Killing Eve is a breakout TV show from this year – a smart, sexy and wildly addictive spy thriller developed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Here’s our recommended reading list for people who’ve binged the show (now streaming on ABC iView) and are hungry for more.

• Codename Villanelle by Luke Jennings – Read the book that inspired the show… Our reviewer described Jennings’ thriller as glorious and exciting – ‘with all the pace and plot of a superhero origin movie’. Find the full review here.
  
  
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara – If part of the appeal about Killing Eve is that everyone is talking about it, you might be tempted by this chilling true crime read. Michelle McNamara’s obsessively researched book is credited with helping police make an arrest after 30 years.
  
  
• Carol by Patricia Highsmith – While Patricia Highsmith’s books following charming sociopath Tom Ripley make a perfect companion, we recommend seeking out Highsmith’s novel Carol (originally published as The Price of Salt). This romance between an awkward sales assistant and a sophisticated housewife has the feel of a crime novel and Highsmith’s trademark masterful tension and sinister undertones.
  
  
• Enduring Love by Ian McEwan – After two strangers witness a deadly accident, their lives become perilously entangled by a twist of fate and a unique psychological illness. This remarkable novel about obsession and its devastating impact reads likes a thriller.
  
  
• Difficult Women by Roxane Gay – If you loved the way Killing Eve depicted authentic and absorbing females characters, we suggest you pick up a copy of Roxanne Gay’s story collection from last year. In these stories, Gay digs into the lives of so-called ‘difficult’ women with insight and empathy.
  
  
• The Trespasser by Tana French – Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad crime novels are an absolute favourites with many of us here at Readings – while the stories are linked, they follow different detectives and can be read as standalones. The Trespasser is a particularly good one to pair with Killing Eve as it has a talented, slightly obsessive and often furious female detective at the helm.
  
  
• At Risk by Stella Rimington – If you want to read about another female MI5 Intelligence officer, we recommend At Risk. This is the first Liz Carlyle spy thriller, all of which are written by the former head of MI5 in London!
  
  
• Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews – Or, if you want to read about another female assassin, why not try this thriller from C.I.A. veteran Jason Matthews? A former Russian ballerina is forced to undergo espionage training for the Russian government and becomes a deadly weapon in a dangerous game of politics and intruige.
  
  
• Fingersmith by Sarah Waters – This erotically-charmed and much-loved historical crime novel sees two women who are initially set in opposition to one another develop an intense bond, even as they cause harm for each other.
  
  
• Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott – Look, you can really read any of Megan Abbott’s psychological thrillers and it would likely scratch the same itch as Killing Eve – you can read why we love here here. But this novel, due for release in August, sounds pretty perfect. It’s the story of an unlikely friendship and a secret with devastating potential.
  
  
• Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge – If you adored the sharp and blackly funny dialogue of Killing Eve, you might like to get stuck into this award-winning play from the show’s writer. This play was the basis for Waller-Bridge’s critically acclaimed show of the same name, now available on DVD.
  
  
• Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh – The dynamic between downtrodden, frumpy Eileen and the beautiful, charismatic Rebecca Saint John has some echoes of the relationship that exists between Eve and Villanelle in the show. This is a very unsettling read so perfect if that’s what you enjoyed about the show.