The Spy and the Traitor

The Spy and The Traitor is touted in its subhead as "the greatest espionage story ever told." That isn't just publisher hype. The real events and the story of Oleg Gordievsky, KGB officer and diplomat reads like something from a John LeCarre or Robert Ludlum story...except it's true and marvelously documented. Raised by a father and older brother who both served devotedly and unquestioningly in the KGB (dad worked through Stalin's purges and survived in the KGB's precursor agency). Loyalty to the service then would seem to be a given--betraying the agency and its million members (you read that right) would be like sabotaging the family's business. Yet events and history continue to flummox human expectations. First the invasion of Hungary, then the erection of the Berlin Wall (which Gordievsky was present to see) and finally the brutal crushing of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia all drove this KGB officer further and further away from the party. Exposure to the West in Copenhagen and later in London provided a first hand taste of liberty and freedom. It served as the final push into the eager and eternally grateful arms of his M16 handlers. The double agent provided them with not merely a trove of concrete information but invaluable insight into the workings of the KGB and planning of the Soviet Leadership. It is no exaggeration to say Gordievsky was our Kim Philby. The details of these meetings, contacts, "drops", etc. and how spies operated from the end WWII until the dissolution of the Soviet empire is fascinating and novelistic in the telling. Gordievsky's escape or "exfiltration" from the USSR by M16 is nothing short of breathtaking--a Bourne Identity moment. Best of all though is the historical and moral context that gives readers a perspective of events' meanings. Ben McIntyre is a masterful storyteller and detailed chronicler. He thoroughly but concisely points out the import and value of Grodievsky's insights--particularly warning the Brits and thereby the Americans that the Soviet leader Yuri Andropov genuinely believed the West was intent upon a first nuclear strike. Appreciating that paranoia can be as perilous as animus, first Thatcher and then Reagan worked to assuage Soviet fears. It was Gordievsky who prepped both sides for successful summits in the 80s and it was he who counseled wisely to neither disband nor include the USSR in the SDI or Star Wars initiative. Rather, ratchet up the pressure and they would go bankrupt trying to keep up, which is precisely what happened. Gordievsky certainly didn't single handedly end the cold war--there were dozens of events and officials who played a significant role. But Oleg Gordievsky was surely in the first rank of those who made a valuable contribution earning the appreciation of Reagan, Thatcher, the CIA, M16 and yes, QEII (the monarch, not the ocean liner). Best of all, McIntryre doesn't put a patriotic gloss on his subject's behavior. What Gordievsky did was of enormous benefit to democracy and the West but it destroyed his marriage, implicated his wife and children as well as family and friends who all paid some price for his defection. In short, his actions both saved and ruined lives and the choices he made can be rightfully regarded as both morally defensible and appalling or enraging to those who knew him. Unsurprisingly, his marriage failed and most Russian friends regard him with disdain and disgust. In the western intelligence community he is a hero. This is terrific, important history and a wonderfully well-told tale. Enjoy!

An excellent read on several levels: a dramatic spy story, a real thriller; very informative about the history and methods of cold-war spying; an intensely personal study in the psychology of a competitive, perhaps adrenaline-addicted, patriotic Russian spy who becomes disillusioned with the socio-political system in which he grew up. Two things I want to note in particular. First, MacIntyre does an excellent job of helping us to understand what the psychological toll can be on the psyche of a double agent: long, mundane weeks of waiting between "information drops" and other spy business while carrying on in a seemingly "normal" day job with family, and then days of sustained tension and real (or often imagined!) danger: you never know in this clandestine business whose side your associates and supposed allies are really on. You trust no one and you spend a lot of time thinking about your level of exposure: who is watching or listening and tailing you, and why and when; and what will likely happen to you if you get caught (and it is never good, especially for the Soviet double-crosser). Even though you are a good guy, you have to be ready to lie to everybody, including family, and be really good at it. The spy business and marriage with children don't really go together, but they are often an unofficial prerequisite to rising in the ranks of spydom: there was no fairy-tale ending to this dramatic story. The second point is the stark difference I saw between the methods, motivations and imagination of the British vs. the Soviet spy services. The Soviets had, by far, the largest espionage network in the world, but the British had the best. The Soviets tortured their own spies if they suspected them of duplicity. The Brits, predictably, were much more civil, even with their own traitors. The British were indeed alert for and would relentlessly pursue the identity of a suspected mole in their midst, but they did not engender the widespread, ongoing paranoia that infected Stalin's secret police and the later KGB, who routinely tortured and murdered their own traitors. Cooperation and trust we're hard to come by among the "comrades" in the Soviet service. There was more genuine subsidiarity among the British spy units: inventive solutions to problem could be worked out at a more local level and thus there were more creative and effective responses, with more "team playing." Finally, the British were more subtle and "invisible" when tailing suspects than were the Soviet "thugs," who were easy to spot by the trained eye. I think most of the differences I've mentioned are attributable to the philosophical and moral differences between the free, Western, socio-political ideology and the totalitarian, communistic, amoral system of economic determinism. What we believe about human freedom and dignity determines how we behave. The author doesn't necessarily lay out, or even intend, all these observations as explicitly as I have, but he clearly "roots for the right side" in his narrative. At the finish, I was proud to be "on the right side of history."

