MOST years witness a healthy number of publications of spy fiction, and 2015 was no different. Jeffrey Archer churned out the latest book in his Clifton Chronicles series, Mightier than the Sword, Daniel Silva published The English Spy, and Steve Berry (combining historical elements and espionage with his usual aplomb) presented us with The Patriot Threat. Closer to home, the former law-enforcement official, Omar Shahid Hamid, followed up his worthy debut The Prisoner with The Spinner's Tale - a thrilling story about a deadly terrorist who is taken into custody by a well-meaning but ultimately ineffectual set of police officials who realise, far too late, the mistake of underestimating him. It is always heartening to watch new novelists enter the genre, and Terry Hayes produced a commendable debut titled I Am Pilgrim; one of the text's finest points was its uncompromising engagement with the grim realities of the violence that infiltrates all aspects of the world of international espionage. Often popular spy fiction glosses over the intense brutality of some of the crimes involved, but Hayes' book pulls no punches in this respect.

Though it seems unfashionable to regard viewership in terms of gender, it is safe to assume that spy fiction, as opposed to other genres such as romance, has long been popular with male readers. Its rapid pace, smart plots, accessible language, and occasional humour lend itself to appreciation by those who seek engrossing and entertaining reads. What is remarkable about the latest trends is that authors such as Berry manage to interest their readers in historical material ranging from the English Renaissance to the American Declaration of Independence. Archer sets his novel in the 1960s, a move which necessarily excludes much present-day technology and politics, but enables the reader to savour the atmosphere and historical machinations of a bygone era.

This brings one to a consideration of classic versus modern narrative elements of spy fiction. Golden oldies like Ian Fleming's James Bond books contain all the necessary ingredients that make up a good spy thriller: devious (but ultimately thwarted) villains, sexy (often superfluous) women, corrupt (and rather amusing) politicians, and the ubiquitous central character who is generally engaging if not precisely heroic. Fans of the undoubtedly talented Francine Matthews were delighted by her latest endeavour Too Bad to Die, in which her hero Fleming determinedly pursues a Nazi assassin who ambitiously plans to kill Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt in one fell sweep. Matthews' remarkably sound grasp of historical atmosphere and accuracy makes her an equally valuable contributor to the historical genre as well as the espionage one.

What makes 2015 novels such as The Spinner's Tale unique is that the villain is the most intriguing and dangerously attractive character among the plethora of deftly sketched ones that populate Hamid's book. This shift in focus can also be perceived in Silva's The English Spy, where the line between the morality of villains and that of heroes is made deliberately ambiguous by the author, thereby forcing the reader to re-reflect on how good and bad are perceived in present-day spy fiction. While Sorayya Khan's City of Spies is not precisely a novel of espionage, it too dwells at length on how morality is often at the mercy of uncontrollable forces such as time and error.

But ultimately good spy novels are about action and reaction, power and the lack of it, and connections, links, and unexpected twists that leave the reader marvelling at their clever execution. Berry and Archer are both prolific writers, the latter more seasoned than the former to be sure, but both consistently display an unerring ability to render what readers expect to enjoy. Naturally it is refreshing to watch Pakistani-born authors produce worthy endeavours that can be guaranteed to entertain us as well as make us proud. Finally, special mention must be made of Ron Childress' And West is West, about the devastating consequences faced by those placed relatively low on the intertwined totem poles of terrorism and espionage. It won (and fully deserved) the prestigious PEN/Bellweather prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, and brought home to many readers the importance of how much havoc misdirected technological power can potentially wreak on the lives of millions.