyalties truly lie.

Paul Lay, Stephen Alford, Jessica Frazier
Bokforlaget Stolpe, 20 Nov 25

Our fascination with spies, both real and fictional, seems endless. But when and where did the history of espionage begin, and how has the craft of spying evolved over the centuries? Spies in History is a collection of portraits featuring some of the most famous spies, as well as lesser-known and more surprising figures. Among them are Rahab, the Canaanite woman from the Bible who aided the Israelites before their assault on Jericho; Thomas Phelippes, a brilliant cryptanalyst and master handler of secret agents during the Elizabethan era; and Noël Coward, the renowned playwright and singer who used his celebrity status to influence American public and political opinion in support of Britain during World War II. In this volume, historians, scholars, and writers from around the world examine intelligence operations and espionage from the ancient world through the Cold War and into the era of Putin, Trump, and Xi Jinping.

Dr Enakshi Sengupta
Harper Collins India, 27 Aug 24

1920s India. Flames of revolt against colonial rule had engulfed the country, making the British tense.

They knew domestic spies were essential to track and quell the calls for independence. Nandlal Kapur, like many young Indian men, was recruited as a spy. But, while the pay was good and the life adventurous, Nandlal restless and uneasy, his love for his country at constant odds with his new reality.

 As he travelled through India on various missions, and met revolutionaries from all walks of life demanding freedom from oppression, he grew determined to attack the beast from within its and do his bit for his country - become a double agent.

The Silk Route Spy is a riveting account of an extraordinary life, and brings to life a trying era in our country's history and gives us a glimpse of the risks taken and sacrifices made by those who freed India, in their own small ways.

Alexander Rose
Independently Published, 23 Oct 2025

Alexander Rose, author of Washington's Spies, presents five more essays examining historical cases of intelligence and espionage from the Secret World. In this volume, The Renaissance, we exhume from the archives the forgotten tale of the first man in England to be executed for treason; narrate the life of a Spanish agent-of-influence described as “one of the most diabolically false, vain, fascinating scoundrels that ever disgraced and bewitched humanity"; rediscover King Philip II of Spain's remarkable Jewish agent; visit the infamous poisoners of the Venetian Secret Service; and finally, tell the story of an Elizabethan psychopath and would-be assassin of the queen. All in all, lots of fun in store!