And it's even better this time. The spy story is amazing, as always with Ben Macintyre and the personal cost is nearly impossible to imagine. That's why I only used 4 stars. I wanted more on the deep personal cost here. Much like Kim Philby who was revered in the USSR, drinking and completely alone, but always a hero, I felt a lot of pain about where our great hero landed, and they seem very similar. Aldrich Ames gets uncritical "master spy" status here, when he was mostly just an amazing example of the CIA's ineptitude. There is no discussion at all about Robert Hanssen over at the USSR section of the FBI, also selling people out to the exact same Soviet spy master at the exact same time. Thankfully the Brits do a better job than my own country on this front. In any event, the more I read of this period, the more amazing that anyone made it through alive. The Soviets had a virtual library of spies in the US on whom to call, and the UK did right to not tell the US. Only CIA hubris caused the massive loss found here, not some super talented Rick Ames. (Read A Spy in Plain sight for a quick gloss on the huge number of Soviet and Russian spies in the US IC at this time. It is terrifying.) And after rereading this history, I find the idea of Ames as superior in any way more infuriating. Ames was lucky, and Oleg Gordievsky was .... not lucky, that the many US intelligence services apparently couldn't figure out who was an obvious problem, despite Ames basically showing the evidence in every way possible. Sorry, after reading this true story, I find the lack of humanity and pure greed of Ames especially galling. I may never get over it. However this book is a good example of how, at least in this case, the Brits did a textbook job of caring for their Joe, and how US hubris nearly killed him anyway. Read it, anything written by Ben Macintyre is always worth reading, sometimes more than once!

I was somehow referred to this book on Amazon while looking into Aldrich Ames literature. Am certainly glad i was, The Spy and the Traitor is the story of Oleg Gordievsky and his career in the KGB and his defection. His story I guess is relatively untold compared to the infamous Aldrich Ames but his importance was extremely high. Ben Macintyre tells the exciting story of Oleg and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat throughout the book. Without the reader knowing what happened the book reads like a true spy novel, yet is entirely based on fact. Oleg Gordievsky was a family KGB man, his father and brother were both in the KGB and he too followed the family tradition despite a streak of ideological doubt. He married into the KGB literally with his wife as a fellow operative and the loveless life created the conditions for his dissatisfaction to boil into anti-establishment when he went on his foreign assignment to Denmark. Oleg realized while he was abroad the richness of other cultures and vibrancy of environment and began to deeply question the model of Soviet rule after exposure to life in a foreign country. He eventually managed to get posted in the UK through his creation of a strong relationships with his English counterparts and there started one of the most fruitful spy relationships of the Cold War. Oleg became the UK government's eye into the inner workings of the KGB and Soviet apparatchik and gave natural insight when others would have been at a loss of interpretation. The book is very personal and describes Oleg's marriage, divorce and remarriage. It takes the reader through the conditions that formed his core beliefs as well as the environment that led to his extreme and critical introversion about the double life he was living. The book is exciting to read, when it becomes clear to the KGB that they have a mole, the escape plan of Oleg is put into place and the reader is taken on a remarkable journey. I don't want to get into the details as the book must be read to get the appropriate immersion but its truly the substance of a must make movie. The book was hard to put down and the last third was impossible. After reading the book i immediately went to Wikipedia to look into all of the details and it was astounding that i knew as little as I did about this character. Definitely worth reading as it is illuminating as to the workings of the KGB, historically significant in the context of the Cold War and as exciting as a spy novel could be, amazing.

