The Spy and the Traitor
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  • Published: 4 June 2019
  • ISBN: 9780241972137
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

The Spy and the Traitor

The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

Formats & editions
Paperback
4 Jun 2019
EBook
20 Sep 2018
Audiobook
20 Sep 2018
Audio CD
20 Sep 2018
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A thrilling Cold War story about a KGB double agent, by one of Britain's greatest historians

On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket.

The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever. . .
  • Published: 4 June 2019
  • ISBN: 9780241972137
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

About the author

Ben Macintyre

Ben Macintyre is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of books including Agent Sonya, SAS: Rogue Heroes, The Spy and the Traitor, Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat and A Spy Among Friends. He is a columnist and Associate Editor at The Times, and has worked as the newspaper's correspondent in New York, Paris and Washington. He regularly presents BBC series based on his acclaimed books.

Also by Ben Macintyre

SAS
The Siege
Colditz
Agent Sonya
See all

Praise for The Spy and the Traitor

An incredible true life spy story...Every word ramps up the tension as you're drawn deeper into the danger

Mail on Sunday

If any spy writer were to put it in a novel, it would not be believed. But, blow by blow, trick by trick, it is all in Macintyre's book

Fredrick Forsyth

He writes like a novelist. One of the last chapters is as tense as any thriller. No wonder le Carré liked it

Daily Express

[A] captivating espionage tale. In a feat of real authorial dexterity, Macintyre accurately portrays the long-game banality of spycraft-the lead time and persistence in planning-with such clarity and propulsive verve that the book often feels like a thriller. Macintyre has produced a timely and insightful page-turner.

Publishers Weekly

Impeccably researched, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II

Antony Beevor on 'SAS'

Meticulously researched, splendidly told, immensely entertaining and often very moving

John le Carré on 'Agent Zigzag'

The best true spy story I have ever read

John le Carré

Thorough and highly entertaining. It would be nigh on impossible to praise it too highly

Daily Express on 'SAS'

Thrilling. Ben Macintyre is the ideal narrator

Spectator on 'SAS'