A spy series that stays human. James Barker's cases move between European cities and long-buried pasts, and the danger is rarely the gun in the drawer — it is who he decides to trust.
The James Barker Files are character-led espionage thrillers in the European tradition: quiet cities, patient surveillance, betrayals that arrive dressed as friendship.
Each file is a complete case. The through-line is Barker himself, and the slow accumulation of what the work costs him.
Readers of John le Carré, Mick Herron and Charles Cumming — anyone who prefers tradecraft and consequence to chases and gadgets.
The Spy Who Found Me is the first file and the place to begin.
A past buried in the Cold War. A message that changes everything.
The opening novel in The James Barker Files. Atmospheric, cinematic and deeply human — a story of trust, betrayal and the long shadow of the past.
Read more about The Spy Who Found MeEarly looks at new books, dispatches from the road, and reflections from the writing desk — delivered a few times a month.