Agent 6

Somewhere between Martin Cruz Smith and John Le Carré is Tom Rob Smith, the gay writer of excellent Cold War thrillers that really ought to be considered novels first and espionage books second. His phenomenal debut, Child 44 [Kindle], was longlisted for the Booker Prize, won several thriller awards, and has been optioned by Ridley Scott. His follow-up, The Secret Speech [Kindle], again featured detective Leo Demidov, but, inevitably, could not duplicate the same level of media frenzy. Two weeks ago, Smith released the third novel in the Demidov series, Agent 6 [Kindle], which is partly set in New York. It earned starred reviews in Kirkus, Booklist, and PW. Smith lives in London with his partner Ben Stephenson, the controller of BBC drama commissioning.