This past August, I was strangely immersed in spy-related pop culture. I interviewed a former spy about her sex life for The Spy Who Dumped Me, I binge-watched season 1 of the The Americans , and I read Kate Atkinson's Transcription, a novel about spies working in M15, Britain's secret service agency, during WWII. Atkinson's characters are always walking around gloomy London in disguises, passing along newspapers with cryptic messages. The book, too, has hidden corners — you're forever doubting whether what you're reading is the truth, or preparation for a twist. Taken together, the three spy-related works had me constantly looking over my shoulder.