Books like The nearest exit by Olen Steinhauer

Set during the French Indochina War, the novel follows British journalist Thomas Fowler, his mistress Phuong, and American idealist Pyle, whose ambitions and tragic fate reshape their lives amid political turmoil.

In Henri (Wormold), an ordinary menial clerk, a chance contract with a mysterious Englishman turns the mundane into a farcical espionage adventure against the backdrop of 1930s Havana.

Two disgraced Secret Service agents race against time to uncover the link behind a string of assassinations and kidnappings, exposing political corruption that threatens the United States’ presidents and presidential candidates.

John le Carré’s thriller follows a former spy who infiltrates an international arms and drug cartel, revealing the dark underbelly of global crime and the moral ambiguity that defines modern espionage.

Jason Bourne, a deep‑cover operative with no memory, is rescued after a beachwreck and discovers a bank account embedded in his body that leads him to Switzerland and the truth about his past.

A high‑stakes CIA thriller where retired black‑ops agent Milo Weaver is pulled back into danger after a hitman known as the Tiger turns up, forcing him to navigate betrayal, politics, and violence in a world where trust is scarce.

A tense espionage thriller that follows former CIA operative Milo Weaver as he battles the Chinese secret service and conspirators from the United Nations and German BND in a deadly quest for revenge.

Specialist Vince Ferrelli must rescue his love, undercover agent Katrina Moore, whose memory implant has failed, putting her at risk in a covert CIA operation.

John le Carré’s Cold‑War spy thriller follows British agent Alec Leamas as he takes one last perilous assignment to outwit East German intelligence.

From coast to coast, the nation is witnessing a new wave of terror--suicide bombers incite blind panic and paralyzing fear, a flight attendant tries to crash an airliner, a police officer opens fire on fans in a stadium, and at CIA headquarters, a deputy director goes on a murderous rampage. The perpetrators appear to be American but are actually covert agents in a vast network of terror, selected and trained for one purpose only: the complete annihilation of America. Special Agent Jericho Quinn has seen the warning signs. As a classified "instrument" of the CIA reporting directly to the president, Quinn knows that these random acts of violence pose a clear and present danger, but he may not be able to stop it. The search for terrorists has escalated into an all-out witch hunt, and somehow, Quinn's name is on the list.

ESPIONAGE & SPY THRILLER. An attack on a Japanese warship brings Japan and China to the brink of war. Meanwhile, top Covert-One operative Colonel Jon Smith is sent on a mission to recover mysterious material from the wreckage of the Fukushima nuclear reactor. When Smith fails to return, CIA agent Randi Russell heads off on an unsanctioned mission to find him. She quickly discovers that the missing samples may be evidence that Japan, led by hawkish military chief of staff Masao Takahashi, has been secretly developing next-generation weapons systems in preparation for a conflict with China. If the Covert-One team can't prevent General Takahashi from provoking a war, the entire world will be dragged into a battle certain to kill tens of millions of people and leave much of planet uninhabitable for centuries.

"Aaliya Sohbi lives alone in her Beirut apartment, surrounded by stockpiles of books. Godless, fatherless, childless, and divorced, Aaliya is her family's 'unnecessary appendage.' Every year, she translates a new favorite book into Arabic, then stows it away. The thirty-seven books that Aaliya has translated over her lifetime have never been read-- by anyone. After overhearing her neighbors, 'the three witches,' discussing her too-white hair, Aaliya accidentally dyes her hair too blue. In this breathtaking portrait of a reclusive woman's late-life crisis, readers follow Aaliya's digressive mind as it ricochets across visions of past and present Beirut. Colorful musings on literature, philosophy, and art are invaded by memories of the Lebanese Civil War and Aaliya's own volatile past. As she tries to overcome her aging body and spontaneous emotional upwellings, Aaliya is faced with an unthinkable disaster that threatens to shatter the little life she has left" --

Catherine Ling, a seasoned CIA operative, embarks on a perilous mission to rescue an imprisoned journalist in Tibet, navigating betrayal, a personal vendetta, and her promise to protect her son.

In Kenya’s Lake Turkana, the murder of Tessa Quayle forces her husband, diplomat Justin Quayle, to uncover a conspiracy that threatens both his life and the integrity of a multinational corporation.

Up until now, the Korean War has been the black-hole of modern American history. This book changes that, giving readers a masterful narrative of the political decisions and miscalculations on both sides. It tells the individual stories of the soldiers on the front, who were left to deal with the consequences of such judgements.