The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War in Espionage Aficionados

Jan 04, 2020 Lindsay Mouat rated it it was amazing

Fascinating story of a real-life KGB Colonel Oleg Gordievsky who was the most significant British agent of the cold war. Having become disenchanted with the brutality and bleakness of the Soviet regime while on his first overseas placement in Denmark, Goridevsky spied for MI6 for more than ten years, somehow deceiving his KGB colleagues, with the threat of torture and death a constant companion.

The intelligence he provided was unique, not least by explaining the paranoia and fantastical thinking ...more

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Nov 05, 2019 Paul Grant rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ben Macintyre's excellent The Spy and the Traitor follows the dramatic story Oleg Gordievsky - KGB spy recruited by MI6. I won't so too much for those who haven't yet read it but my favourite line from the book related to Finland's fine balancing act between the Soviet Union and the West described by Finnish cartoonist Kari Soumalainen as 'the art of bowing to the East without mooning to the West.'
Highly recommended. ...more

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Nov 26, 2019 Ron Seckinger rated it it was amazing

Ben Macintyre has established a reputation as a savvy chronicler of modern espionage in such works as Operation Mincemeat and Agent Zigzag. The Spy and the Traitor is the best yet. Relying on interviews with former KGB, CIA, and MI6 officers as well as Oleg Gordievsky and his associates, Macintyre spins a fascinating account of a major Cold War operation. A senior KGB officer motivated by his hatred of the Soviet system, Gordievsky volunteered to MI6 and for years turned over massive documentati ...more

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Jun 10, 2020 Tom rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The spy genre is one of my favorites, both fiction and nonfiction, and I find this book to be one of the best. I've always thought of the KGB and Soviet culture as being immune to Western penetration. This story shows how one man and M16 exposed the fault lines below the surface. I'm surprised this one was never made into a mini series or movie because it has a great cast of characters and nail-biting ending. ...more

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Sep 13, 2020 Ben Field rated it it was amazing

Excellent from start to finish, written as a spy book with so much detail, its going to be hard to find anything quite as good for some time. If you like spies this is a must read.

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