The Spy and the Traitor

The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

By: Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: John Lee

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the celebrated author of Operation Mincement and The Siege comes the thrilling Americans-era tale of Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War.

“The best true spy story I have ever read.”—JOHN LE CARRÉ

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Economist • Shortlisted for the Bailie Giffords Prize in Nonfiction

If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation’s communism as both criminal and philistine.

He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union’s top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6. For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States’s nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war. Desperate to keep the circle of trust close, MI6 never revealed Gordievsky’s name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britain’s obviously top-level source. Their obsession ultimately doomed Gordievsky: the CIA officer assigned to identify him was none other than Aldrich Ames, the man who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets.

Unfolding the delicious three-way gamesmanship between America, Britain, and the Soviet Union, and culminating in the gripping cinematic beat-by-beat of Gordievsky’s nail-biting escape from Moscow in 1985, Ben Macintyre has crafted an electrifying account of an international hero. Like the greatest novels of John le Carré, The Spy and the Traitor brings readers deep into a world of treachery and betrayal, where the lines bleed between the personal and the professional, and one man’s hatred of communism had the power to change the future of nations.

A movie next?

No question this true story should be a movie or a series that. Ethic or Amazon Prime Video should create. This book kept me interested every chapter, paragraph, every word. If you like true story that has old Cold War intrigue you have no choice but to buy this book.

An astounding book

With John Lee’s excellent narration, I found it even more of an experience then any fictional espionage accounting.

Good

This reader is painful, over excited, sing song, tone all over the place, better to buy & read the book, this guy is hard to listen to, exhausting. Each sentence starts with excitement petering off to an inaudible mumble of the last word. Many times I had to wind back to catch the important last word. The story is exciting, repetitive in parts, having read all of Ben Macintyre books it is still agent Zig Zig which was the best, however I do look forward to his next book, whatever that shall be. I can only hope there is a better narrator, sorry John but the book deserved better.

Fact is much better than fiction

Could not stop listening. Full marks. I’m amazed I never heard of this guy before.

Terrific spy story

Enjoyed this true spy story that started a little slow but finished up strong. The narrator was terrific and found it to be very well researched and informative.