If You Like Ken Follett...

Updated 9/2009

The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson
John Wells, an undercover operative who has infiltrated al Qaeda, is trapped between his terrorist associates and the CIA, which no longer trusts his loyalty, when he becomes a prime suspect in two bombings in Los Angeles.

The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry
The cryptic question of what really happened to Russia's royal family on July 16, 1918, is answered in this sensational bestseller that is predicated on Rasputin's prophecy that the murder of the Romanovs was not the final chapter in their story.

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold  by John Le Carré
It would be an international crime to reveal too much of the jeweled clockwork plot of Le Carré's first masterpiece, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. But we are at liberty to disclose that Graham Greene called it the "finest spy story ever written," and that the taut tale concerns Alec Leamas, a British agent in early Cold War Berlin. Leamas is responsible for keeping the double agents under his care undercover and alive, but East Germans start killing them, so he gets called back to London by Control, his spy master. Yet instead of giving Leamas the boot, Control gives him a scary assignment: play the part of a disgraced agent, a sodden failure everybody whispers about.

Liars & Thieves  by Stephen Coonts
Liars and Thieves is Stephen Coonts as you've never seen him before-a story as chilling as it is unforgettable. Tommy Carmellini, a CIA operative who is unafraid to walk both sides of the law to attain his objective, uncovers a dark conspiracy that leads to the highest levels of the American government-and to a ruthless manipulator who will stop at nothing to keep a decades-old secret.

The Charm School  by Nelson Demille
On a dark road deep inside Russia, a young American tourist picks up a most unusual passenger with an incredible secret. Poised against the very heartland of America is a vast and astounding KGB enterprise known as "The Charm School."

Consent to Kill  by Vince Flynn
For years, Mitch Rapp's bold actions have saved the lives of countless Americans. He has killed with impunity, tortured to avert disaster, and shown he will do whatever it takes to prevent terrorists from fulfilling their bloody wishes. His battles for peace and freedom have made him a hero to many, and an enemy to countless more.

The Day of the Jackal  by Frederick Forsythe
The Jackal. A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, gray eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the world's most heavily guarded man. One man with a rifle who can change the course of history. One man whose mission is so secretive not even his employers know his name. And as the minutes count down to the final act of execution, it seems that there is no power on earth that can stop the Jackal. "The Day Of The Jackal makes such comparable books that The Manchurian Candidate and The Spy Who Came In From The Cold seems like Hardy Boy mysteries." – The New York Times

Mistress of the Art of Death  by Ariana Franklin
Sent to medieval Cambridge in order to exonerate Jewish prisoners who have been accused of murdering four children, University of Salerno medical expert Adelia discovers that the killer may be a former crusader. Sent to medieval Cambridge in order to exonerate Jewish prisoners with financial ties to King Henry I, University of Salerno medical examiner Adelia struggles to avoid being accused of witchcraft and discovers that the killer may be a former crusader.

Triple Cross  by Brian Freemantle
When Moscow's Organized Crime Bureau Chief, Dimitri Danilov, teams up once more with William Cowley, head of the FBI's Russian desk, their attempt to thwart a unified global Mafia makes for Brian Freemantle's most explosive Danilov/Cowley thriller yet.

Rainbow's End  by Martha Grimes
A young American woman is found dead on the grounds of England's historic Old Serum, obviously the victim of foul play. Enter Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury and his colleague Brian Macalvie, who soon convinces a skeptical Jury that the young woman's death is connected to two other recent deaths, one in London's Tate Gallery, one in a remote parish church. The tenuous connection among the three, Macalvie concludes, is America, where one of the victims lived and the other two had recently visited. Of course, once Jury's interest is piqued, he's relentless, and nothing will suffice but a trip to the U.S. to see what's what – as if Jury doesn't have enough on his hands already, what with searching for his missing friend Jenny Kennington, finding he has a dog – albeit a well-mannered one – occupying the apartment above his, and trying desperately to give up smoking.

Night of the Fox  by Jack Higgins
An American colonel who knows the secrets of forthcoming D day has washed up, wounded, on the German-occupied island of Jersey, off the coast of England, and must be rescued. An ex-philosophy don of part-German descent is assigned to effect the rescue, disguised as a special envoy of the dreaded Himmler and accompanied by his "mistress." Enmeshed in this complex situation are the activities of Rommel, who sends a Jewish actor to impersonate him on an "inspection tour" of Jersey's defenses, while he secretly meets with other top generals bent on assassinating the fuhrer. Caught up in the deadly game of "who's-fooling-whom and for how long?" are an amorous Italian count, a Finnish air ace and a hero of the Irish cause, while in the background loom Eisenhower and Hitler himself.

The Company: a Novel of the CIA  by Robert Littell
A novel of Cold War espionage traces the struggles of two generations of CIA operatives fighting Communism and battling one another in the complex world of international intrigue.

The Bourne Identity  by Robert Ludlum
The Bourne Identity, which introduced a trilogy of books, follows Bourne, a spy who awakens in a doctor's office with amnesia; the story is played out as a remarkable number of killers and organizations attempt to finish Bourne off before he realizes his true identity.

Sarum: the Novel of England by Edward Rutherford
A first novel, Rutherfurd's sweeping saga of the area surrounding Stonehenge and Salisbury, England, covers 10,000 years and includes many generations of five families. Each family has one or more characteristic types who appear in successive centuries: the round-headed balding man who is good with his hands; the blue-eyed blonde woman who insists on having her independence; the dark, narrow-faced fisher of river waters and secrets. Their fortunes rise and fall both economically and politically, but the land triumphs over the passage of time and the ravages of humans. Rutherford has told the story of the land he was born in and has told it well.