this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
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It's not recent, but Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is very much the anti James Bond. It's set in the heart of the Cold War. The villain is not a cartoonist figure bent on world domination, but is much more grounded in reality.
I haven't read them but the Bourne series may also be of interest to you
To advance on this, the entire Karla Trilogy (of which Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the first installment) is a fantastic Cold War spy trilogy. I'd recommend anything by John le Carré; he was an intelligence officer for MI5 and MI6. He left the service as a result of a famous double agent incident, which inspired Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
How are the rest of the books in the series? I only read the one. While I enjoyed it I did find it a bit dry and tough to navigate the jargon at times. Especially in the first third or so of the book.
I'd say it's more of the same with regards to the dense jargon that requires some contextual interpretation to unravel. If you're willing to power through that, it's one of the most thrilling trilogies you can read.
It's so good and interestingly, based loosely on the true story of double agent Kim Philby. Le Carre worked for British intelligence which really gives the book a lot of authenticity.