Cover via Penguin Random House (publisher)
Matt's pick · not sponsored
The Spy and the Traitor
- Cold War
- KGB
- MI6
- espionage
- Soviet Union
- true story
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Why I'd hand it to you
Oleg Gordievsky was a KGB officer who secretly worked for British intelligence for years, passing along information that shaped how the West understood the Soviet Union in the tense early 1980s. Ben Macintyre tells how he was recruited, how he was betrayed, and how he escaped from Moscow. The last section is as tense as any spy novel. Be patient with the opening; it takes a while to set up the tradecraft and politics, and some readers find the first third slow. If you enjoy spy fiction and want to try true stories, this is a good one to start with.
— Matt Jordan
Quick summary
- Book
- The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre
- Who it's for
- Spy-novel fans who want to try a true story and can be patient with the setup.
- Key topics
- Oleg Gordievsky
- The KGB and MI6
- Cold War espionage
- The escape from Moscow
- Shelves
- World Affairs, History, Biography
Details
- Author
- Ben Macintyre
- ASIN
- 1101904216
- On these shelves
- World Affairs History Biography
- Short link
mattsbooks.org/r/stra
