I recently took a half day to complete an informal survey of espionage thrillers. It’s something I should’ve done some time ago, but have simply not made the time to do it. For some time now, I’ve noticed similarities in the ‘Also Boughts’ section of my books on Amazon.com. Since two of my books are listed under the Thriller – Espionage sub-category, the also-boughts are typically espionage novels. In glancing through the book descriptions, I had noticed that a disproportionate number of these books were paramilitary in nature and, after more research, nearly all of them had a single lead protagonist with a military background, typically SEALs or Green Berets.
For my informal survey, I located and researched a total of 19 other thriller/espionage series to determine how many of these series had lead protags with military backgrounds. Of the nineteen, I found only three that had protags with no military experience. And, in all reality, these three probably all do, I just wasn’t able to find enough information to support one way or the other.
I’d like to know how important a military background is to a fictional spy for you as a reader. Is it non-negotiable for you? If so, why? Can you imagine a spy without any formal military experience?
I’d argue that in the real CIA, in analyzing the job of a professional Collections Officer, military training is not normally used in the day-to-day activities of the role. It’s more important to have language skills, to be knowledgeable as to local culture and custom, to be able to understand people and exploit their weaknesses, and to be able to make persuasive arguments. I recognize that popular fiction, possibly as a reflection of modern society at large, has a way of glorifying the violent aspects of the spy role. Most of these protags are also assassins, after all. I think maybe this is true for the same reason that a story like Stephen King’s The Body is popular. The Body, you’ll recall, was made into a popular movie called Stand By Me that came out in the 1980s where the protags are a group of boys searching for the body of a local boy who’d gone missing and was presumed dead. People are generally fascinated with death and what it would be like to take another human being’s life.
But what if a spy novel focused more on, say, the hero’s ability to blend in and to deceive. As an example, I’m thinking of the movie called Argo, which tells the true story of the CIA’s efforts at rescuing six American in Tehran during the hostage crisis in 1979. It was based on a book that I read called The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez, who was a real life CIA officer who was a technical expert in the creation of disguises and the forgery of documents. The story is fascinating and suspenseful and focuses more on the CIA’s ability to use deception to achieve a result rather than force. I’m not arguing that there’s no place for force, but sometimes deception does the job better and with less casualty and can also make for a good story.