23 articles
A Very British Coup
A Very British Coup: 1982 political thriller novel by Chris Mullin about socialist prime minister Harry Perkins, adapted by Alan Plater into the BAFTA-winning 1988 Channel 4 series starring Ray McAnally, later remade as Secret State (2012).
Angels & Demons
Angels & Demons, also called Anges et démons in French, is Dan Brown's 2000 thriller and first Robert Langdon novel, a prequel to The Da Vinci Code involving the Illuminati, stolen antimatter, a Vatican conclave, and a 2009 Ron Howard film with Tom Hanks.
Codename Villanelle
Codename Villanelle is a 2014-2016 ebook novella serial by Luke Jennings, collected as a novel and the first book of the Killing Eve series, about assassin Villanelle and MI5 officer Eve Polastri; it inspired the BBC America series starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer.
Criticism of The Da Vinci Code
Criticism of The Da Vinci Code covers scholarly and religious objections to Dan Brown's 2003 thriller, also called Da Vinci Code, whose FACT page and 99-percent-true claim drew rebuttals from Bart Ehrman, Harold Attridge, and Opus Dei over its fictional early Christian history.
Deception Point
Deception Point is Dan Brown's 2001 techno-thriller, his third novel, in which NRO analyst Rachel Sexton verifies a NASA Arctic meteorite find that proves a staged fraud tied to a US presidential election.
Defending Jacob
Defending Jacob: 2012 legal thriller novel by William Landay (Delacorte) and its 2020 Apple TV+ eight-episode limited series with Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, and Jaeden Martell, about an assistant DA whose 14-year-old son is accused of murdering a classmate.
Inferno (Brown novel)
Inferno (2013) is Dan Brown's fourth Robert Langdon thriller, set in Florence, Venice, and Istanbul, in which Langdon decodes Dante-based clues to stop a virus tied to an overpopulation plot; it sold over one million copies in its first North American week.
Karla's Choice
Karla's Choice is a 2024 Cold War spy novel by Nick Harkaway, son of John le Carré, continuing George Smiley's story and Karla's backstory in 1963, between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, published by Viking.
Nothing Lasts Forever (Thorp novel)
Nothing Lasts Forever is Roderick Thorp's 1979 Norton thriller, sequel to The Detective, in which Joe Leland fights terrorists in the Klaxon Oil skyscraper; it became the 1988 film Die Hard.
Rainbow Six (novel)
Rainbow Six is Tom Clancy's 1998 techno-thriller novel (Putnam, 740 pp) starring John Clark leading the multinational counterterrorist unit Rainbow; its plot launched the 1998 Red Storm tactical shooter game and franchise.
Rising Sun (Crichton novel)
Rising Sun is Michael Crichton's 1992 Knopf thriller about the murder of a woman at the Los Angeles opening of the Japanese conglomerate Nakamoto Tower, a number-one bestseller that sparked Japan-bashing controversy and a 1993 film with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes.
The Bourne Identity (novel)
The Bourne Identity is a 1980 spy thriller by Robert Ludlum and the first novel of the Bourne trilogy, following an amnesiac agent pursued across Cold War Europe.
The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code is Dan Brown's 2003 thriller, the second Robert Langdon novel, in which a Louvre murder launches a Grail hunt recasting Jesus's bloodline through Mary Magdalene; it sold tens of millions of copies, drew scholarly debunking of its "FACT" claims, and survived a 2006-2007 copyright suit.
The Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Jackal: 1971 political thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth about an OAS-hired English assassin targeting Charles de Gaulle in 1963; Edgar Award winner, adapted as the 1973 Zinnemann film, the 1997 The Jackal, and the 2024 series.
The Fear Index
The Fear Index is Robert Harris's 2011 financial thriller about Alex Hoffmann, an ex-CERN physicist whose Geneva hedge fund algorithm VIXAL-4 trades on fear, set on the 6 May 2010 flash crash day; adapted by Sky Atlantic in 2022.
The Hunt for Red October
The Hunt for Red October: Tom Clancy's 1984 Naval Institute Press debut novel about Soviet sub captain Marko Ramius's defection, and John McTiernan's 1990 Paramount film with Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin, an Oscar-winning Cold War thriller.
The Lincoln Lawyer
The Lincoln Lawyer is Michael Connelly's 2005 legal thriller introducing LA defense attorney Mickey Haller, who works from his Lincoln Town Car and is Harry Bosch's half-brother; it spawned a book series, a 2011 film, and a Netflix series ending with season 5.
The Little Drummer Girl
The Little Drummer Girl (1983) is John le Carré's tenth spy novel, his first with a female protagonist: actress Charlie, recruited by Israeli intelligence to trap Palestinian bomber Khalil; adapted as a 1984 film and a 2018 Park Chan-wook miniseries.
The Lost Symbol
The Lost Symbol is Dan Brown's 2009 thriller, the third Robert Langdon novel, set in Washington, D.C. around Freemasonry; published by Doubleday September 15, 2009, it sold over 1 million copies on day one and was adapted as a Peacock series.
The Other Side of Midnight
The Other Side of Midnight is Sidney Sheldon's 1973 Morrow suspense novel of Noelle Page, pilot Larry Douglas, Catherine Alexander, and Greek tycoon Constantin Demiris, ending in a Greek murder trial; sequel Memories of Midnight, 1977 film.
The Secret Agent
The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad's 1907 political novel set in 1886 London, follows double agent Adolf Verloc, whose embassy-ordered Greenwich Observatory bombing kills his brother-in-law Stevie; inspired by the 1894 Martial Bourdin case.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is John le Carré's 1963 Cold War spy novel (David Cornwell), third in the George Smiley series, published by Victor Gollancz, following agent Alec Leamas, a best seller adapted into the 1965 Richard Burton film.
The Thirty-Nine Steps
The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan's 1915 spy novel (also called The 39 Steps), follows Richard Hannay fleeing a murder frame across Scotland; adapted by Hitchcock in 1935 and as a four-actor Patrick Barlow stage comedy.