Ben Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times of London and the bestselling author of A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and Rogue Heroes, among other books. Macintyre has also written and presented BBC documentaries of his work.
“Every bit as exciting as my favorite spy novels.”—Bill Gates,
GatesNotes
“Readers seeking a page-turning spy story, look no further. The
author of A Spy Among Friends and Agent Zigzag, among others, does
it again, this time delivering a Cold War espionage story for the
ages… another can’t miss account of intrigue and
intelligence.” —Boston Globe
“The subtitle of Macintyre’s latest real-life spy thriller calls it
‘The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War.’ Like pretty much
everything in this fine book, the description is accurate…
Macintyre is fastidious about tradecraft details… [he] has become
the preeminent popular chronicler of British intelligence history
because he understands the essence of the
business.” —Washington Post
“The Spy and the Traitor [is] a fast-paced and fascinating
biography of Russian-spy-turned-British-asset Oleg Gordievsky… It’s
nonfiction, but it reads like the best of thrillers… The toll
spying takes on Gordievsky’s personal life is enthralling, and the
details of how deep the effects of one KGB agent’s deception can go
are, in these days of Russian election meddling, quite
frightening.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Who was the most important spy of the Cold War era? Ben Macintyre
convincingly nominates Oleg Gordievsky… Readers should rejoice in a
very readable book by a skilled story-teller. Although an
intelligence outsider, Mr. Macintyre enjoys the trust of MI6… Mr.
Macintyre’s account of how the officer known as Bromhead recruited
Mr. Gordievsky as a spy is a textbook study of intelligence
reality; indeed, these pages alone are worth the price of the book…
In terms of suspense, the flight through Russia is of
thriller-quality.” —Washington Times
“Oleg Gordievsky was the most significant British agent of the cold
war… The result is a dazzling non-fiction thriller and an intimate
portrait of high-stakes espionage.” —The Guardian
“Even a reader not enamored of spy stories will have trouble
putting this one down… [The story] unfolds with a pace and drama
that recall the novels of John le Carré.” —Foreign
Affairs
“[A] swift-moving tale of true espionage in the most desperate
years of the Cold War... The closing pages of Macintyre’s fluent
yarn find Gordievsky attempting to escape captivity and flee to the
West in a scenario worthy of John le Carré... Oddly timely, given
the return of Russian spying to the front pages, and a first-rate
study of the mechanics and psychology of espionage.” —Kirkus
Reviews (starred review)
“[A] captivating espionage tale... In a feat of real authorial
dexterity, Macintyre accurately portrays the long-game banality of
spycraft—the lead time and persistence in planning—with such
clarity and propulsive verve that the book often feels like a
thriller. The book has a startling relevancy to the news of the
day... Macintyre has produced a timely and insightful
page-turner.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Pick up any current true-crime spy book and you’ll probably see a
version of this phrase on the cover: ‘The Greatest Spy Story Ever
Told.’ Most of them don’t live up to the billing, but the latest by
Ben Macintyre comes close…What makes this read propulsive is the
way Macintyre tells the story almost as a character-driven novel…
Macintyre’s way with details, as when he explains exactly how the
KGB bugged apartments, or when he delves into KGB training, is
utterly absorbing. The action is punctuated with plenty of
heart-stopping near-discoveries, betrayals, and escapes.
Fascinating, especially now.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Fans of narrative nonfiction, the Cold War, spy stories, foreign
relations among the United States, England, and Russia, and
Macintyre’s previous works will greatly enjoy this incredible true
account.” —Library Journal (starred review)
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