SPY FICTION 2026: SOLITARY AGENTS by DAVID GOODMAN and THROW AWAY THE KEY by JASON M. HOUGH

Quality spy fiction continues to trickle out in 2026, with these two new releases adding to the good books from James Wolff and Paul Warner earlier in the year. There are also some very promising new spy novels coming later in the year, some of which I have mentioned at the end.

David Goodman’s The Reluctant Spy was one of my favourite debut thrillers of 2024. Now Goodman is back with an even better spy novel that builds on the ideas and characters in the first book.

Solitary Agents, (Headline, 4 June2026), continues the adventures of Jamie Tulloch from the earlier book, who now finds that he cannot settle back into his life as a technology company executive and wants to return to excitement of the secret world. Meanwhile Sam, a burnt-out corporate lawyer who was unexpectedly talent spotted by MI5, also finds herself taking the first steps into a new Intelligence role.

Sam and Tulloch are both sent on an intensive training program, along with other potential new recruits. Once there they find themselves pitted against each other for their final evaluation in the infamous Red Poacher Exercise. Every year, MI6 trainees must evade capture, infiltrate sensitive sites and report back with the right intel, while their peers at MI5 try to stop them. This year, however, things take a nasty turn, and the trainees unknowingly find themselves possibly caught up in something much more sinister.

There is a Mick Herron feel to Solitary Agents, with an inter-service rivalry exercise becoming a matter of national security. The execution, however, is all Goodman, and once again he demonstrates the ability to bring fresh ideas to the genre. Without going into the details of the plot, the story certainly takes some good twists and turns as what starts out as a mundane tale about Intelligence training develops into an entertaining chase thriller.

After a slightly slow start, the book builds to an exciting finale, helped along by some well-developed characters and plot that keeps its secrets and final destination well hidden. As with the first book, the spy tradecraft is convincing, and it is enjoyable watching Tulloch employ simple, but effective, strategies to get in and out of difficult situations. There is also some interesting Intelligence manoeuvring in the background, mainly involving Jeremy, the head of the Legends program from the previous book.

In all, I really enjoyed Solitary Agents. I was a little nonplussed at the beginning, but as the story progressed, I got caught up in it and was keenly turning the pages towards the end. I also quite liked the side story involving the Legends agent GLIMMER, who is undercover on a yacht in the Mediterranean with some very dodgy characters.

Solitary Agents was released in the United Kingdom on 4 June 2026. It is only presently available on Kindle and Audible in Australia.

I posted a review for Jason M. Hough’s Throw Away The Key, (Crooked Lane Books, 14 July 2026), some months ago, but thought I would redo it, now that it is closer to the release date.

Throw Away The Key traverses similar territory to other recent spy novels with an ageing spy, the possibility of a senior mole, family connections in the spy organisation and one last, rogue mission to uncover the truth. Hough, however, provides a fresh slant to these tropes and lots of brio.

Lars Bergman is a quiet man who enjoys his status as the CIA’s locksmith. Formerly part of the CIA’s infamous Surreptitious Entry Team, Lars is now responsible for every padlock, safe, and secure door across the CIA headquarters. He has never met a lock he couldn’t pick, except for one, which he tried and failed to open during a botched mission in Warsaw at the end of the Cold War. New technology, led by his daughter, is making him increasingly redundant, and Lars is cruising toward retirement. That all changes, however, when a senior CIA official dies and Lars is called upon to open the safe in her office. Inside the safe is a clue only Lars would notice, left by someone he had worked with in his heyday. As he investigates, Lars soon realizes that his failed Warsaw operation has come back to haunt him and perhaps give him another chance at picking the one lock that eluded him. What Lars doesn’t realise is that what the lock is protecting could have dire ramifications for the organisation he has spent his whole adult life safekeeping.

It is an intriguing set-up, and the rest of the plot flows very smoothly with Hough judiciously mixing the contemporary storyline with flashbacks to the Warsaw operation. There are good twists and turns, although some are predictable, and the book moves at a brisk pace. Lars’ search for the truth takes him on an exciting journey outside of America and there are some well executed set-pieces, including a tense one in a Swiss bank. Lars and the other characters are nicely etched, especially the enigmatic Miss Thorne, who has an unique and interesting job.

Adding to the enjoyment is plenty of fascinating background on locks and lockpicking, including some amusing scenes at a lockpicking conference called Lockcon. There is also the usual convincing spycraft and skilful escapes, as well as interesting reflections on the changing nature of espionage.

In short, Throw Away The Key is a fast paced and very exciting spy thriller, with enough quirks to raise it above most of the crowd.

Throw Away The Key is released in the United States and the United Kingdom on 14 July 2026. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of the book for review.

Both Throw Away The Key and Solitary Agents are among my favourite books of the year, and are well worth reading.

I am also excited about a trio of historical spy novels due out later this year: The Fifteenth Man by William Cook, Cold Sunset by William Boyd and Dying Days by Anthony Byrt. I will be highlighting them in the next week or so, but all three look good.