Recommend on: Iron Curtain novels

zhen_rogue

Hey all:

I have a hankerin' for a good spy/intrigue/political tension/cloak-dagger type read, and i'd love to find something in the late 50's to mid 80's european Iron Curtain setting.
It doesn't necessarily have to be a novel or fictional, it could be biographical, memoirs, or "closely based on a true story", though I would like to stay away from any books that read like they're reference (encyclopedia-like).

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!

Ocho

Not sure if it is what you are looking for, but Cardinal of the Kremlin is great, probably my favorite Clancy novel. May be on the upper end of your time frame but it's a great read and one of the few Clancy books that is paced well all the way through.

Fantasma

Not what you are looking for, but you could take a look at this writer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Suvorov

kaliyama

Have you read all of Graham Greene's books, or Ian McEwen's The Innocent?

SammyF

Russia House by John le Carre.

All of John le Carre's work is worth reading, I think -- my favorites may be A Small Town In Germany or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy -- but Russia House is the most famous of his straight-up Cold War spy thrillers. It was later made into a movie starring Sean Connery (long after his James Bond days, which is good because the protagonist is classically un-James Bond).

Herkimer

Gorky Park, Polar Star, and Red Square, all by Martin Cruz Smith.

There are several more novels in the series; all are very good to excellent, but the later novels take place after the fall of the USSR, and so may not be what you're looking for.

citizenMckee

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is a good one.

meeker

I really enjoyed Shibumi by Trevanian

Page-

Speaking of James Bond, most of those books are him taking down agents of a fictional Russian spy agency in exotic locals all over Europe and the world. They've got good pacing and are quick reads, but you have to take some of the references and language as a property of the times they were written in. Well, at least the Ian Flemming originals, which were written in the 50s and early 60s.