Book Review

The Spy and the Traitor

The blurb on the  cover of this just published book is a quote from John Le Carre ; “The best true spy story I have ever read.” Praise indeed, but not unwarranted. This book is really fascinating.

Set during the  height of the Cold War with Thatcher, Regan and Gorbachev in untrusting power and each having vast spy networks operating. While each country’s secret service was extremely good at  spying they strangely failed spectacularly when it came to monitoring their own members. Erroneously preferring to believe that their rigorous recruitment processes ensured trustworthy staff. The result being that each had highly placed super traitors working quite freely within. 

Along with this the British and American  services  were competitive rather than co-operative and neither trusted their European counterparts. This lack of co-operation had disastrous consequences. 

The main storyline follows the English managing their highly placed super spy Russian KGB General Oleg Gordievsky whose position allowed him access to very top secret information. The British passed on to the Americans only the ‘need for them to know’ information he provided and steadfastly refused to reveal the source. 

Meanwhile the Russians had recruited their own super spy in the CIA, Aldrich Ames who as head of department had access to the very top secret information. Ames was able to alert the Russians to their having a traitor and then set about finding who it could be. It took him over a year but eventually he  narrowed it down to Oleg and informed the Russians. 

In Britain top M16 man Kim Philby was also busy working for the Russians. 

The last section of the book covers the intricate rescue plan which was triggered when Oleg realised that the KGB were on to him.  A better spy thriller than anybody could make up.

This fascinating and informative book which shows the inner workings of the various secret services and how governments used the information they gleaned. Also the motives of those who changed sides. For instance Oleg because he had become deeply disenchanted with the Russian system while Aldrich simply did it for the money. The Russians probably paid him too much because it was his living a  lifestyle which was clearly above his wage bracket eventually gave the show away.

But who is the spy and who is the traitor rather depends on which side  the person in the case is being viewed from. An extremely good read.