The celebrated author of Double Cross and Rogue Heroes returns with his greatest spy story yet, a thrilling Americans-era tale of Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War.
Another MacIntyre book from the Cold War period is A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal. This one has on my mind since recently reading Kate Atkinson's Transcription. I want to read both The Spy and the Traitor and A Spy Among Friends because MacIntyre writes nonfiction so well.
From my review: Maybe the reason the entire plan reads something like a novel is that so many of the individuals involved in one way or another were already novelists or became novelists. While truth is often stranger than fiction, it helps if those who conceive and construct such a complicated plan have the imagination of fiction writers. I lost count of how many writers were involved from start to finish. The most famous, although his role was small, was Ian Fleming. No wonder the Bond stories were so popular, Fleming had all the experience one might need with espionage, double-thinking, and dreaming up ways to confuse or mislead the enemy.
The letters were all interesting in so many ways. Reading each one was a pleasure, and my opinion of Ian Fleming rose as I read the book. He was not just the author of sensational novels, but a former Naval Intelligence officer, a friend of some of the most talented authors of the day, and a charming and witty correspondent.
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