«Espionage» or «Spy» novel is a genre of literature and important part of the plot of which is espionage itself. It arose at the beginning of the XX century under the influence of rivalry and intrigue of the major world powers, which was accompanied by the creation of modern intelligence services.

A spy novel is a literary genre that is thematically determined by the connection of the protagonist with espionage, its close proximity to an adventurous narrative with the motives of travel, combat and an emphasis on the anxious expectation of what will happen to the main characters.

The genre of espionage novel was on the verge of a mystery novel, a black novel, a novel of expectation and science fiction. In this genre used all possible tricks to scare and, thus, intrigue. Spy novels could be built as detective stories (similar to mystery and investigation), but they were more truthful, because they were based on historical and social facts, which meant that the nature of these genres was different.

Perhaps, the earliest examples of a spy novel are «The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground» (1821) and «The bravo» (1831) by the American writer James Fenimore Cooper’s.

Speaking of espionage novel, we are obliged to mention the detective genre, since according to the majority of literary critics who had their own point of view and spoke out about the espionage novel, the detective novel is a meta-genre in relation to the espionage novel and the espionage novel itself is perceived as some kind of detective story.

We have collected for you the best world bestsellers of the Espionage genre in an audio format. Enjoy listening; do not forget to leave your comments.