Undercover: Action, Adventure, Spy & Thriller Writing – Details, episodes & analysis

'It's rare to find a book that is not only intensely personal but deeply practical. Julian Fisher has somehow pulled it off, in this fascinating and engaging guide to the art of influence. Think Like a Spy is a fantastic read, full of eye-opening espionage tradecraft as well as insightful tips on how to achieve your business goals. Highly recommended' - Henry Hemming, author of Four Shots in the Night

Discover the secret skills of influence and persuasion taught to intelligence officers and how to adapt them to win over personal and professional allies to your cause.

Every day, intelligence officers achieve the unimaginable. They persuade people to share classified secrets with them. To become traitors, in fact. And their targets do it willingly, despite the risk of imprisonment, torture and, even, execution. Spies achieve this thanks to their structured use of nine secret skills of espionage. In Think Like a Spy, you'll learn these techniques and how to adapt them for effective and ethical use in your own life.

A good spy is a people-person. She knows how to identify a potential agent, how to attract their attention and what to do to build an enduring relationship with them. From this base, she will coax out personal information to work out what makes her target tick. She will use that knowledge and her understanding of human psychology to her advantage while winning lasting commitment from her new ally.

All these skills can be mastered and turned to use in civilian life. The author realised that he used all of them in his own progress from the poorest postcode in Britain to Oxford University, into a blue-blooded stockbroking firm, and on to a thrilling and varied career in the security and intelligence worlds. Julian uses a wide variety of stories from this journey to illustrate how spy skills can be adapted to situations and challenges that we all face.

Everyone is capable of thinking like a spy and of using that thinking to transform their lives. This is your opportunity to learn how.

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The unputdownable new novel from international bestseller Jeffrey Archer – Pre-order now!

In one of the most luxurious cities on earth…

A billion-dollar deal is about to go badly wrong. A lavish night out is about to end in murder. And the British government is about to be plunged into crisis.

In the heart of the British establishment…

Lord Hartley, the latest in a line of peers going back over two hundred years, lies dying. But his will triggers an inheritance with explosive consequences.

Two deaths. Continents apart. No obvious connection.

So why are they both at the centre of a master criminal's plot for revenge?

And can Scotland Yard's elite squad uncover the truth before it's too late…

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Wrapping up his latest assignment for the Magellan Billet, Luke Daniels receives a surprise visit from the head of a former-CIA operation named Sommerhaus — a failed attempt to assemble an espionage network within the Ukraine on the eve of the Russian invasion. Sommerhaus ranks high on Luke’s list of painful regrets for it was during this mission that his friend, CIA case officer John Vince, was captured by Russian operatives and supposedly executed. But Luke is provided some shocking news. Vince is alive, in failing health, locked behind the walls of Russia’s brutal Solovetsky Island prison, and has a critical message he’ll give to no one but Luke. Needing no further convincing Luke vows to bring Vince home. 

However, just as he manages to extract his friend from prison Vince tragically dies and his final words are rambling and incoherent. Just bits and pieces. But enough to plunge Luke into a hunt for something lost since the 15th century. The legendary library of the first Tsar of All Russia, Ivan the Terrible. 

Within that priceless collection of rare manuscripts is the key to unraveling a modern-day cipher and stopping a secret Soviet satellite program that still exists. But Luke is not the only one on the trail. Others, both inside and out of Russia, want the library for a totally different reason — to re-start the Red Star program and finally unleash its destructive potential. Luke’s mission is clear. Find the lost library, solve the puzzle, and prevent Red Star falling.

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In this surprising, witty thriller, the world’s most lethal assassin gives up the violent life, only to find himself under siege by mysterious assailants. It’s a kill-or-be-killed situation, but the first option is off the table. What’s a reformed hit man to do?

Mark was the most dangerous killer-for-hire in the world. But after learning the hard way that his life’s work made him more monster than man, he left all of that behind, and joined a 12-step group for reformed killers.

When Mark is viciously attacked by an unknown assailant, he is forced on the run, from New York to Singapore to London, chasing after clues while dodging attacks, trying to solve the puzzle of who’s after him, without killing anyone. Or getting killed himself.

For an assassin, Mark learns, non-violence is a real hassle.

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From the Bestselling Author and Television Producer of MASTERS OF SEX, a True Story of Espionage and Mobsters, Based on the Never-Before-Released JFK Files, and Optioned by Warner Bros.

Mafia Spies is the definitive account of America’s most remarkable espionage plots ever—with CIA agents, mob hitmen, “kompromat” sex, presidential indiscretion, and James Bond-like killing devices together in a top-secret mystery full of surprise twists and deadly intrigue. In the early 1960s, two top gangsters, Johnny Roselli and Sam Giancana, were hired by the CIA to kill Cuba’s Communist leader, Fidel Castro, only to wind up murdered themselves amidst Congressional hearings and a national debate about the JFK assassination.

Mafia Spies revolves around the outlaw friendship of these two mob buddies and their fascinating world of CIA spies, fellow Mafioso in Chicago, Cuban exile commandos in Miami, beautiful Hollywood women, famous entertainers like Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack in Las Vegas, Castro’s own spies in Havana and his double agents hidden in Florida, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI snooping, and the Kennedy administration’s “Get Castro” obsession in Washington. Thomas Maier is among the first to take full advantage of the National Archives’ 2017–18 release of the long-suppressed JFK files, many of which deal with the CIA’s top secret anti-Castro operation in Florida and Cuba.

