The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal (Paperback)
  • The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal (Paperback)
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The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal (Paperback)

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£12.99
Paperback 400 Pages
Published: 01/06/2017
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WATERSTONES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH AUGUST 2018 AND A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'An astonishingly detailed picture of espionage in the 1980s, written with pacey journalistic verve and an eerily contemporary feel.' Ben Macintyre, The Times

'A gripping story of courage, professionalism, and betrayal in the secret world.' Rodric Braithwaite, British Ambassador in Moscow, 1988-1992

'One of the best spy stories to come out of the Cold War and all the more riveting for being true.' Washington Post


January, 1977. While the chief of the CIA's Moscow station fills his gas tank, a stranger drops a note into the car.

In the years that followed, that stranger, Adolf Tolkachev, became one of the West's most valuable spies. At enormous risk Tolkachev and his handlers conducted clandestine meetings across Moscow, using spy cameras, props, and private codes to elude the KGB in its own backyard - until a shocking betrayal put them all at risk.

Drawing on previously classified CIA documents and interviews with first-hand participants, The Billion Dollar Spy is a brilliant feat of reporting and a riveting true story from the final years of the Cold War.

Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 9781785781971
Number of pages: 400
Weight: 464 g
Dimensions: 216 x 135 x 30 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS
It is the human factor that elevates The Billion Dollar Spy to a different level: non-fiction as rich and resonant as a spy novel by John Le Carre or Graham Greene. * Mail on Sunday *

The Pulitzer prizewinning American journalist David E Hoffman has had access to CIA files and the result is an astonishingly detailed picture of espionage in the 1980s, written with pacey journalistic verve and an eerily contemporary feel ... Essential reading for anyone who wants to know how the spy mind works.

-- Ben Macintyre * The Times *

A fabulous read that also provides chilling insights into the Cold War spy game between Washington and Moscow that has erupted anew under Vladimir Putin.

* Michael Dobbs, author of One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War *

A gripping story of courage, professionalism, and betrayal in the secret world.

* Rodric Braithwaite, British Ambassador in Moscow, 1988-1992 *

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Emily at Lancaster King Street

“As Thrilling as a le Carré Novel”

I'm not a big non-fiction reader but this book had me hooked from chapter one, which involves a risky caper on the streets of Moscow involving misdirection, disguises, and cutting-edge technology to evade... More

Emma Prince at Portsmouth

“Reads like a spy novel!”

It’s hard to believe this isn’t fiction, Hoffman’s writing is pacy and compelling, with all of the tropes of a great spy novel yet it chronicles the genuine contributions of a brave, reckless Soviet whose intel saved... More

Paperback edition
Helpful? Upvote 28

“Worth a read”

An absorbing read. A penetrating true story of intrigue, uncertainty, fear and loneliness depicting a pernicious lifestyle with overtones of tragedy. There are no James Bond figures here and all the better for it...

Paperback edition
Helpful? Upvote 27

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