Get a free audiobook
-
The Spy and the Traitor
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Categories: Politics & Social Sciences, Politics & Government
People who bought this also bought...
-
A Spy Among Friends
- Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
- Written by: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kim Philby was the greatest spy in history, a brilliant and charming man who rose to head Britain's counterintelligence against the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War - while he was secretly working for the enemy. And nobody thought he knew Philby like Nicholas Elliott, Philby's best friend and fellow officer in MI6.
-
-
Class corrupts
- By andrew on 2020-11-14
-
Agent Sonya
- Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy
- Written by: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1942, in a quiet village in the leafy English Cotswolds, a thin, elegant woman lived in a small cottage with her three children and her husband, who worked as a machinist nearby. Ursula Burton was friendly but reserved, and spoke English with a slight foreign accent. By all accounts, she seemed to be living a simple, unassuming life. Her neighbors in the village knew little about her.
-
-
Work-life balance gone awry
- By andrew on 2020-10-21
-
Agent Zigzag
- A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
- Written by: Ben MacIntyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began.
-
-
AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR FANS OF ESPIONAGE!
- By Evalina on 2020-03-04
-
Breath from Salt
- A Deadly Genetic Disease, a New Era in Science, and the Patients and Families Who Changed Medicine Forever
- Written by: Bijal P. Trivedi
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cystic fibrosis was once a mysterious disease that killed infants and children. Now it could be the key to healing millions with genetic diseases of every type - from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to diabetes and sickle cell anemia. Told from the perspectives of the patients, families, physicians, scientists, and philanthropists fighting on the front lines, Breath from Salt is a remarkable story of unlikely scientific and medical firsts, of setbacks and successes, and of people who refused to give up hope....
-
The Billion Dollar Spy
- A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
- Written by: David E. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While getting into his car on the evening of February 16, 1978, the chief of the CIA's Moscow station was handed an envelope by an unknown Russian. Its contents stunned the Americans: details of top-secret Soviet research and development in military technology that was totally unknown to the United States.
-
The Splendid and the Vile
- A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
- Written by: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: John Lee, Erik Larson
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next 12 months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally - and willing to fight to the end. In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless."
-
-
I never write reviews.....
- By Lisa Slater on 2020-05-08
-
A Spy Among Friends
- Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
- Written by: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kim Philby was the greatest spy in history, a brilliant and charming man who rose to head Britain's counterintelligence against the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War - while he was secretly working for the enemy. And nobody thought he knew Philby like Nicholas Elliott, Philby's best friend and fellow officer in MI6.
-
-
Class corrupts
- By andrew on 2020-11-14
-
Agent Sonya
- Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy
- Written by: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1942, in a quiet village in the leafy English Cotswolds, a thin, elegant woman lived in a small cottage with her three children and her husband, who worked as a machinist nearby. Ursula Burton was friendly but reserved, and spoke English with a slight foreign accent. By all accounts, she seemed to be living a simple, unassuming life. Her neighbors in the village knew little about her.
-
-
Work-life balance gone awry
- By andrew on 2020-10-21
-
Agent Zigzag
- A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
- Written by: Ben MacIntyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began.
-
-
AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR FANS OF ESPIONAGE!
- By Evalina on 2020-03-04
-
Breath from Salt
- A Deadly Genetic Disease, a New Era in Science, and the Patients and Families Who Changed Medicine Forever
- Written by: Bijal P. Trivedi
- Narrated by: Deepti Gupta
- Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cystic fibrosis was once a mysterious disease that killed infants and children. Now it could be the key to healing millions with genetic diseases of every type - from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to diabetes and sickle cell anemia. Told from the perspectives of the patients, families, physicians, scientists, and philanthropists fighting on the front lines, Breath from Salt is a remarkable story of unlikely scientific and medical firsts, of setbacks and successes, and of people who refused to give up hope....
-
The Billion Dollar Spy
- A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
- Written by: David E. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While getting into his car on the evening of February 16, 1978, the chief of the CIA's Moscow station was handed an envelope by an unknown Russian. Its contents stunned the Americans: details of top-secret Soviet research and development in military technology that was totally unknown to the United States.
-
The Splendid and the Vile
- A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
- Written by: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: John Lee, Erik Larson
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next 12 months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally - and willing to fight to the end. In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows how Churchill taught the British people "the art of being fearless."
-
-
I never write reviews.....
- By Lisa Slater on 2020-05-08
-
Rogue Heroes
- The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War
- Written by: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Britain's Special Air Service - or SAS - was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young, gadabout aristocrat whose aimlessness in early life belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a battlefield map of World War II's African theater and saw a protracted struggle with Rommel's desert forces, Stirling saw an opportunity: Given a small number of elite, well-trained men, he could parachute behind enemy lines and sabotage their airplanes and war matériel.
