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The Death of Trotsky

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THE PULSE-POUNDING TRUE STORY BEHIND THE ASSASSINATION THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY

'Breathtaking . . . This is lucid, kaleidoscopic history' RORY CARROLL

'As good as any thriller' HELEN RAPPAPORT

'Hugely compelling' ROGER MOORHOUSE

In August 1940, a man walked into Leon Trotsky's study in Mexico City and drove an ice pick into his skull. The killer? Ramón Mercader - an aristocratic Spaniard turned Soviet assassin. The mastermind? Joseph Stalin.

But this was no simple hit. It was the climax of a decade-long global hunt: a story of seduction and betrayal, of fake identities and secret loyalties, of idealists and fanatics, lovers and spies. While Trotsky raged in exile - still clinging to his revolutionary dream - Stalin's agents closed in. At the heart of it all was Mercader: a man trained to lie, charm and ultimately to kill.

Tracing a path from the cafés of Paris to the battlefields of Spain, from Stalin's Kremlin to a bloodied study in Mexico, The Death of Trotsky unfolds like a spy thriller - a story of obsession and betrayal, of dreams destroyed and loyalties twisted, culminating in one of the most shocking murders of the modern age.

Critics Review

A breathtaking swoop into an extraordinary tale. The narrative takes us from Stalin's dark obsession to a remorseless hunt spanning decades and continents and a final, fateful moment in Mexico City. This is lucid, kaleidoscopic history
RORY CARROLL, bestselling author of Killing Thatcher
In this pacy, well-researched account, Josh Ireland sheds fascinating new light on one of history's most notorious assassinations. The Death of Trotsky is as good as any thriller, proving that true stories, when well-told and with panache, are always the best
HELEN RAPPAPORT, author of The Race to Save the Romanovs
Josh Ireland tells the grim story of Trotsky's assassination with tremendous style and aplomb, weaving the many twists and turns of Trotsky's exile and later targeting into a hugely compelling narrative. An elegant retelling of a most heinous act
ROGER MOORHOUSE, author of First to Fight
With impeccable scholarship and impressive research, Ireland sheds new light on the incredible tale of The Death of Trotsky. It is epic, panoramic history crossed with the joys of a spy thriller and the tragic denouement is brilliantly brought to life in the dusty, claustrophobic streets of Coyoacán
EDWARD SHAWCROSS, author of The Last Emperor of Mexico
Mesmerising . . . A fascinating study of Trotsky . . . Equally a remarkable one about the paranoia and violent insanity that drove Stalin
ROBERT LYMAN, author of Victory to Defeat
With impeccable scholarship and impressive research, Ireland sheds new light on the incredible tale of The Death of Trotsky. It is epic, panoramic history crossed with the joys of a spy thriller and the tragic denouement is brilliantly brought to life in the dusty, claustrophobic streets of Coyoacán
Edward Shawcross, author of The Last Emperor of Mexico

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