Everyman or Smooth Operator.

[Samuel , Director]

Another discussion topic about conventions and tropes of the genre. However, this one is a little less serious. There are two kinds of protagonist in Spy fiction. There's the ordinary bloke, with no training and experience, who has to dodge several hundred attempts at murder throughout the story. And then we have the trained professional, who knows the game and gives as good as he gets.

Between these two, which do you prefer to read about? The clueless, everyman, who suffers and yet soldiers on due to sheer determination or the man who knows how to play the game as well as the opposition he goes up against?

[Samuel , Director]

I myself prefer category 2. I find it more believable when reading about someone who has a proper skill-set suitable to the situations that normally occur in spy fiction rather than an ordinary bloke who would probably be dead before he realized someone is trying to kill him.
My bookshelf and kindle reflect this preference. The only book with category one I can find is this:

Partly because I consider it one of Ludlum's best works, and an exemplar on how to write a solid conspiracy, but also because the main character is actually a stand-in for himself.

[Jack]

It is my goal as a writer to never make my reader suspend disbelief. This is why I built my protagonist from a child. I do not like the everyman trope. Although, I was entertained by Jack Ryan. He was smarter than an everyman and usually had well trained people surrounding him. If you are going to dump a badass on me, then that's what he needs to be. That I can accept.

[Samuel , Director]

Jack wrote: "It is my goal as a writer to never make my reader suspend disbelief. This is why I built my protagonist from a child. I do not like the everyman trope. Although, I was entertained by Jack Ryan. He ..."

Ah, yes Jack Ryan. He straddles the line slightly. Being a former Marine, he has the instincts which your usual everyman protagonist does not posses, and when things got rough, Mr Clark and Mr Chavez were on call to lend a helping hand.