Alex Gerlis Books in Order

Where Should You Start Reading Alex Gerlis?

Alex Gerlis has established himself as a master of WWII historical espionage, drawing heavily on his three decades of experience as a BBC journalist to craft novels that feel incredibly authentic. Because his books are organized into distinct, self-contained series, you have two primary options for where to begin your journey into his shadowy world of double agents and wartime deception.

The Publication Route (Recommended): Start with The Best of Our Spies (2012). This was Gerlis's debut novel and the beginning of his Spy Masters series. It serves as the perfect introduction to his style, focusing on the intricate intelligence deceptions surrounding the D-Day landings.

The Berlin Entry Point: Alternatively, you can start with Agent in Berlin (2021), the first book in his highly acclaimed Wolf Pack Spies series. This book provides a fantastic introduction to his later, more refined pacing and features a highly compelling narrative set in the heart of Nazi Germany.

The Spy Masters Series

This is the series that launched Alex Gerlis's fiction career. The core of this series is the high-stakes espionage duel between Edgar, a British spymaster, and Viktor, his Soviet counterpart. While each book can technically be read as a standalone thriller, reading them in publication order allows you to fully appreciate the overarching character development and the evolving geopolitical landscape of the war.

• The Best of Our Spies (2012): Set against the backdrop of Operation Fortitude, the Allies' massive deception campaign to convince the Germans that the D-Day landings would occur at the Pas-de-Calais. The story follows a British agent caught in a web of betrayal.
• The Swiss Spy (2015): Shifting focus to neutral Switzerland, this novel follows a Swiss businessman of German origin who is recruited by British intelligence, exposing the dark side of neutral nations during the war.
• Vienna Spies (2017): Centered in Austria during the latter half of the war, this installment follows a British agent tasked with identifying a traitor in a critical intelligence network as the Red Army approaches.
• The Berlin Spies (2019): The final entry in the Spy Masters series takes place in 1944. It focuses on a covert operation inside the capital of the Third Reich as Allied forces close in from both sides.

The Richard Prince Thriller Series

Unlike the Spy Masters books, which feature a shifting roster of protagonists, the Richard Prince series is a closely linked tetralogy that follows a single main character. Richard Prince starts as a quiet detective in Lincolnshire before his keen analytical mind and background lead to his recruitment by the Special Operations Executive (SOE).

Because of the strong character continuity and the linear timeline that moves from the middle of the war to its immediate aftermath, you must read this series in order:

1. Prince of Spies (2020): Prince is sent on his first major mission into occupied Denmark in 1942 to investigate a broken spy ring, facing betrayal at every turn.
2. Sea of Spies (2020): The action moves to the neutral but highly dangerous port of Istanbul, Turkey, where Prince must navigate a deadly game of maritime espionage.
3. Ring of Spies (2020): Set during the pivotal year of 1944, Prince is sent back into Western Europe to secure vital intelligence before the final Allied push.
4. End of Spies (2021): The series concludes in the chaotic summer of 1945. Prince is tasked with hunting down Nazi war criminals in the ruins of divided Germany while the Cold War begins to take shape.

The Wolf Pack Spies Series

This trilogy offers a deep look at the civilian and unconventional networks that helped feed intelligence to the Allies. It features a diverse cast of characters, including an SS officer's wife, a sports journalist, and an American reporter, all coordinated by the British spymaster Barnaby Allen.

• Agent in Berlin (2021): The story begins in the late 1930s on the eve of the war, tracking the slow build-up of Barnaby Allen's spy network inside Nazi Germany.
• Agent in Peril (2022): The timeline advances into the war years. The focus shifts to a high-risk extraction mission attempting to get a secret weapon out of the Warsaw Ghetto.
• Agent in the Shadows (2023): Set in 1943, this book moves the espionage to Lyon, France, where British agents work alongside the French Resistance to root out a devastating double agent.

The Double Agent Series

Gerlis's latest sequence of espionage novels turns its attention to the complex relationship between the British Secret Service and Soviet intelligence during the World War II era, dealing extensively with moles and ideological betrayals.

• Every Spy a Traitor (2024): Starting in 1937, the novel introduces Charles Cooper, an academic who is recruited into a web of Soviet espionage, showing the early roots of the intelligence wars.
• The Second Traitor (2025): Set in 1940 under the threat of a German invasion of Britain, the search intensifies for hidden Soviet agents who may sabotage the war effort.
• City of Traitors (2026): Set in the closing stages of the war in Europe, resolving the espionage conflicts and setting the stage for the post-war era.

Alex Gerlis's Non-Fiction

For readers who want to understand the real-world history that inspires Gerlis's fiction, he has written two accessible non-fiction books that detail the actual events of the Normandy campaign:

• The Miracle of Normandy (2014): A historical overview of the D-Day landings and the military strategy behind the invasion.
• The D-Day Deception (2014): A focused look at the intelligence operations, double agents, and misinformation campaigns that successfully kept the German military guessing about the invasion location.

Chronological vs. Publication Order

Because all of Alex Gerlis's novels take place in the same historical window—roughly 1937 to 1945—there is significant overlap in their timelines. For example, the first book of the Double Agent series (Every Spy a Traitor) begins in 1937, which is chronologically earlier than his debut novel, The Best of Our Spies, which begins closer to 1944. However, attempting to read all the books across all series in a strict chronological timeline is not recommended. The series are thematic, and the character arcs are self-contained. The best approach is to read each individual series in its own publication order.