
A Spy Among Friends (Paperback)
Ben Macintyre (author)Published: 12/03/2015

With great intimacy and his customary impeccable attention to detail, the master of true espionage narratives and author of The Spy and the Traitor explores the incredible life of one of the UK’s most famous and dangerous double agents – Harold 'Kim' Philby, one of the Cambridge Five.
Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, charmer and traitor, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Philby, Nicholas Elliott and James Jesus Angleton were rising stars in the intelligence world and shared every secret. Elliott and Angleton thought they knew Philby better than anyone - and then discovered they had not known him at all.
This is a story of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience, of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed. With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen papers, A Spy Among Friends unlocks what is perhaps the last great secret of the Cold War.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN: 9781408851784
Number of pages: 368
Weight: 313 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'An engaging book on a tantalising and ultimately tragic subject, If it starts as a study of friendship, it ends as an indictment' - Philip Hensher, Spectator
'No one writes about deceit and subterfuge so dramatically, authoritatively or perceptively. To read A Spy Among Friends is a bit like climbing aboard a runaway train in terms of speed and excitement - except that Macintyre knows exactly where he is going and is in total control of his material' - Daily Mail
'It reads like fiction, which is testament to the extraordinary power of the story itself but also to the skills of the storyteller... at least as compelling as any of the great fictionalised accounts of Britain's greatest traitor and one of the best real-life spy stories one is ever likely to read' - Daily Express
'Illuminating, gripping and moving... what Macintyre reveals - but not too quickly - is the extent to which those who confided in him, as friends or colleagues or both, were made unwitting accessories to treason' - Evening Standard
'Thrilling... an extraordinary book... I'm not a lover of spy novels, yet I adored this book. Fictional spies never seem believable to me; novels are populated by stereotypes devoid of nuances that define the individual. That's not the case here. Macintyre's strength is his capacity for intimacy, the very thing Philby, Elliott and Angleton lacked... just about perfect' - The Times
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“Awesome”
The best book I have read in years, couldn't put it down. Ben Macintyre superb author
“Enjoyable and compelling”
This book provides a superb history of the events leading up to Kim Philly's betrayal. It examines his story from the point of view of the people he worked with and for. This gives the book a fascinating insight... More
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