(no subject)

[skygiants]

I was a bit worried going in that Ben Macintyre's most recent book, which is about relatively recent Cold War spy shenanigans, was going to be less funny than the World War II spy shenanigan books of his I have hitherto enjoyed. And for sure it is less funny than Double Cross or Operation Mincemeat, but Ben Macintyre has not lost his gift for turning up the most sitcom-ish factoids about the fallible humans of the intelligence services and deploying them with an elegant flair; the Cold War may be grim but spies still make missed connections because of a misunderstanding about their motivations for buying gay porn, and I think that's beautiful.

The Spy and the Traitor, which focuses on Russian double agent Oleg Gordievsky and his time spying for the British from high within the KGB, is also (I believe) the first of Macintyre's books I've read with a protagonist who's extremely alive and involved at the time of writing. Macintyre is clearly somewhat enamored of Gordievsky as a human -- his character as portrayed in the book is that of an ideological traitor, someone who betrayed his country out of genuine moral conviction rather than for material gain, and underwent great hardship and sacrifice as a result: in short, a hero. And Macintyre does make a conscientious effort to complicate that through some interviews with the KGB colleagues that he betrayed, and the wife he spent many years lying to, but you can tell Macintyre's always sort of wrestling with the effort to make excuses for him, because he personally really admires him and wants the reader to admire him too.

(This stood out especially to me when it's time to talk about Gordievsky's decision to leave his wife and children behind when the time came to escape the Soviet Union, knowing it was quite likely they would face some kind of retribution. Macintyre gives some space for Leila Gordievsky's feelings about this, but is overall more interested in Gordievsky's own sad feelings about having to make such a difficult decision than the impact on the people that Gordievsky left behind; he paid the price thrice, etc.)

On the other hand, if Macintyre has a bit of a biographer crush on his subject, at least he's clear and upfront about it and it doesn't stop him from being deeply bemused and judgmental when Gordievsky does inexplicable things like hitchhike down the road to the bar to grab a beer in the middle of his thrilling escape attempt, WHY. The Thrilling Saga of Gordievsky's Escape Attempt (As Aided And Abetted By Several British Agents On A Picnic And A Baby With A Dirty Nappy) is overall stellar, A+, do very much recommend.

Comments

[sovay]

This stood out especially to me when it's time to talk about Gordievsky's decision to leave his wife and children behind when the time came to escape the Soviet Union, knowing it was quite likely they would face some kind of retribution.

What did happen to Leila Gordievsky and her children?

[osprey_archer]

YESSSS I'm so glad you've read this book, it is GREAT and you are 100% right both about Macintyre's clear biographer's crush and about the total WTFness of Gordievsky's decision to hitchhike into town mid-escape attempt. WHY. Maybe the stress temporarily broke his brain??

I also loved the comedy of errors that was the KGB's total failure to keep track of him during his last days in the Soviet Union. He keeps evading the men assigned to follow him and they keep not telling anyone because bureaucratic inertia, so when he finally disappears for real they just don't notice for ages.

Also the bit later on when the British agents are being escorted out of the country and when they pass the turnoff where they picked up Gordievsky last time they took that road, all the KGB agents have a lightbulb moment and turn around to look at it. So that's how they did it!

[skygiants]

The UK repeatedly asked for them to be reunited with Gordievsky as part of various diplomatic overtures, and, after six extremely uncomfortable years of interrogation and ostracization in the Soviet Union, they eventually were; however, understandably, the marriage did not last long afterwards. (It did not help that Gordievsky inexplicably insisted on telling Leila that he was absolutely innocent and had clearly just been slandered long after it became very obvious that this ... was not the case ......)

[skygiants]

Yes! I love how Macintyre attempts to build up the suspense and then is like "...no, obviously they didn't tell their higher-ups that they'd lost track of Gordievsky through their own incompetence, this is SOVIET RUSSIA, no one tells their boss ANYTHING." Also the various machinations of the British agents desperately trying to make sure they have excuses to pop out for Secret Signal Bread eating Secret Signal Mars Bars. I honestly never thought any intelligence agencies really used such convoluted means of communication but I am vastly entertained to be proven wrong!

[sovay]

(It did not help that Gordievsky inexplicably insisted on telling Leila that he was absolutely innocent and had clearly just been slandered long after it became very obvious that this ... was not the case ......)

Your icon seems to have the correct expression for this life decision of Gordievsky's.

[nineveh_uk]

After reading Macintyre on the total incompetence of British secret services (his Philby one is baffling on MI6's persistent missing of an entire parade ground's worth of red flag) I suppose that it is reassuring to know that other countries were the same.

[osprey_archer]

One of the things that I kind of love about Macintyre (although it's also oddly terrifying) is that all the various secret services come across as Secret Agent Keystone Kops. They're all so incompetent! How are they so bad at everything.

This book also has bonus "Aldrich Ames suddenly has loads of money with no discernible source and it takes the CIA ages to notice even though you'd think they keep track of that sort of thing with their own agents???"

[skygiants]

Although, to get back to dinging on MI6 a little, the one that really struck me was the British double agent who loudly announced "I'm working for the wrong side! Everyone come visit me in my dacha when I retire!" at a party...

[skygiants]

In a lot of ways this reads as a very direct sequel to A Spy Among Friends -- Britain like, AT LAST, it's our turn to run an absurdly high-placed agent and make YOU all look like idiots!