The Spy and the Traitor

"The Spy and the Traitor" af Ben Macintyre er en nervepirrende spionroman bygget på den sandfærdige historie om en dobbeltagents virke under den kolde krig. På en varm juli aften i 1958 står en midaldrende mand med en indkøbspose på fortovet i Moskvas travle centrum. I hans grå jakkesæt ligner han enhver anden sovjetisk indbygger. Men posen alene er mistænkelig med dens røde logo fra det britiske supermarked Safeway. Manden er spion. Som senior KGB-officer i mere end 10 år, har han delt uvurderlige hemmelighed helt inde fra den sovjetiske kerne til den britiske efterretningstjeneste. Ingen spion har gjort mere skade på KGB end ham. Safeway-posen er et signal til at aktivere hans flugtplan ud af Sovjet. Den britiske historiker og bestsellerforfatter, Ben Macintyre, fortæller i "The Spy and the Traitor" om en af de modigste og bemærkelsesværdige episoder under den kolde krig.

"The Spy and the Traitor" af Ben Macintyre er en nervepirrende spionroman bygget på den sandfærdige historie om en dobbeltagents virke under den kolde krig. På en varm juli aften i 1958 står en midaldrende mand med en indkøbspose på fortovet i Moskvas travle centrum. I hans grå jakkesæt ligner han enhver anden sovjetisk indbygger. Men posen alene er mistænkelig med dens røde logo fra det britiske supermarked Safeway. Manden er spion. Som senior KGB-officer i mere end 10 år, har han delt uvurderlige hemmelighed helt inde fra den sovjetiske kerne til den britiske efterretningstjeneste. Ingen spion har gjort mere skade på KGB end ham. Safeway-posen er et signal til at aktivere hans flugtplan ud af Sovjet. Den britiske historiker og bestsellerforfatter, Ben Macintyre, fortæller i "The Spy and the Traitor" om en af de modigste og bemærkelsesværdige episoder under den kolde krig.

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 CARR? 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 Carr?, 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.

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 CARR? 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 Carr?, 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.