What to read to understand espionage

The Secret World by Hugh Trevor-Roper (2014)

Trevor-Roper worked for MI5 during the second world war and this fascinating book is a collection of his various essays and personal letters that deal with the Secret Intelligence Service during the war and after. What makes the book so diverting is not just Trevor-Roper’s analysis but also his wonderfully ironic and discerning observations. He writes with great style, candour and frequent disdain. Trenchant, clear-eyed and revelatory.

A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre (2014)

“Super-spy” Kim Philby managed to hoodwink everyone for more than two decades as a Soviet mole. Ben Macintyre’s brilliant study of Philby’s treason and the complicated story of his defection reads like a thriller. Lazy class assumptions by his colleagues and superiors, Philby’s effortless charm – and nerves of steel, it must be added – made his survival as a double agent for so long seem almost miraculous in the annals of espionage. Macintyre’s book is the last word on the ever-abiding scandal of Philby’s epic act of betrayal.

The Human Factor by Graham Greene (1978)

The Human Factor is a novel about a British double-agent who spies for the Soviets out of love rather than ideology. Greene stated that he wanted to write a spy novel that was without violence and that showed instead the tedium of the bureaucratic life that truly reflected the secret service. The tone is bleak and the fate of his protagonist is very like that of Kim Philby, Greene’s friend, who had defected to Russia in 1963. Greene was a spy himself and knew what he was talking about. The life of a spy is thoroughly de-romanticised.

William Boyd’s latest novel, The Predicament (Viking, £20), is out now. Order a copy from The Observer Shop for £18. Delivery charges may apply

Boyd will be in conversation with Tom Gatti at The Observer Book Club on 17 November 2025. For free tickets, click here

Photograph of Kim Philby in October 1955 by Mirrorpix/Getty Images