I'm Shane Whaley — a self-confessed "guile over guns" spy fiction reader who has always preferred le Carré's slow burn spy novels to military firefights.

So what happens when a Le Carré fan picks up Jack Carr's Cry Havoc, a 550-page Vietnam War action thriller written by a former Navy SEAL?

Welcome to the Spybrary Rodeo — the brand new Spybrary feature where I pick up a book outside my comfort zone, or by a new-to-me author, give it a fair crack, and tell you exactly how many pages I stayed on for.

Sometimes I bail early.
Sometimes I go all the way to the final page.

Today's book is Cry Havoc by Jack Carr. 550 pages. Lots of guns. Not my usual territory. Did I finish it? Keep listening to find out.

In this episode:

What the Spybrary Rodeo is and how it works
The secret MACV-SOG unit running deniable missions in Vietnam in 1968
Why Cry Havoc is NOT your typical action thriller
The speech that stopped me cold
The spy fiction ingredients hidden inside this action thriller — GRU, moles, honey traps and the USS Pueblo The brilliant le Carré and Fleming passage that tells you everything about Jack Carr as a writer
The literary rabbit hole that sent me straight to Jean Lartéguy's The Centurions
My honest verdict

Books mentioned: Cry Havoc — Jack Carr https://geni.us/UMYz The Quiet American — Graham Greene The Tears of Autumn — Charles McCarry The Honourable Schoolboy — John le Carré The Centurions — Jean Lartéguy - https://geni.us/pzrFcJ

Suggest my next Rodeo read: 👉 Join the Spybrary community: https://www.spybrary.com/community 👉 Find me on X: @Spybrary - https://x.com/spybrary 👉 Full show notes: https://www.spybrary.com/298

If you're a spy fiction fan who has been avoiding Jack Carr because you thought he was too kinetic — start here. This is the episode that might just change your mind. Don't forget to subscribe for more Spybrary Rodeo episodes, Dead Drop Five conversations, and the best spy fiction and espionage history content on the internet.

If you think you already know the Cambridge Five story, think again.

In this episode of Spybrary, Shane Whaley is joined by journalist and author Antonia Senior to discuss her powerful new book, Stalin's Apostles: The Cambridge Five and the Making of the Soviet Empire— a major re-examination of Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross.

But this is not the familiar story of clubland betrayal, old boys' networks. ping gins and establishment embarrassment. Instead, Antonia asks a darker and more important question: what did Stalin actually want from his greatest spies and what was the human cost?

From Poland, the Baltics, Albania and Ukraine to the corridors of Whitehall and Washington, this conversation explores the real human cost of the Cambridge Five's betrayals — and why they were far more than 'Robin Hood' types embarrassing the British establishment.

In this episode, we discuss:

Why the Cambridge Five knew far more about Stalin's crimes than many like to admit

Kim Philby's role in betraying anti-Soviet operations

How Donald Maclean helped Stalin see the West's diplomatic hand

The fate of partisans and resistance fighters in Eastern Europe

Anthony Blunt, Poland, and the brutal realities behind the myth

The enduring mystery of Philby in Beirut: did he run, or was he allowed to go?

If you enjoy spy books, espionage history, and serious conversations about the moral consequences of intelligence work, this one is for you.

Buy Stalin's Apostles: https://geni.us/XcUoM2
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One of crime fiction's most trusted voices reveals her 5 best spy novels. In our latest Spybrary Dead Drop Five series, crime fiction critic Ayo Onatade makes a passionate case for each one — and her picks may surprise you.

Welcome back to the Dead Drop 5 series! In this episode, Spybrary host Shane Whaley is joined by Ayo Onatade — one of the most respected voices in crime and thriller fiction.

Ayo is a critic, commentator, and moderator who has written extensively on crime and thriller fiction, contributed to major reference works on British and American crime writing, and served as judge and chair for some of the genre's most significant prizes, including the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger.

Guest host Matthew Hurst sits down with author Michael Dylan to explore his debut spy thriller The New Spy. Dylan shares his unconventional journey from global advertising creative to full-time novelist, revealing how real-world research, including chilling conversations with a mysterious source known only as "Mr. Pickles" shaped the authenticity of his espionage writing.

The conversation dives deep into modern intelligence warfare, particularly the concept of "chaos warfare," where the goal is not conquest but destabilisation. Dylan explains how this evolving geopolitical reality inspired the novel's themes and characters, including rookie MI5 agent Joe Batten and a brilliant but physically limited analyst working from the shadows.

