Geoffrey Prime: The Imperfect Spy

by D.J. Cole

Recruited while serving in Berlin with the R oyal Air Force, Prime later obtained employment at GCHQ, the nerve-centre of government communications, making him uniqu ely placed to betray his country''s innermost secrets. '

Hardcover

First published March 1, 1999

Reviews

[Ben Bergonzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed account of the pedophile who turned out to have spied for the Russians while working at GCHQ, written by one of the senior detectives involved with his arrest and questioning. Quite sympathetic to Prime and detailed on Police and legal procedures, the book is rather vague on the details of his offences. However the author was excluded from the trial's 'In Camera' elements when the details of what he provided to the Russians was disclosed. It would have been better had Cole stuck to a conventional 'first person' narrative, instead of referring to himself, strangely, in the third person. Not many books on this subject appear to be available, so for that reason it has to be recommended.

[Stephen Wellbow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, authoritative, and sadly a little dry once it gets into extended descriptions of legal proceedings. Begs the question of how much a book like this should be suited as a piece of reference material vs. a narrative for the average reader's consumption/enjoyment. I guess that's just a pretentious way of saying it felt real long and boring through the middle third, but don't listen to me, I'm an oaf.