-
-
Absolutely phenomenal
- By Chris H on 2019-04-05
-
Double Cross
- The True Story of the D-Day Spies
- Written by: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On June 6, 1944, 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy and suffered an astonishingly low rate of casualties. D-Day was a stunning military accomplishment, but it was also a masterpiece of trickery. Operation Fortitude, which protected and enabled the invasion, and the Double Cross system, which specialized in turning German spies into double agents, deceived the Nazis into believing that the Allies would attack at Calais and Norway rather than Normandy.
-
-
An amazing story
- By Gordon on 2020-01-15
-
Range
- Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
- Written by: David Epstein
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters, and scientists. He discovered that in most fields - especially those that are complex and unpredictable - generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.
-
-
yesss
- By Anonymous User on 2019-10-24
-
A Promised Land
- Written by: Barack Obama
- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 29 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency - a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
-
-
Obama reads this himself!
- By Meredith on 2020-11-17
-
In the Garden of Beasts
- Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
- Written by: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another....
-
-
Captivating!
- By Amazon Customer on 2020-07-05
-
Operation Mincemeat
- How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory
- Written by: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As plans got under way for the Allied invasion of Sicily in June 1943, British counter-intelligence agent Ewen Montagu masterminded a scheme to mislead the Germans into thinking the next landing would occur in Greece. This extraordinary operation called for a dead body, dressed as a Royal Marine officer and carrying false information about a pending Allied invasion of Greece, to wash up on a Spanish shore near the town of a known Nazi agent.
-
-
Very interesting story
- By mike on 2019-01-27
-
Red Notice
- A True Story of High Finance, Murder and One Man's Fight for Justice
- Written by: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Red Notice is a searing expose of the wholesale whitewash by Russian authorities of Magnitsky's imprisonment and murder, slicing deep into the shadowy heart of the Kremlin to uncover its sordid truths.
-
-
Very intriguing story ...can't believe it's real.
- By Adil Rizvi on 2018-01-11
-
Say Nothing
- A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
- Written by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Matthew Blaney
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In December 1972, Jean McConville, a 38-year-old mother of 10, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Her abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the IRA was responsible. Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing audiobook on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war.
-
-
Amazing book and fantastic narration
- By Cordless Iron Man on 2020-06-29
-
Midnight in Chernobyl
- Written by: Adam Higginbotham
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April 25, 1986 in Chernobyl was a turning point in world history. The disaster not only changed the world’s perception of nuclear power and the science that spawned it, but also our understanding of the planet’s delicate ecology. With the images of the abandoned homes and playgrounds beyond the barbed wire of the 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone, the rusting graveyards of contaminated trucks and helicopters, the farmland lashed with black rain, the event fixed for all time the notion of radiation as an invisible killer.
-
-
Hair raising
- By Dmitry on 2019-05-15
-
A Legacy of Spies
- A Novel
- Written by: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Tom Hollander
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old service summons him to London. The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London, and involved such characters as Alec Leamas, Jim Prideaux, George Smiley, and Peter Guillam himself, are to be scrutinized by a generation with no memory of the Cold War.
-
-
Great Experience
- By Fussy Fussner on 2019-07-20
-
Putin's People
- How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West
- Written by: Catherine Belton
- Narrated by: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Putin’s People, the investigative journalist and former Moscow correspondent Catherine Belton reveals the untold story of how Vladimir Putin and the small group of KGB men surrounding him rose to power and looted their country. Delving deep into the workings of Putin’s Kremlin, Belton accesses key inside players to reveal how Putin replaced the freewheeling tycoons of the Yeltsin era with a new generation of loyal oligarchs, who in turn subverted Russia’s economy and legal system and extended the Kremlin's reach into the United States and Europe.
-
-
Not So Much
- By Kemosabe on 2020-12-25
-
A Dutiful Boy
- A Memoir of a Gay Muslim’s Journey to Acceptance
- Written by: Mohsin Zaidi
- Narrated by: Mohsin Zaidi
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mohsin grew up in a deprived pocket of East London; his family was close-knit but very religiously conservative. From a young age Mohsin felt different, but in a home where being gay was inconceivable, he also felt very alone. Outside of home Mohsin went to a failing inner city school where gang violence was a fact of life. As he grew up, life didn’t seem to offer teenage Mohsin any choices: he was disenfranchised as a poor brown boy, and he was isolated from his family as a closet gay Muslim.
Publisher's Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
The number one Sunday Times best seller
Shortlisted for the 2018 Baillie Gifford Prize
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....
What the critics say
"The best true spy story I have ever read." (John Le Carré)
More from the same
Narrator:
What listeners say about The Spy and the Traitor
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ed mailhot
- 2019-06-11
excellent
this great story kept me wanting more from beginning to end. I loved every minute.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MGtm
- 2018-10-11
Absolutely amazing book
Absolutely loved the book. Hard to not feel sorry for Oleg but he did what he thought he had to do. The world is a safer place because of him.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jared
- 2020-12-21
wonderfully told, captivating & true story
I couldn't listen to this one fast enough. such an immersive and interesting story on the spy world.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2020-12-10
amazing history
awesome read, very addicting. Ben McIntyre never disappoints! I will be buying another book as soon as possible.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pixie33
- 2020-08-15
Fantastic
Better than any spy fiction, a suspenseful tale til the end. I even had knots at some points. Started to listen to it on a long road trip and almost couldn’t wait to get back in the car to hear the rest of it!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 2020-07-11
Thrilling!