This is a great story in the hands of a master story-teller. Oleg Gordievsky was a Cold War KGB officer who let his humanity, clear vision of what the Soviet system represented and a personal fearlessness lead him to turn coat and become a British agent reporting from inside the KGB apparatus. This fascinating story is true and is as tense and dramatic as any Ian Flemming work (ok, without the sex, car chases and gun play). The book - based on over 100 hours of interviews with Gordievesky and countless other hours with British spy handlers, former KGB colleagues and Russian friends and his ex-wife detail the real life world of a master spy and excellent practitioner of spy craft. Gordievesky would have in all likelihood remained on station beyond 1985 had another famous spy not turned him out. The CIA's Aldrich Ames figured out who MI6's most productive source was and told his KGB handlers (though their was possibly another source of exposure as well). Called back to Moscow, Gordievsky activated a years-old exfiltration plan that saw him lose his surveillance and rendezvous with a British team mobilized to meet him near the Finnish border and whisk him to freedom. The spy training and craft, operational methods, recruitment of assets and interactions with his British handlers are all here. Also, the book provides an excellent insight into a part of the KGB that reveals it to be a slothful (though still deadly) bureaucracy where petty turf wars and jealousy had dulled the teeth of a once effective and ruthless organization. The recall to Moscow, interrogations, suspicions and eventual escape are tense and nerve wracking as the author has done a brilliant job of pacing in detailing a get-away fraught with danger. Gordievesky is a hero to our side; still a target of the Russians headed by ex-KGBer Vladimir Putin. This man's information and insights helped with political planning and understanding of Russian thinking at the height of the Cold War. His work possibly enabled the British to blunt American and NATO enthusiasm for the Abel-Archer military exercise which a tottering Soviet leadership feared might be cover for a western first strike against the Soviets. He also provided advice on how to deal with Russian reaction to the Strategic Defense Initiative and according to the author was extremely prescient on how it would play out. A fascinating and gripping account of a heroic man. Highly recommended.

FABULOUS! Couldn't put it down! When you see a million men writing reviews & the book is written by the leading British REAL Spy guy, who could resist? Actually, in watching the BritBox series "A Spy Among Friends", I became fascinated by each episode. Fascinated enough to rush to Amazon to buy USED (something I never do but am glad I did) this RAVE of a non-fiction book by same author BEN MACINTYRE. Brilliant brilliant brilliant writing of Soviet spy OLEG GORDIEVSKY and his escape to the West. Extraordinary detail. And? Now that I'm finished with it in just a few days, I'm going to have to buy another Macintyre work...of literary art. What a contribution by both his subject and the author himself to insights into history, intelligence gathering & consequences to the personal life of any spy.

Ben Macintrye’s book The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold is the best book I have read in several years. I can understand why The Economist named it the best book of the year in 2018. It kept me on the edge of my toes to see what happened next. And even more amazing, it is a true story. I only wish that I had read the book when it was published. Because I do not want to spoil the book for others, I will not discuss the characters or the outcome. I will only say that if you have not read the book, you should read it because you are missing out on a great story. And as you read the book, it provides some food for thought in our current geopolitical environment.

A true story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KBG agent who switched allegiance and started spying for the British after the Berlin wall went up. As Oleg rose through the KBG ranks, he became a more and more valuable double agent to Britain’s MI6. But it was a life of added stress. With the paranoid KBG always as suspicious of their own agents as they were of the British, he was potentially taking a risk every time he passed information to the British agents. And the one threat he had no control over? Double-agents working for the Russians. It was also a life of self-imposed loneliness. Posted overseas, Oleg’s fellow KBG agents were his friends, yet he knew he was betraying them. He also had to keep his double life secret from his family. His first wife would surely have reported him to the KBG. Would his second wife have reported him, too? He didn’t know, and so couldn’t take the chance. After being called back to Russia, he realized he was under heavy suspicion of being a KBG traitor. But the KBG wanted to prove Oleg betrayed Russia. Could he be spirited out of Russia before the KBG net closed in on him? That part of the book is as thrilling as any spy novel. Bottom line: Interesting from start to finish.

What is incredible about this true-life spy story is that you can read it like a classic novel, as it never slows its pace. This captivating espionage tale is a real page-turner. What struck me most in this book is how likeable the main character really is.

True story. Gave it to my son and he said it was one of the best tellings of spying he has read.

Great book, highly engaging narrative

A fascinating and gripping read from cover to cover, all the more so because it is a true story that reads like fiction. A must read for anyone interested in the spy genre.

Un ottimo libro, scritto come fosse un romanzo di genere anche se è cronaca, e un po’ storia.