The Beria Papers

by Alan Williams

A taut and convincing novel that involves 3 million dollars, a beautiful translator, murder, espionage, top level Kremlin revelations plus sex, rumors that the Beria papers may be the greatest literary hoax of all time, and the CIA, M15 AND KGB relentlessly pursuing all involved. Bookplate of previous owner on front pastedown. 319+ 1 pages. paper-covered boards, dust jacket. 8vo..

Genres: Historical Fiction, Thriller, Russia

319 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Alan Emlyn Williams was a journalist and foreign correspondent, reporting from notable hotspots worldwide including Hungary in 1956, Algeria, Vietnam and Northern Ireland. In 1962 he started writing thrillers which brought him the accolade "the natural heir to Ian Fleming" but it was his well-researched spy stories such as The Beria Papers and Gentleman Traitor (which featured real life traitor Kim Philby) which brought him international success.

Reviews

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s certainly a compelling enough premise – Beria’s diaries have been found and are published to great acclaim – and some scepticism. For the two journalists who concoct the whole scheme it seems a good way to earn some serious money. But inevitably matters don’t pan out as they hope. The author has done his research and is in command of the facts, but I wasn’t at all convinced by this book. For a start, I didn’t believe in Beria’s voice, it just didn’t ring true to me, and if they wanted to convince the world these really are his diaries then that voice has to be convincing. And then really it’s just an old-fashioned, rather trite and banal spy story with KGB operatives being true to type and Western authorities being true to type and it all being a bit silly. Not for me this one. But an agreeable enough romp if you like that sort of thing.

[N N · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like the Beria papers of the title, the book reads as if it were the work of two collaborators. The main part, centred around the writing of the fake diary, is taut, compelling and intelligent, with a deep range of murky detail on the public and private lives of the Soviet élites (attendees of Alexandrov's orgies are boldly named - Mikhalkov, Kozhevnikov, Chirkov; how on earth did the author get hold of these names?) And then the aftermath is muddled, naïve, bordering on the nonsensical. The author's facility with the Russian names evaporates and he starts spelling 'Sasha' as 'Sacha', etc. The espionage angle is full of absurdities and implausibilities; the KGB employ unlikely amateurs and, on a highly sensitive mission, people known to moonlight for the other side. The ending makes no sense whatsoever: why would the Russians assassinate the protagonists when the main objective was to prove the diary a fake - i.e., get them to confess publicly, not do away with them. What a pity; instead of the sloppy spy angle, the book should have concentrated on the ambiguities of the diary itself: the fascination of recreating a real but shady monster, the temptation to humanise him, the parallel dynamics of fictional character-moulding and real-life power struggle in the Kremlin (monster vs a bigger monster); and then perhaps a rude awakening, a facing up to the unknowable. This could have been more than just a great thriller - something one-of-a-kind.

[Steven Kwenaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely amazing

[Eric Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

To anyone who has seen the recent film on the death of Stalin, the character of Lavrenty Beria, played by Simon Russell Beale, may now be familiar. Though the film was a comedy (of sorts), there was nothing funny about the real Beria. A sadistic murderer, he rose steadily in the ranks of the Soviet secret police, first in his native Georgia, and later promoted by Stalin to head up the nation-wide force. Imagine if Beria had recorded all his crimes, including the very personal ones against young girls, in a private diary. That is not the premise of this book, which is a fictional account of how three adventurers come up with a plan to fake Beria's diaries to make money. A decade after The Beria Papers was published, the Hitler Diaries appeared and one is forced to wonder if the forger in that case was inspired by this one. As I have taken an interest recently in Soviet and Russian forgeries, I was interested to read this novel, and found it quite appealing, and as regards Beria, well-informed.