This is a book about a true unsung hero of the cold war. the author tells it as it was, and often had me holding my breath in fear for this super spy. no fiction could compete with this kind of intensity and intrigue.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2020-05-21
An amazingly brilliant story
This book is a must, it's the most exciting, intriguing and nail biting book to date.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shane McNeely
- 2020-05-04
Get this book
This story was excellent. It built and built until I literally couldn’t stop listening. The narrator was outstanding too. If you like spy stories this is one you can’t miss. I’ve already bought another from the same author and I’m enjoying it too.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Martin Cieszewski
- 2020-03-15
intensely gripping story.
the last third of this book was so gripping and tense. read like a fictional thriller. Super. good narration.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Evalina
- 2020-03-01
Loved it.
Spy stories are my favourite novels, the fact that this one is based on real events made it even more enjoyable. One of the best books I have ever listened to. Very well researched and written, with the added bonus of great narrating by the author. Highly recommended!!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bruce
- 2019-03-28
Great listen.
The audible equivalent of a book you can’t put down. Gripping story. Well researched. The first book for a long time that I couldn’t wait to continue. Narrator does a great job with the Russian pronunciation as well. Simply enjoyable whilst informative.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Neuron
- 2018-10-18
Leave a beer capsule under the bench in the park
This book is as good as it gets when it comes to spy stories. It starts out strong – diving straight into the story – and then it just keeps going. I can be a drifter, but it was impossible to drift away while reading this book. It keeps the reader engaged at all times. The protagonist is Oleg Gordievsky. A real person! Indeed, an actual former KGB spy who defected and joined MI6, becoming one of the most important spies in the cold war. If you like the show “The Americans” then you are almost guaranteed to enjoy this book as well. I particularly appreciated the descriptions of how spies communicate with one another. It can go something like this: If spy X leaves an orange peel under the right side of a bench in the southwest corner of some park, then that means that someone is onto him. But if instead, he leaves a blue chalk mark on a light pole on street Y in SOHO, that means that he wants to meet. The descriptions of spy communication are both fascinating and humorous. Indeed, as one would expect it can sometimes become confusing such as when one spy was supposed to drop a beer capsule instead dropped a ginger beer capsule. After a lengthy discussion it was decided that the spy probably did not distinguish between ginger beer and real beer. Nevertheless, there is a lot more to this book. You get insight into the political atmosphere in the 1980s, You will encounter politicians as well as spies. Yet, first and foremost, you get a top-notch cat and mouse spy chase. And the best thing is that the story is, as far as I can tell, entirely factual. The author makes it clear when he is speculating, which I appreciate. If you are at all into these types of books, then you can’t go wrong with this book
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2019-06-27
Exciting and brilliant.
Excellent well written, capturing a story so important to recent modern history. How brave all the characters are, irrespective of where they stand politically. The fear and limited choices were well described and real. How fortunate to be born and raised in the west.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sara Jardine
- 2019-06-21
Cracking story
Fascinating and fantastical spy story made all the more gripping for being true! Made being stuck in motorway traffic a pleasure!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- M W Benseman
- 2021-01-19
Excellent
Interesting, well laid out story of Gordievsky. Reading style is also appropriate for the subject.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2021-01-03
Must read
Best book this year. Thrilling. Interesting. Page turner. Do not miss it. I had a wonderful time with this book.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matt
- 2021-01-02
Great spy history.
I bought this thinking it was a novel. After a few chapters I thought hang on, and checked. I'm not normally one for biographies but his really intrigued me and I stuck with it. What a gem! Not only does it share some fascinating history, it really dives into the nexus of useful actionable Intel, and the the human cost of all those involved. No regrets whatsoever.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sherri
- 2020-10-12
Never wanted it to end
If you enjoy spy driven suspense you’ll love this meticulously researched, beautifully written novel. It’s all true and even more enjoyable for that. Enhanced by being read by the author. Thoroughly recommend.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lawrence Dembo
- 2020-08-18
Who knew?
Quite the most extraordinary story. Bravery and ideology from a time not so long ago. Beautifully written, researched and read. Couldn’t put it down.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tim Martin
- 2020-05-24
Against all odds
Chewing gum signals, spiked drinks, cyphers, invisible ink... rollicking good fun! A fascinating insight into spycraft and the Cold War warriors who put their lives on the line, albeit for a mix of personal motivations. Much daring-do and against all odds dice-rolls. Reads like a thriller.