Jāsūs va Khāʼin: Buzurgtarīn dāstān-i jāsūsī-yi Jang-i Sard Persian 2026

New York Times Bestseller • From the acclaimed author of Operation Mincemeat and The Siege comes a gripping true story of the Cold War and Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian spy whose secret work helped accelerate the end of the conflict.

If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the famous British double agent Kim Philby, it would undoubtedly be Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB officers and a product of the Soviet Union’s most prestigious institutions, Gordievsky gradually came to believe that his country’s communist system was morally corrupt and a failure on a human level.

After beginning his intelligence career in 1968, Gordievsky rose to become one of the Soviet Union’s highest-ranking intelligence officers in London. Yet from 1973 onward, he secretly collaborated with Britain’s foreign intelligence service, MI6. For nearly a decade, by exposing Soviet spy networks and providing vital intelligence, he helped the West gain the upper hand against the KGB during the final years of the Cold War.

In The Spy and the Traitor, Ben Macintyre draws on exclusive documents and firsthand sources to reconstruct Gordievsky’s double life, the complex intelligence struggle between the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States, and his perilous escape from Moscow in 1985. More than the story of a spy, this book is a powerful account of loyalty, betrayal, courage, and the decisions of one individual that helped alter the course of history.

“The best true spy story I have ever read.”
—John le Carré

Named one of the best books of the year by The Economist and shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction, The Spy and the Traitor is a compelling read for anyone interested in modern history, international politics, and the hidden world of espionage.

Back Cover Copy

The Spy and the Traitor is a gripping true account of one of the most important espionage stories of the Cold War. The book follows the extraordinary life of Oleg Gordievsky, a senior officer in the Soviet Union’s intelligence agency, the KGB, who was raised in a family deeply connected to the organization and trained within its most elite institutions. Yet, over time, witnessing the oppressive and dysfunctional nature of communism, he became increasingly disillusioned and ultimately chose to oppose the system he had once served.

In the 1970s, while working as a Soviet intelligence officer abroad, including in London, Gordievsky secretly began cooperating with Britain’s intelligence service, MI6, becoming one of the West’s most valuable intelligence sources for years. He provided crucial information about Soviet spy networks, intelligence operations, and Kremlin decision-making, playing a significant role in disrupting KGB activities and shifting the balance of intelligence between East and West.

However, in the early 1980s, Soviet authorities began to suspect him, and he was recalled to Moscow, where arrest and execution seemed imminent. Under these circumstances, MI6 launched a highly complex and dangerous operation to rescue him. Gordievsky ultimately escaped the Soviet Union in one of the most dramatic and daring extractions in the history of espionage.

Drawing on original documents and firsthand sources, this book tells not only the story of a remarkable spy but also provides a vivid portrait of the secret intelligence war waged between the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States. It reveals how hidden battles behind global politics were fought and how the choices of a single individual could influence the course of history.