The Spy and the Traitor

Get in the xigxag app
This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.
Pre-order Buy Now £{{ price }}
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

*The No.1 Sunday Times Bestseller*
*Shortlisted for the 2018 Baillie Gifford Prize*
*Bill Gates' Top 5 Books for 2020*

'THE BEST TRUE SPY STORY I HAVE EVER READ' JOHN LE CARRÉ

A thrilling Cold War story about a KGB double agent, by one of Britain's greatest historians - now with a new afterword

On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket.

The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever...

BEN MACINTYRE'S NEXT BOOK AGENT SONYA IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW

© Ben MacIntyre 2018 (P) Penguin Audio 2018

Critics Review

  • An incredible true life spy story…Every word ramps up the tension as you’re drawn deeper into the danger

    Mail on Sunday

  • If any spy writer were to put it in a novel, it would not be believed. But, blow by blow, trick by trick, it is all in Macintyre’s book

    Fredrick Forsyth

  • He writes like a novelist. One of the last chapters is as tense as any thriller. No wonder le Carré liked it

    Daily Express

  • Meticulously researched, splendidly told, immensely entertaining and often very moving

    John le Carré on 'Agent Zigzag'

  • Impeccably researched, superbly told – by far the best book on the SAS in World War II

    Antony Beevor on 'SAS'

  • Thrilling. Ben Macintyre is the ideal narrator

    Spectator on 'SAS'

More from the same

Author

Narrator

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to get tailored content recommendations, product updates and info on new releases. Your data is your own: we commit to protect your data and respect your privacy.