[Todd Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great concept for a story. Deceiving the world that Beria’s diary that has suddenly surfaced is real. Not so hard to do if it’s full of actual events that happened. Mind you I would applaud anyone that could pull it off. One thing this book does very well is to highlight what monsters Joseph Stalin and Lavrenti Beria were. I enjoyed that the Author has taken us to a number of different countries, and the detail he has gone into with some unique and interesting characters. I don’t think Boris Drobnov and Thomas Mallory expected that the KGB and CIA would be hunting them down, once the Beria’s diary was released. I like the ending, it was different and not something I expected. I look forward to more from Alan Williams in the future.

[Eileen Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exciting fictional account of the diaries of Lavrenti Beria who was head of the Soviet secret police, as well as being a sadistic mass murder.
When published there is disquiet from various factions who don't believe the diaries are genuine or are feared that things best not known to certain people get out.
Great read.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Endeavour via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another surprise. I wasn't anticipating much but a fictionalized account of Leventriy Beria's diaries, which never existed in any form or manner--although Beria's son did come out with his own memoirs about a quarter of a century ago. The fictional diaries are here, but it's not really the story. The story itself is difficult to discuss without ruining for those who haven't read it, so I'll hold off on any revelations about the plot. Other than to say . . . an entry from Beria's "papers" is spaced intermittently between the diary and notes of Tom Mallory, an English journalist working for Radio Free Europe in Munich. He shares an apartment with a Russian exile, Boris. The two concoct a scheme to bring Beria's "diaries" to the world, going so far as to create a smuggling trail out of Hungary. Note that Williams was falling upon his own background in writing this, as he secreted Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward out through Czechoslovakia to Western publishers. What is intriguing for me is how the more Mallory and Boris reveal about their contribution to the diaries, the more that the nature of the diaries themselves seem to change in front of your eyes.

This is a good spy story. It uses multiple points of view, from Mallory, Boris, a Georgian translator, KGB agents, publishers, and CIA agents. There are many, many Soviet names here. When this was published, in 1973, I probably would have been aware of maybe half of them. While reading this book in 2024, I was aware of probably 80 to 90 percent of them. That's because people such as Andropov and Kuznetsov became more famous in the 1980s. No mention of Chernenko, by the way. I don't know if people in the West even remember his short reign between Andropov and Gorbachev. But then I'd bet you could have put a picture of Breshnev before most of the Western public at any time, and few indeed would have recognized him. Unlike Lenin, Stalin, or Khrushchev who all generated instant recognition during their time in power. I guess that's one area where Putin has managed to match the earlier Soviet leaders, as he's likely instantly recognizable to most people, too, right now.

Looking back on this time in history, you realize just how gloomy communist states could be. I remember being in East Berlin and East Germany and it was drab. I saw a long line set up in the street winding for several blocks in Berlin. When I asked, I was told they were waiting to use the swimming facilities. Yikes! But then I sometimes think the Cold War era wasn't so bad. That world from today's perspective seems so much more stable and safe. Of course, people in eastern Europe made out well with the end of the Cold War. I'm not sure people in the US and Russia did, however. Their standards of living seem to have fallen.

[David Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather prescient when you consider it was not long after the publication of this novel that “The Hitler Diaries” debacle engulfed the newspaper industry. That someone could conspire to produce fraudulent diaries that would fail to pass even the simplest forensic investigation and manage to wring a large advance from a publisher greedy to acquire the sole rights seems implausible but, you know, it happened.
In this case the diaries purport to be those of Beria, Stalin’s chief of police and Georgian comrade who is nasty and psychotic enough to have reached his position of practically absolute power.
The authors of the fake diaries get overtaken by hubris and greed without seemingly realising the consequences of the world taking the diaries seriously, in that the present (1970s) Soviet leaders - being smeared - would seek redress with extreme prejudice.
The main problem with the account is that you don’t really have anyone to root for as the main protagonists are unattractive and, frankly, a bit silly.
The real heroes are the CIA chaps trying to keep them out of trouble.