The episode also explores the realities of self-publishing versus traditional publishing, the creative risks of killing beloved characters, and the importance of writing stories that genuinely excite the author. It's a fascinating blend of craft, industry insight, and the unsettling truths behind modern espionage.

We share the sad news that renowned spy novelist Len Deighton has passed away at 97. We pay tribute to his incredible work, discussing why he was considered the greatest spy novelist and his impact on cold war espionage. His contributions to the spy thriller genre remembered.

Len Deighton didn't just write spy novels… he changed the genre.

In this episode, we take a step back and reflect on the life, legacy, and impact of one of the true giants of espionage fiction. From The IPCRESS File through to the Bernard Samson/Berlin Game series, Deighton gave us something very different—spies who weren't superheroes, but real people. Flawed. Wry. Often stuck in offices, navigating bureaucracy as much as danger.

I'm joined by Rob Mallows of the Deighton Dossier, broadcaster and commentator Eliot Wilson, and Aspect of Crime's Paul Burke as we talk through what made Len Deighton so special, including:

Why his "everyman spy" felt like such a shift at the time
How he stood apart from Fleming and le Carré
His incredible sense of place—especially when it comes to Berlin
The influence he's had on modern writers like Mick Herron
And why, all these years later, his books still hold up

This isn't just a tribute episode. It's a proper Spybrary-style conversation about why Len Deighton matters and why he still should matter to readers today.

If you've never read him, this is a great place to start. And if you have… well, you'll know exactly why we're doing this one.

🎧 Tune in and raise a glass to one of the greats.

👇 And let us know in the comments or in our community— What's your favourite Len Deighton book? Join 5,000+ spy thriller fans in our online community and share your thoughts on Len Deighton: https://spybrary.com/join-our-community/

What happens when a legendary screenwriter turns decades of espionage ideas into an epic literary spy saga? On this episode of the Spybrary podcast, Michael Frost Beckner joins Bruce Dravis to unpack Kaleidoscope, the Spy Game universe, CIA family legacies, his influences, moral ambiguity, and the hidden machinery of intelligence. A must-listen/watch for serious spy fiction fans.

Join the Spybrary Community: https://spybrary.com/join-our-community/

If you enjoyed today's episode - please can you give us a rating and review? This helps us spread the word to bring more spy readers in from the cold.

Tim Shipman sits down with thriller author James Wolff who worked as a British intelligence officer for over ten years. They unpack his latest spy novel Spies and Other Gods.

Wolff shares how a single line in a UK parliamentary oversight report (the Intelligence and Security Committee) sparked the novel's core idea. An anonymous whistleblower sends British Intelligence into a frenzy, threatening to reveal secrets that could bring the establishment to its knees.

Wolff also reveals why it took government censors 16 months to approve his book—and shares some of the truly absurd references they insisted he remove. He then turns the tables on Shipman, asking whether he uses spy-like tradecraft in his own work as a political journalist who relies on sources, assets and insiders to uncover stories.

If you love le Carré-style moral tension, Slough House office politics, and spy fiction that feels real, Spies and Other Gods is for you.

In this cat-and-mouse spy thriller, an anonymous whistleblower sends British Intelligence into a frenzy, threatening to reveal secrets that could bring the establishment to its knees.

The Head of British Intelligence is having a bad day. Only six months off retirement and Sir William Rentoul is wondering if he'll make it that far, what with the sudden descent of a brain fog dense enough to turn every day into a series of small humiliations.

To make matters worse, when parliamentary researcher Aphra McQueen is brought in to investigate an internal complaint, she discovers something horrifying: the murder of nine Iranian dissidents. The elusive assassin, nicknamed CASPIAN, kills across borders, forcing intelligence services throughout Europe into an alliance. Their only lead? An unsuspecting dentist in the UK.

Aphra McQueen seems to know more about the operation than she is letting on. What will she uncover? What is she really up to? And can she survive the unexpected events that will bounce her from London to Birmingham to Paris to Lausanne?

In the exhilarating chase that follows, Spies and Other Gods offers a vibrant, fresh and darkly funny take on the spy thriller that lays bare the human cost of secrecy.

Spybrary's James Bond Book Club jumps back to 1966 to discuss Ian Fleming's final book of 007 short stories—Octopussy and The Living Daylights.

The episode closes with a forward-looking discussion: spy fiction is exploding, and Fleming's legacy may be less about continuation novels and more about how he opened the floodgates for Len Deighton, John le Carré, Modesty Blaise, Quiller, and the entire "spy mania" era—on page and screen.