Dr. No by Ian Fleming

This book, like many of the James Bond novels, is very much of its time--the espionage is high-tech for the late fifties, the Cold War is raging, and the novel's portrayal of race and gender is often unsettling for a modern reader. But, for what it is, the story in Dr. No is entertaining and full of bravery, skill, and luck on the part of James Bond. Commander Bond is supposed to get an easy mission after his latest brush with death: he's sent to Jamaica to look into the disappearance of a British agent who has supposedly run off with his secretary. The truth, however, is something altogether more dangerous and Bond quickly finds himself facing a much more dangerous enemy than simple lust.

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

This novel tells the tale of Jun Do, whose mother has disappeared and whose father, head of an orphanage, denies his paternity. After a famine, Jun Do finds himself with many orphans in the army. As his career continues, he rises through the North Korean military and intelligence communities, and quickly falls into prison, where he realizes he can remake his life. The book is many things: part thriller, part Bildungsroman, part romance, and part exploration of how human personality can continue thrive under a savage dictatorship, it moves quickly to its climax, bewildering at first, but ultimately beautiful.

City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte

I liked this book more by its end than I thought I might at its beginning. It tells the story of Sarah Weston, a grad student in musicology, who receives a mysterious invitation to work at a Prague museum over the summer, cataloguing scores and papers relating to Beethoven, her musical hero. But even before she arrives at the castle, she realizes that all is not well. Most of the story was really clever and inventive. But there were a number of moments when I found myself rolling my eyes--many of the characters seemed to lack clear motivation, especially at first. I'm intrigued to see where the story goes next.

The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker

This book continues the stories of Dr. Rivers and some of his patients, especially Billy Prior, during World War I. Billy is put in the position of choosing between his government job and the family of the woman who raised him, a woman suspected of plotting to assassinate Lloyd George. Billy's position is all the more complicated due to periods of missing time where he doesn't remember his actions. This book continues Barker's explorations of the psychic wounds of World War I.

The Puzzled Heart by Amanda Cross

This mystery puts Kate Fansler in an uncomfortable position: her husband Reed has been kidnapped, and the kidnappers have threatened to kill him if Kate doesn't publicly renounce her feminist viewpoints. Instead of calling the police, or taking a particularly active role in the investigations herself, Kate starts with a friend from her last case who has since become a private eye. But Kate quickly realizes that she'll be happier and more successful if she takes a stronger hand in the case. I really enjoyed the introduction of a dog into the Fansler-Amhearst household, and I thought Kate's reaction, while frustrating, was also reasonable as this case was so much more personal than her previous cases. I'm conflicted about the full plot though: it may have been a bit overcomplicated. Still, another fine entry in this series.

An Imperfect Spy by Amanda Cross

This mystery starts with Kate and her husband Reed taking a sabbatical to teach at Schuyler Law School, where they quickly find that the Old Boys Club is still in full swing and that all is not well at the school--and maybe not in their marriage either. The mysteries play out without a lot of suspense: the heart of the story is about the state of their marriage (at least it seemed to me). So, like many of Cross's books, this one is not a conventional murder mystery. But I still enjoyed it, mostly for watching Kate be a detective.

From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming

SMERSH plots to embarass MI-6 by taking down its top agent, James Bond, in this novel. A SMERSH agent offers to defect with a code machine--but only if Bond comes to get her. So Bond travels to Turkey. When they head back to England on the famed Orient Express, Bond must determine who to trust and who is trying to double cross him.

Diamonds are Forever by Ian Fleming

This book features Agent 007, James Bond going undercover as a diamond courier to trace a series of diamond thefts to its source. He finds himself in deep with an American gang. Felix Leiter returns as a Pinkerton agent. This book is similar to other Bond novels: a lot of good fun.

Moonraker by Ian Fleming

In this book Agent 007 gets put on a unique assignment: M. suspects Sir Hugo Drax (a member of his club, and about to give England a long-range nuclear weapon) of cheating at cards. Bond agrees to investigate, and with special permission, infiltrates Drax's installation after the murder of one of Drax's workers. Bond's physical stamina is at times unbelievable, but the story moves along quickly and has exciting twists and turns along the way. The bridge plot at the beginning is very well explained. Good for light reading.

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

I really enjoyed reading this book. It purports to set everything out on the table at the beginning: it's the memoir of a woman who found herself working for MI-5 toward the end of the Cold War, and how falling in love caused her to be fired. But, as you reach the end of the novel, a gorgeous twist shakes our confidence in the entire story. I loved the way the story meditates on lies, the truth, betrayal, and art. This book is a fine example of McEwan at his most deft.

Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming

In this book James Bond seems more familiar, as he teams up with Felix Leiter of the CIA again to take on SMERSH agent Mr. Big, who has apparently discovered a pirate's hoard of gold and is smuggling it into the United States and using the profits to fund communist activities. This book is clearly of its time: the way that it uses dialect and talks about race sound off-putting. But, it's more the words than the content that's offensive, and the spy story is good. The pacing is improved since Casino Royale.

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

This book introduces James Bond, agent 007 of the MI-6. I was a little thrown by the plot: Bond's mission (which involves a complicated gambling scheme to financially ruin a Russian agent in France), seems to wrap up well before the story's over. It's also not the Bond I expected from the movies: he seemed more apt to fall in love and less sure of himself. In many ways, the book explains the way that Bond became the way he did. An easy, quick, and enjoyable read.

Who Could That Be At This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

I think this book is probably aimed at a much younger audience--and while it may work for that audience, it's less entertaining for adults to read. Its young protagonist, who has deliberately apprenticed himself to the worst chaperone to give himself more freedom to follow through on his own (still somewhat mysterious) plot, realizes that the mystery he is solving is hardly the mystery he thought it was. There's lots of humor, many ridiculous adults, and a spattering of difficult words with definitions worked in, so many children will enjoy this book. I didn't find it as well done as the author's previous series, A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Red, White, and Blood by Christopher Farnsworth

This book is easily the best so far in the President's Vampire series. Although the name of the villain (the Boogeyman) is laughable, his murders are not. At times the descriptions in the book are over the top, but the story was well-plotted and kept me guessing at every turn (especially the last, which sets up a great starting point for the next volume in the series). I thought the campaign trail was a great place to set the series of murders and the book balanced introducing a new villain with the return of old foes nicely. I listened to the audiobook version of this title, and the narrator did a nice job with different voices for the characters.

Israel Potter by Herman Melville

This book is Melville's reworking of the historical story of Israel Potter, a private at the battle of Bunker Hill who quickly finds himself taken away from his new country and, after a series of intrigues, spends most of his life in poverty in London. This text is marked by Melville's interest in animal metaphors, the extreme gothic tropes (Potter is buried alive in a hidden room in an English house, for instance), and the story's lack of reward for a life well lived--even as Potter experiences one disappointment after another, things keep getting worse. It was initially published serially, which accounts for its episodic nature.

Mercy Kill by Aaron Allston

This book features a return of the Wraith Squadron with many familiar characters and some new (or almost-new) ones as well. The story has a nice balance of spying adventure with some character growth--the scars of the Yuhzohng Vong war are obviously still healing slowly. The audio was particularly nice because there were a lot of sound effects and music to go along with the reading. Basically a very nice adventure that can stand on its own.

The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth

In this book we get to see what an outlier Nathaniel Cade really is: he's a vampire, but he's not on the Other Side (which has apparently infiltrated not only the CIA and a shady contractor, Archers/Andrew, but also Yale as well). There's a retrovirus here which remakes humans into snakeheads (lots of almost-plausible-sounding science)--it basically works like a zombie plague might--but it's getting better at making scarier snakeheads at every outbreak, which would imply human involvement and development. There's a lot of blood, a lot of guts, and a lot of backstabbing in this story--but the mystery is well done, and it does a nice job developing the relationship between Cade and his liaison to the President, Zach Barrows as well. I also enjoyed the development and hints about many popular conspiracy theories (especially the Kennedy assassination).

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson

This book presents a complex and intriguing portrait of the Royal Society around the time of its founding, mixed with adventures in European politics and espionage. Some of the characters (particularly Eliza) are really compelling, and it's a treat to see the great minds of the Royal Society in action. There's a lot of attention to cryptography, mathematics, and science in this book, which I enjoy. If anything, it's lacking a clear plot: there are elements to various stories that play out very clearly, but overall, I'm not quite sure where this story is headed. I'm willing to give the second and third books a chance, though.

Burial at Sea by Charles Finch

This book gives MP Charles Lenox, headed to Egypt on a mission with diplomatic and spy components, a closed-off murder mystery--since the victim is killed on a ship, his killer must be one of the officers or the crew. I found the pacing of this story a little off: the killer was discovered a little too early, so the end of the mystery did not coincide with the end of the book. Furthermore, there were way too many sappy, sentimental asides about how much Lenox loved and missed his wife while on his voyage. Otherwise not a bad read. I really enjoyed seeing the Victorian navy in action.