[Nikolay Georgiev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Архивът на Берия се оказа приятна изненада. Мислех си че ще е нещо политико-историческо, а то се оказа нещо като шпионски роман. Книгата е за фалшифицирането на дневниците на Берия, публикуването им като роман и последствията от това. Тъй като е писана преди 50+ години е доста "графична" - има много пиене, пушене, ядене и секс. От време на време има откъси от "дневниците", които са особено брутални. Берия е представен като истински звяр - убиец и изнасилвач (включително на малолетни момичета). В читанката я има на български.

[Rosalyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not really enjoy this book some of the descriptions were out of my comfort zone and I do not think really necessary. Being told Beria was a terrible sexual predator was enough without blow by blow descriptions. I got to the end as I hate to not finish and was quite pleased the people got what they really deserved.
Would not recommend this to my friends but I am sure that it ticks the boxes for many.

[Jeff Parry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Run of the Mill

This is a basic "thriller" which is light on thrills. I didn't care about the protagonists and struggled to finish. Did I learn anything about Soviet political intrigue? Nothing that I hadn't read before. Forged diaries? Been there, read that.

[Grahamgill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A timely find after seeing the movie The Death of Stalin which featured Beria. This was an interesting book told as two stories Beria's and the author of his diary. It was great tale of murder, barbarism and suspense. If you like reading of the Stalin era this one may be of interest.

[Tim Trewartha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note : 3 and a half stars. Very good, but also very bleak, thriller, dealing with a massive literary hoax and the consequences. Well written, and pacy.

[Michael Vawser]

Biblio.com US$26.00

[Sambasivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fictional story of Beria’s crimes. Written with a good level of imagination and credibility. However did not sustain my interest that much. Ok read.

[Jak60 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed The Beria Papers for its first three quarters: extremely well research, with plenty of historical details which makes the reading both informative and entertaining, a plot which unfolds in a pretty riveting manner, good character development.
So I was ready to assign a 4 or 5 star, depending on how strong the finale would be.
In the last quarter then the author introduces the espionage dimension into the story, and - as a genre junkie - I can say this is not his stronghold; the way the KGB and CIA agents are portrayed is naïf to say the least, let alone some serious plausibility issues. Plus, the epilogue is absurdly rushed, incredibly abrupt, as if the author got bored with his own story and wanted to close it as quickly as possible.
Hence my final rating of 3, which could have been a 2 but I wanted to acknowledge that for its majority the book was an enjoyable read.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I thought was actually going to a true non-fiction book (I hadn't read any reviews), turned out to be a well thought out novel. At first I found it very plausible that a diary could be written by such a madman, and yet I knew it was highly unlikely. Neither Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Mengele, Napoleon etc, ever wrote a diary, so why would Beria.

But getting back to the story. I was riveted by it from the beginning to the end. The facts were well researched, even if you don't get First Class tickets on a Boeing 707 London to Paris service. The characters were real, and I did expect Thomas to survive. The plot started to fall apart when Boris committed suicide. It's pretty damn near impossible to kill yourself that way. As for the last chapter, well the story ended in a complete shemozzle. It was so unbelievable and trite I was actually annoyed at the author for ending it this way. To me, it sounded like he was bored with his novel, and just wanted to end it.....get it over with.....finite. !!!! A good story ending badly. What a shame.

[Cold War Conversations Podcast · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched historical fiction.

The private diaries of Stalin's chief secret policeman are offered for publication in a spooky forecast of the Times debacle over the Hitler Diaries.

Williams again comes up with cast of unscrupulous individuals, the usual female interest and a British journalist to pull all the pieces together. Written and set in 1973 with the KGB and CIA on their trail Williams shows his skill again producing a polished and exciting spy thriller.

If you have read Williams before you won’t be disappointed.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most interesting... but the ending is a bit too abrupt

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: did the Soviet secret police keep a diary on Lavrentiy Beria's murders and sexual exploits?

[Haydn Pope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb

Eye opening, very authentic, really quite exciting in places. Left me thinking, it could happen!, A really interesting read, indeed