With several new investigative findings, Mafia Spies is a spy exposé, murder mystery, and shocking true story that recounts America’s first foray into the assassination business, a tale with profound impact for today’s Trump era. Who killed Johnny and Sam—and why wasn’t Castro assassinated despite the CIA’s many clandestine efforts?

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A West German nightclub owner goes behind the Iron Curtain on a desperate mission to save his brother, in this Cold War thriller by the author of Lost Kin.

West Germany, 1949. Former actor Max Kaspar suffered greatly in the Second World War. Now he owns a nightclub in Munich—and occasionally lends a hand to the newly formed CIA. Meanwhile, his brother Harry has ventured beyond the Iron Curtain to rescue an American scientist. When Harry is also taken captive, Max resolves to locate his brother at all costs. The last thing he expects is for Harry to go rogue.

Max’s treacherous quest takes him to Vienna and Prague to Soviet East Germany and Communist Poland. Along the way, dangerous operators from Harry’s past join the pursuit: his former lover Katarina, who’s working for the Israelis, and former Nazi Hartmut Dietz, now an agent of East German intelligence. But can anyone be trusted? Even the American scientist Stanley Samaras may not be the hero Harry had believed him to be . . .

“In this convincing and atmospheric spy tale set on the haunted landscape of postwar Europe, the engaging Max Kaspar leads us into deepening shadows in which the certainties of loyalty and morality grow dimmer at every turn. An intriguing and satisfying read.” —Dan Fesperman, author of Winter Work

“Steve Anderson brings the past to life . . . As close as you’ll get to a historical guide to the vagaries and treacheries and to the hidden byways and ratlines of post-war Europe.” —Luke McCallin, author of the Gregor Reinhardt novels

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A maverick celebrity chef reluctantly agrees to let the CIA use his hugely popular international food, culture, and travel TV series as cover for a dangerous espionage mission.

When the CIA approaches celebrity chef Sebastian Pike about using his award-winning food and culture travel show as cover for espionage, the outspoken bad-boy host says no. When they point out how roaming the globe interviewing foodies, heads of state, rock stars, journalists-in-exile, poets, subversives, supermodels—even the pope—gives him perfect cover, Pike smiles and says, “F@#! no.”

They push. Promising it’s only one mission. Vowing he won’t be in danger. Calling him the MVB: Most Valuable Bystander. They’d embed their top agent in his crew to do the spy work.

It’s still no. But when they hit him with the patriotism card, he weakens. And when romantic sparks crackle between him and the female agent, Pike’s all in, kicking off a romantic spy thriller in which the globetrotting celebrity chef uses his TV series to help sneak Putin’s accountant out of Russia before he’s exposed as a mole for US intelligence.

The high-stakes mission quickly puts Pike in harm’s way. So much for MVB. There’s danger, there’s double dealing, there’s torture, there’s shooting with real bullets. Plus, a minefield of complications from the hot romance that grows between Pike and his gutsy CIA handler-producer, Cammie Nova.

From Paris to Provence, this chef is no bystander. Beyond their attraction, Pike and Nova become an operational team, not only to survive the perils they face but to pull off an operation fraught with one twist after another, capped by a shocking, emotional climax.

The Accidental Joe: The Top-Secret Life of a Celebrity Chef - Kindle edition by Straw, Tom. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

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From international best-selling author GAVIN STONE

Book two in the ‘SPIES FOR HIRE’ series is out now!

Jensen is back again. An unexpected knock at the door from a former work colleague is the catalyst to Jensen’s perfect life being thrown into turmoil. Thrust back into work, Jensen teams up with his friends Marshall and Darius, to track down a former CIA agent. The closer he gets, the harder the task becomes. Framed for acts of terrorism and being hunted by law enforcement globally, his race across England, Europe and America becomes increasingly challenging. Running from the law and trying to stay alive, he’s forced to fight an unknown enemy, while dealing with the possibility of betrayal by someone in his own team. The harder he tries to get to the bottom of his predicament, the more problems he’s faced with. Each question that gets answered, only leads to a longer list of more questions in his tangled web of espionage, imposters and betrayals. Not knowing who he can trust, he has to make every play carefully to get out of this one alive. As his world comes crashing down around him, Jensen has to give it all he's got, to save himself and find out who is behind his torment.

"Gavin Stone is a true insider, an expert not only in body language, counterterrorism, and tradecraft, but in all the intricacies of espionage. Extensive experience plus encyclopedic knowledge, make Stone a go-to guy in the field." - I.S. Berry – Former CIA spy & Author, The Peacock and the Sparrow

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An assassin is killing cartel members with lethal precision. Each crime scene leaves more questions than answers, and no one in law enforcement or the intelligence communities has any leads. Except for one man: Navy SEAL turned CIA operative Julian Saunders. He knows they’re hunting for a ghost. Someone the U.S. government declared dead.

Joined by an elite covert operations team, Julian heads to New Orleans, searching for the only person capable of taking the cartel head-on: Elle Anderson. But as the body count rises and the brutality of the kills becomes more intense, he questions whether the woman they knew still exists or if, by pursuing her, they’re signing their own death warrants.

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